AIDS

This week we have discussed AIDS in Africa.  I have watched the videos relating to AIDS and read the articles.  One thing that jumped out at me was how much prevention would help reduce the large number of people infected with HIV each year.  While there is a plethora of information about AIDS, and it is an understood topic in the United States, I think there is still a lot of education about AIDS occurring in Africa.  I think with more awareness, prevention measures, and continued supply of resources that the number of people infected with HIV each year will decrease. 


One promising article I found was from the TIME website.  I like TIME because of the credible articles and photography.  The pictures that accompany the AIDS articles are very graphic and can be disturbing.  My first instinct was how they followed the trend of other pictures we discussed stereotypes of Africa, sick dying people.  However, I think AIDS is a serious issue and the pictures are very real.  


The article I found was entitled Daily Pill Shows Promise in HIV Prevention.  Two studies have showed promising results of HIV prevention.  In one study consisted of men and women from Botswana.  Half of the people were given a placebo and the other half were given the real pill. Looking at the number of people that became infected with HIV later it was determined the pill reduced the chance of infection by about 78%.  The other case showed similar success results in prevention and therefore, the placebo was no longer given.  It was determined to be unethical to withhold medicine that proved helpful.  While these studies along with others indicated very a high prevention rate, there have been studies that have showed differing results.  There are more studies going on to determine why there are differing results.  I think that even though some studies show the pill was not helpful in preventing HIV, we are well on the way to finding a pill that prevents HIV infection.  I think medicine that can be offered to help prevent HIV infection would be a huge success.  

South Sudan

Awhile back I made a post about Sudan and the conflicts that were going on there.  I thought it would be good to follow up on the issue. After many years of conflict between the north and south, and according to BBC, 1.5 million people died, the conflicts may have come to an end.  I think this great news for South Sudan.  I think that the citizens are very excited right now and will anxious to see their country succeed.  I hope that this puts an end to the conflicts and saves future lives.

 On July 9th, South Sudan became is own country. There was an independence ceremony that took place at a mausoleum of a man who played a key role in ending conflicts. The national flag of Sudan was lowered and the new flag was raised to the cheers of the crowd. The president Kiir decided to not to hand of the national flag and instead say it will be placed in a museum.  I think this was a very wise choice the presidents part.  I think it was a respectful decision not to hand over the flag where it would most likely to be destroyed.  I hope that the north and south begin to make amends and learn to respect each other as individual countries.

Here is a link to the article from the BBC

Gapminder

This week we are discussing different Economic situations in Africa.  It was suggested that we look at Gapminder.  I found this site to be very interesting.  It charts life expectancy against the income per person.  Different areas of the globe are represented by different colors.  You can track the trend of one country over time.  There are definite trends that can be observed.  The depression in the 1920's affect many countries.  A sharp decrease in income per person is seen.  It then starts to rise again in the 1930's.  

There is an increase in the life expectancy in the 1940's but then there is a sharp decrease in the 1990's.  It doesn't start to increase again until the later 2000's.  I would predict this is due to the fact of the aids epidemic.  This trend can be observed in many African countries.  One in particular that is easy to track is Zimbabwe.  The trail function allows you to mark one country, or how many ever you like and specifically watch the trend as the dots connect as the years progress.  The Age expectancy starts to rise along with income per person.  Then the age expectancy becomes as high as about 62 in 1998 but then rapidly start to drop.  It begins to rise again around 2000 and reaches 45 by 2009.

Another interesting trend I found was how similar all the countries in Africa was.  Many of the countries are on the lower end of age expectancy and income.  While many other countries are increasing in age expectancy and income at the turn of the century (1900) little movement is observed in the African countries.  After the 1950's growth is evident.  If you use the trail feature the effect of aids is also seen.  The age expectancy decreases.

Here is a link the website.

Morocco

Above is a picture of Morocco.  Morocco is a country that is located in North Africa.  Morocco is a has constitutional monarchy with elected parliament.  Like many countries currently, Morocco is undergoing changes in its government.  Spurred my movements of the people Morocco is adopting a new constitution. 

While I was living in the dorms, I didn't have access to a newspaper daily.  I enjoy reading the news so I had an email sent to me from the New York times.  But, I also wanted to read more about current events close to home.  I like Waterloo Courier for that reason.  It covers the local news well but also covers national and world news.  You can stayed up to date on world events often by looking in your local newspaper! There are often even pictures online to go with the article so you can have a nice visual in your mind while reading the story.

This article about Morocco I found under the world section on the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier website. The article states that tomorrow, Friday, there will be a vote to pass the new constitution.  The constitution supposedly includes more democratic changes.  The new constitution, in response to many pro-democratic movements, is to give rights to women and minorities and increase the powers of the parliament, and judiciary.  This would therefore diminish some of the power of the king.  However, as the article states some people believe is more merely a stunt and the King still holds the majority of power.  Many people claim that the political advisers around the king hold most of the power still and the change in the constitution will not address this.  Others are happy just to see some progress being made.  No one is really claiming this will solve all the problems but it could be a step in the right direction to give more power to the people.  

