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.

Botswana: Music Festivals Banned in Schools

This news article is about music festivals being banned in schools in Botswana. The article was posted on January 27th of 2010. It was written by Calistus Kolantsho. Music shows have been banned in secondary school halls by the Ministry of Education and Skills Development. Gilbert Seagile said that both musicians and schools have been affected. He said that schools used these shows to raise funds. He also stated that they don't have a union to question these things so its hard to fight against. Seagile also stated that they were not informed right away when this decision was made. He thinks this decision is harsh and its making musicians suffer. He doesn't think the government is doing enough to support musicians. Franco Lesokwane also stated that in the villages there's no where for musicians to stage their shows because community halls aren't present. Since the music festivals helped schools raise money its hard for schools to get by now. They are now forced to organize school activities through the Parent-Teachers Association (PTA). She said they need the funds for the maintenance of the old school buildings.



I thought this article was interesting because some schools in Botswana depend on music festival funds to keep their schools running. Since I'm in high school I tried to imagine myself in the situation, with no music festivals/dances in the future. We only have 3 dances a year, Homecoming, the Sweetheart, and Prom. It doesn't seem like that big of a deal because we're so used to always having them. It must be a huge deal for the people in Botswana that attend these events and the school's who depend on these festival funds. It must be hard for people like Seagile to see this happening. He can't do much about it either since there's no unions to fight whats taking place.

Picture courtesy of allAfrica.com

Food in Nigeria and 'Things Fall Apart'

This is a really great site about Nigeria and the food eaten there. I found it off of the Google home page. It contains information about what they eat for certain meals and how it is prepared, giving you the recipes. The site is maintained by 'Food in Every Country' and was last updated in 2010. The site tells what people eat in certain areas of the country and what is common throughout. Since we just finished reading the book Things Fall Apart I will be comparing that to the article as well.

I wanted to look up something that related to Things Fall Apart so I decided to research the foods in Nigeria and compare them to the ones talked about in the book. Nigeria has a wide variety of ethical diversity, in fact one of the most diverse in the world. The Ibo people make up 18% of the country. The clan of people in Things Fall Apart are also Ibo. The site stated that rice, millet, and lentils were the main foods before trading started. Since Nigeria lies in the tropics fruits are available. Oranges, melons, grapefruits, limes, mangoes, bananas, and pineapples are popular. In the eastern part of Nigeria, where the Ibo clan was from, they eat dumplings, pumpkins, and yams. Yams are very important to their diets. It's kind of like potatoes to us in the United States. Yams are pale and not very sweet. Fish is also important to the Nigerian diet since they only get protein from a couple other foods. Stews are also eaten, they're typically spicy and eaten with rice, yams, corn, and cassava.

This article caught my attention because the food they eat is so different from what we eat in the United States. Everything they eat seems so plain and bare compared to here. I thought it was interesting that fish is one of their few sources of protein. They don't eat many other meats. This article connected to what we are learning in African Cultures and the book Things Fall Apart because in the book I learned that yams are a huge part of the Ibo culture. The Feast of the New Yam was held every year before the harvest began, to honor the earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan in the book. Also, soups were eaten and palm-wine was drank often.

Nigerians eat breakfast at around 5 A.M. and lunch around 11 A.M. Lunch is the most important meal of the day and is only one course. If they eat soup they cup their right hand into the shape of a spoon and eat out of it. As I read on through this article it talked about the holidays and what was eaten at holiday gatherings. Roasted goat, pounded yams, and chopped liver seemed to be the main dishes. These foods are very similar to the book. If someone made a mistake or did something that would displease a God, a chicken or goat was often sacrificed.

I found this site very fascinating and it really relates to the book Things Fall Apart. It helped me learn more about the country of Nigeria and what it's like to live their. The foods may be totally different but the people are still the same, full of life and energy.

Picture courtesy of Google.