You’ve heard the news about Romelu Lukaku? The 18-year-old Belgian-Congolese striker signed a contract with his dream team Chelsea over the weekend. Lukaku’s star rose fast since debuting for the national team in 2010. Football aficionados aren’t surprised by the move. And Lukaku? He knew it all along. The above fragment* is taken from a series (‘The School of Lukaku’) that was aired on Belgian national tv last year. The series followed a class of youth living and studying in Brussels, doing a good job at showing the Belgian audience a part of the city most prefer to avoid — and a reality they choose to ignore. The video shows Lukaku visiting Chelsea’s stadium on a school trip. No doubt he will make it at Stamford Bridge, or so the fans say.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X7JAF77w1c

* Gotta love the use of Elbow’s Lippy Kids.

Further Reading

The Mogadishu analogy

In Gaza and Haiti, the specter of another Mogadishu is being raised to alert on-lookers and policymakers of unfolding tragedies. But we have to be careful when making comparisons.

Kwame Nkrumah today

New documents looking at British and American involvement in overthrowing Kwame Nkrumah give us pause to reflect on his legacy, and its resonances today.

Goodbye, Piassa

The demolition of an historic district in Addis Ababa shows a central contradiction of modernization: the desire to improve the country while devaluing its people and culture.