(excerpted from A SAD AND TRAGIC TALE OF MISTER DOUH, by Adam Daniel Mezei)

As luck would have it, Douh's turned out to be quite the resource.

I've been to Africa before and I know more than a thing or two from my readings, but what Douh tells me about a day in the life of a citizen of his country, the Central African Republic – a country I'd only known about from my research into Jean-Bédel Bokassa's brutal, cannibalistic dictatorship – shell shocks me. I should publicize these, as more than a few Czechs who have slanted views about Africans would quickly iron out their prejudices about "scamming Africans." I'm talking about those same people who consider the Africans to be some kind of monolithic entity, with no differentiation in culture, language, nation, etc. Just "Africans."

This aspect about Central Europeans drives me nuts, and I'm getting tired of hearing it too. Half the time I find myself wondering how a nation that enjoys more than thirty percent internet penetration in homes can still harbor such backward views about a population that outnumbers Europe's population several times over. Don't people surf that same net, or read anything else than the tabloid press in this country? (I won't accept the excuse that a nation of only 10 million stranded at Europe's heart can only speak a single language that has a following of at most 20 million people globally, thereby making 90% of the net inaccessible in English). Pardon me, but where's the logic in that? If this nation isn't stepping up the plate to swiftly do something about this chronic state of affairs then someone's definitely got their head nestled “where the sun don't shine.”

Douh told me today how a Czech crown – one single Czech crown – is worth more than twenty “sefas.” I didn't understand at first, so I looked up later on the net and discovered that he was referring to the Communauté Financiére Africaine, the African Financial Community, franc, hence "CFA." I asked him what one could buy for twenty CFAs, and he said that one crown buys a whole kilo of rice in his country, one of the world's ten poorest.

So, in short, every single crown he earned out here on the streets was worth something to him. Every opportunity to flip a few crowns or do some meaningful remunerative work was just what he'd have to do – short of pushing Prague's ever-popular designer drugs which, he told me, he'd never deal no matter how desperate he'd get. In temps often dipping to minus ten centigrade on the dial – Douh and the other Africans would stand out on the streets “catching” (their word) tourists in search of some “fast love” (their words again). I laughed.

I'm taking a shine to this guy because here you've got all of these Czechs casting aspersions about the Africans' penchant for earning dishonest livings while in the meantime you've got these brave dudes – quite obviously not built for these unforgiving temps – standing forlornly out here on these cobbled corners trying to earn their keep any way they can. If this is the concept of "dishonest" and "easy," then I'd like to know what happens when it really gets bad.

Is making a living off of sex tourism any less dignified than trying to carpetbag a living off of the thousands – millions, even – of tourists descending on Prague during all seasons of the year, and overcharging them for tschotschkes they can't even use? Some Czech guy slaps up a kiosk flogging maps or gewgaws or whatever to unsuspecting tourists without as much as raising a finger to market said business – I mean, the tourists are out on the street in droves whether you think about offering them a product or service, or not – and this latter option is the more honorable of the two choices? Not according to my logic. In both cases, it's perhaps best said that they are entirely passive pursuits. It's just that most Czechs simply can't see themselves doing the job which the Africans do, only because there is no other job left for them to take. So they knock the Africans for doing the only job left to them through no fault of their own.

I find fault with Czechs knocking these same Africans for entering just about the only field open to them, all because Czechs aren't developed enough to permit Africans to take the desk jobs these same Africans are more than qualified to take. Douh, as I've since learned, is a hydraulic engineer! He can't find any straight work in his profession. Can't seem to find a single Czech employer who's willing to take a chance on him – for reasons this society is still working out for itself – so in the meantime Douh needs to live. No matter how he chooses to earn, his prospects are always going to be eminently better than were he to remain behind in his country, according to the above arithmetic.

I'm angered when I hear his stories. This sort of "white-gloved" discrimination just wouldn't wash where I was born. Here were are in this country, two years since joining the European Union, and qualified, educated, and moreover, legal newcomers -- like Douh -- still can't find a reputable job worthy of their skills, even when they speak fluent Czech! How frustrating!

Douh appears to trust me, and at least I've got something to smile about. So far he's been telling me about stuff that angers him about Czech and Prague society.

I believe he's down with the journalistic goals I'm trying to achieve, as well. The deadline for this piece is fast-approaching, but I sense I'm going to be friends with this guy long after the article is put to bed. Besides, there's just way too much for just a single article on this subject, and I can't possibly do the subject matter justice even if I pull it off with any degree of competence. There is no editor on the planet who's going to be permit me to cover absolutely everything I'm learning about the Africans.

It's been like entering a minefield. You can see across the clear expanse of the field, but the instant you take your first step, you quickly realize there's much more than meets the naked eye. Best advice in situations like these is to tread carefully.