I think it would be difficult for countries with an at least somewhat stable economy and government to make lots of drastic changes.  Many people are often happy with the current government so to make drastic changes could upset people.  I think in this case however, there are enough citizens that are wanting changes to be made the King will hopefully relinquish his powers to make Morocco a more democratic nation. 

African Slave Trade

This week the discussion of class has been focused around the african slave trade. While I learned a lot from the assigned reading about the details of not only the atlantic slave trade, but also, the asian slave trade, trans-saharan slave trade, red sea slave trade, and east africa slave trade, I found myself overwhelmed with details.  It's hard for me to visualize all the areas they were talking about without having a map to go along with everything Collins described in the reading.  
Therefore, I went on a hunt to find a website that offered good details about the slave trade but also help visuals.  
I found a section the the IPTV website that I found very useful. The section I found was titled Africans in America, the Narrative section.  Check it out! 


What I liked most about this site was its organization.  There are key topic links that take you to different sections where more details are found.  There are helpful visuals including interactive maps. There are also historical documents linked to related topics.  Key words, places,events and ideas are listed on the side of the paragraphs in blue and are linked to another page that describes it further. While it is written at an easy comprehension level the site offers good information and details that I didn't recall from other readings.   
Under the section of Europeans Come to Western Africa I enjoyed reading about the Elmina Castle. I didn't recall from the reading that Portugal constructed the first permanent trading outpost south of the Sahara.  It was one of the largest sites and existed for a long time.  The narrative also reinforces ideas expressed in the chapter by Collins, like how African slavery was different from American slavery.  


I also really liked the section titled From Indentured Servitude to Racial Slavery.  I didn't realize that their were some people who came to American as free men and then later had that right revoked.  Reading the story of Anthony Johnson really put the information into context.  I think it's just unbelievable the way Africans were treated in the courts of law at this time period. I also can't believe the status of many Africans rested on the fact whether they were considered a follower of Christian religion in the native country or not. As a nation now we pride ourselves on allowing people religious freedom, yet that was not always the case.  I think it is very easy today to think of ourselves as a very understanding nation of all types of people and try to push slavery to the back of our minds. 
I found a video also off of this site titled Traces of the Trade.  I thought this video was good because it makes you think, where did I come from and what role did my ancestors play in the slave trade?

Music

I looked at the All About Africa website this week.  This website has so much to offer! I was only looking at the material related to music and there was so much information under that topic alone! I honestly didn't know there were so many artists and different types of music produced in Africa.  I think music is an important part of every culture.  I think it serves similar purposes to different types of people all over the world.  Music can serve as entertainment, a way of communication, a hobby, a profession, an outlet, and most importantly it brings people together.

A lot of this weeks discussion was about how many people, (the DC in the book Things Fall Apart) view their culture as superior and is the only correct way of life.  Music is something that I think is similar in all cultures and while it sounds different, is in a different language, it serves the same purpose and content often.  I think cultures are not as different as they often appear at first glance.  The love of music is a perfect example of similarities between different types of cultures. 

The article that caught my attention was titled Nigeria: Why I Sing About Love-Jafextra.  The article was an interview with a man named Fatokun Olugbenga Oyediji.  He goes by the name Jafextra.  I found the article interesting because it sounded so similar to an interview one would read about a famous artist in the United States today.  He is an entertainer but he wants his music to be unique.  He spends lots time on his music before releasing it as he wants it to be different from anyone else.  I think the desire to be unique and produce something never heard of before is a common goal of many artists here.  He chooses to sing about love as "life is love".  I think love is the most universal theme in music.  He enjoys singing with professionals and learns from them like any other artist.  I also think his music video resembles those on tv here today.
Here is a link to the webiste
Check out the music video on you tube!

Bombing in Sudan

Recent bombings in Sudan have many people worried the recent peace treaty between the northern and southern part of Sudan will not last long.  A peace deal was signed in 2005 that ended the conflicts, at least momentarily.  South Kordofan is home to many communities that although they are considered part of the “north” they are pro-south.  The bombings, which are being carried out by the northern forces, are targeting these groups who they believe allegiance is slipping to southern Sudan.  These bombing have left lots of areas devastated.  Many people have been forced to flee from their home.  In addition, according to the article ethnic Nubans are being targeted due to their ethnicity by northern military. 

I included a picture I got from the article, BBC news.

Here is the link

Wow I really like this website.  I had only been to the BBC website once or twice prior to reading this article so I never really explored the site.  I like that they have a lot of supplemental material to go along with the articles.  They have pictures, and at the bottom of this article they also have graphics that divide up areas of Sudan according to geography, ethic groups, infant mortality, water  and sanitation, education, food insecurity,  and oil fields.  Check out the section titled Sudan: a divided country. It's really interesting! From these graphics it is obvious that southern Sudan is disadvantageous compared to the north.   After the section with these maps there are links that take you to more stories about Sudan and specifically the topics that were mentioned in this article.  I found this site easy to use and provided lots of details on these big news topics.