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My name's Hugh Sykes.

And this is the first of two programs which we've called Africa surprising.

American and European reporters, like me, typically visit Africa only when there's a crisis, poverty,

disease, war. But that lazy stereotype is out of date and there are now incredible opportunities in Africa.

Not my words, here's President Obama on his visit to Kenya in July this year.

Africa is on the move.

Africa is one of the fastest growing regions of the world.

People are being lifted out of poverty.

Incomes are up.

The middle class is growing.

And that creates incredible opportunities for Africans and for the world.

I found evidence to justify the Obama optimism during nearly a month traveling north

from South Africa to Ethiopia, pretty much following the East Coast, with visits along the way

to Mozambique and Tanzania.

There were surprises everywhere.

In Ethiopia, for instance, building sites and healthier babies. This soundscape is from a fourth floor balcony here in

Elis Ababa. The hammering is from what will soon be a 12-story business center with seemingly anarchic, but of course it isn't, wooden scaffolding all the way up.

Right next door to it, there's washing on the line in a courtyard between three tin shacks.

...