Serena to build more schools in Africa

I found a really great website called AFRICA: the good news. The site is sponsored by MTN. This news article was located under the Development category and then the Women and Youth tab. This site has so many good news articles under sections like Education, Business, Infrastructure, Aid, Environment, and much more. This particular article was written on February 25th, 2010. The article explains how US tennis star Serena Williams plans to build a new school every year in areas of Africa where education for children is out of reach. Serena has helped with the construction of schools in Kenya, Senegal, and South Africa. She has also provided student grants and joined the fight against malaria in Ghana. "It is my goal to open many schools for thousands of children who do not have the opportunity to get good education. I plan to do one every year," said Serena. In November of 2008 on her first trip to Kenya she authorized her first school in the Nairobi area. Almost 3/4 of the local population is under the poverty line. "Without education, life is going to be very difficult. My parents always stressed the importance of getting an education and I hope I am bring to fruition their word by opening this school to the community of Wee," said Serena.
I think it's great that some stars and celebrities from the U.S. are putting their money and minds to good causes like this. It's nice to see that even famous people still care about the poverty stricken areas of the world and they want to try and help. Hopefully the schools that Serena is building will help the children out in that area and they can become educated. In the future it'd be nice to see the amount of people under the poverty line decline.

Picture courtesy of AFRICA: the good news.

Egypt Secrets of an Ancient World

I found this article about the pyramids in Africa on the National Geographic page. The article was first published in 1996 and has been polished up into 2009. I read about the largest pyramid on Earth, the Great Pyramid. It was built by Pharaoh Khufu in 2550 B.C. at Giza. The Great Pyramid is 481 feet tall or 147 meters.
Khufu was the son of Snefru and the second ruler of the 4th dynasty. The Great Pyramid is the largest pyramid ever build. It is made up of about 2.3 million stone blocks, each weighing around 15 tons. According to the article, the workers would have had to set a block every 2 and a half minutes. The pyramid has three burial chambers. The first is located underground and is carved into bedrock. The second, which is above ground, was called the queen's chamber. Now we know it was not a queen's chamber, but maybe a chamber to hold a sacred statue of Khufu himself. The third, is the king's chamber, located almost exactly at the center of the pyramid. You can access the king's chamber through the 26-foot high Grand Gallery, which was blocked off from thieves with sliding granite blocking systems.
An interesting fact about this pyramid is that there are many mystery shafts that fan out from the queen's and king's chambers. They weren't air shafts or hallways. Maybe it was for Khufu to travel to the stars in his afterlife.
I found this article very interesting because I've always been intrigued by the pyramids and it amazes me how Egyptians build these magnificent structures. I've seen videos of how they moved the stone building blocks and constructed the pyramids and it puts me in awe. I can't imagine what it would be like to live during this time period in Giza. I loved reading this article and I plan on researching the pyramids more!

Picture courtesy of National Geographic

Learn About Masks of Africa

I found this article through Google when I was looking for the history of Africa. It is a link off of the Masks and More Masks home page. Art collectors around the world value masks of Africa. The masks are priceless in value and are said to link the living with the dead. Tribes in Africa believe that the masks represent the faces of gods and spirits. Therefore, the masks usually have human and animal characteristics. All face and head ornaments for African rituals and ceremonies are put into one of four categories: the ancestor spirit, the mythological hero, the combination of ancestor and hero, and the animal spirit. African masks most times stand for a spirit and it's believed that the one wearing the mask is possessed by the spirit of the ancestor. Family pride can be shown by masks of human ancestors or animals that a family or clan can trace their ancestry back to. Dance is usually included when masks of Africa are used. Some examples of dance rituals that include African masks are: agricultural festivals, rituals for increase (money, property, children), rituals for rites of passage, ancestor cults, and fertility rites.

The size and appearance of the masks of Africa are different. Most of the time, the masks are not worn by themselves, but part of a full costume. These ceremonial decorations are made out of a variety of materials, including metal, leather, fabric, and a variety of wood. The main material was wood because of the abundance of trees in the forests. Before the wood was cut there was a purification ceremony. Green timber was often used due to it being easier to cut. Certain tribes even used ivory or brass to make their masks of Africa.

This article caught my eye since we read an article in class about the masking tradition. I never knew that these masks were made from wood. Another thing I found interesting were all the reasons they have dance rituals. I don't think we have anything like this in America so it is very eye-catching, some of the designs are so intricate. I thought this article was great!

Picture courtesy of Google.

Uganda mudslide prompts evacuation of thousands

I found this article through BBC world news, then the Africa section. It was last updated on Friday, March 10th, 2010. I'm blogging about the mudslide in Uganda and whats currently happening. Thousands of people are being evacuated off hillsides in Uganda. The mudslide is believed that have killed over 350 people! About 4,000 people are being removed from their homes on Mount Elgon while the heavy rain continues.
Many bodies may never be recovered, officials say.


At the beginning of this week three villages in Bududa were covered in rock and mud. To this date only about 90 bodies have been found. About 60 school children who took cover in a health center all died. Wilson Watira says that up to 35,000 people may need to move. This disaster is blamed on local people cutting down trees on the hillside to raise and harvest crops. Volunteers and soldiers are still searching for bodies in the mud but it is difficult because the slope is so steep.

I hadn't heard of this disaster yet, so it caught my eye. It is very unfortunate for the people of Uganda. I was surprised that it was blamed on the local people cutting down trees on the hillside to cultivate crops. Hopefully the volunteers and soldiers that are searching for bodies stay determined and find all the missing bodies.

Picture courtesy BBC World News

http://http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8552827.stm

African-American History Through the Arts: The Slave Trade

This site I found goes into depth about the slave trade and was it possibly Africa's fault? The article was written by Jennifer Scott and I found it through Google. The site explains how slavery started and how it became widespread. Slavery was a huge issue and created many difficulties for Africans.
The site states how Portugal stated to trade slaves with West Africa and that's how slavery all got started. The slave trade did not go as smoothly as wanted. Slaves revolted and tried to get away from all the hardships and distress. However, slavery grew and led to the "Triangle Trade" between Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The Middle Passage was a procedure of getting Africans for the "Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade" as workers in the Atlantic world. A slave trade already existed in Africa, but the Middle Passage was much different. In Africa these slaves were still viewed as humans, where as in Europe they were viewed strictly as property, with no feeling or opinions, they were dehumanized. Europeans captured innocent Africans for there own purposes. The site had very good questions to think about, "Did the Africans take part in their own downfall or was it strictly the Europeans that conquered their freedom?" and "Why did the Europeans need these laborers?"

I'm sure there are many different views and opinions to those questions. But something I think everyone can agree on is that these slaves had their freedom, poise, and happiness taken away.

In the picture it looks like African slaves are being chained up together and being forced into a lower level. As we can observe they were treated very harshly.

Picture courtesy of Google.