The Himba, The Most Beautiful Tribals In Africa

Himba people live in northern Nambia and they breed goats and cattle. The women are pretty extraordinary and in some cases noted as the most beautiful people in Africa. The women cover themselves twice a day with otjitze which consists of butter fat and ochre. It is thought that otjitze protects their skin when out in the sun but also but also gives the skin a reddish tint. The red color represents the earth's giving and beauty.

The women are responsible with milking the cows, caring for children and caring out more intensive labor than men. The men are responsible for political tasks. These people will never wash even after childbirth instead they use fragrances and dust to be cleansed. Women wear ankle straps with beads for protection form poisonous snakes. The boys are traditionally circumcised and marriages are arranged when the child is 14 to 17 years of age.

Droughts and guerrilla warfare thorough the years have been difficult for this tribe however, their culture has been preserved due to seclusion and tourism. Some of the Himba live on wildlife preserves. Mobile schools allow the children to gain knowledge. Their god is Mukuru and they have a spiritual connection with an ancestral fire. A fire-keeper is in charge of this and they communicate with their god for the interest of the family. Their god is pretty busy with distant realms therefore the ancestors intervene for Mukuru. Their god gives only blessings where as ancestors can dish out blessings and curses.


This is fascinating to see a culture that is much more diverse than Iowa. It is interesting to learn that these people never bath or wash but instead rely on strong perfumes and special dust to cleanse themselves. It is also cool to see that these people coat there skin with otjize. The otjize symbolizes the earth's color and protection from the sun this fascinating that this home remedy works as sun tan lotion.


References


"BBC NEWS Africa Aids Threatens Namibia Tribe's Traditions. "BBC NEWS News Front Page. Web. 16 Apr. 2010

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3119766.stm image of map where the Himba people live.


Himba-Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia." Main Page-Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web 16 Apr. 2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himba Article taken from.

"The Himba, The Most Beautiful Tribals In Africa. "Upload and Share Power Point Presentations and Documents. Web. 16 Apr. 2010

www.slideshare.net/trinityblu/the-himba-most-beautiful-tribals-in-africa this is the link from the slide show.

The Himba, The Most Beautiful Tribals In Africa

View more presentations from Trinity Blu*** Don’t Thank Me for Viewing Shows....but Rather, Pay It Forward :))*** .

Click through this power point and see some pictures and read more on the Himba tribe.

African Pengin-The Jackass

This is a unique penguin in which they love to live in warm weather living on the coast of the southern coast and along the islands. Communication to other penguins are made through a donkey like-braying sounds. They live off of Small fish like

sardines and anchovies but squid and crustaceans are also apart of their diet. The jackass penguins have water-proof feathers which also help protect form the cold and holds a waterproof coating on the penguin. The feathers also aid in camouflage. White colors on their belly are to provide protection when predators form below are hunting underneath them. Their dark backs helps provide protection from predators hunting above as they blend in with the dark sea. The penguins do not travel for birth but breed instead in colonies. The nest in which they dig out of their own feces. Removal of penguin feces forces the penguins to relocate as their nest provide protection for the eggs. Neither sex is more responsible for the incubation of the eggs once they are laid. Two to four years after the baby penguins have been hatched they can produce offspring of their own and they can live up to 10 to 15 years. The population has been threatened recently due to pollution and overfishing causing the penguins to be put on a red list. The red list means that these jackass penguins are a risk of extinction.

This article was interesting African animals to me would be loins, giraffes, zebras, elephants, and other exotic tropical animals. I was surprised to find that penguins also live in Africa as well and are well adapted to warmer climates. This is really neat and makes Africa a unique place on earth! I hope more is done to help these penguins from becoming extinct. Educating the general public in Africa can really help these penguins and reduce the amount of pollution and overfishing in the area. It would also help if more was done to help preserve their habitat and less removal of their nests would prevent these penguins from relocating.

References

"Jack-Ass Penguins. Boulder's Beach. Simon's Town." Cape Town Bed and Breakfast Hotel Accommodation on the Beach front in Kommetjie, South Africa. Web. 16 Apr. 2010.

http://www.sunsetbeach.co.za/penguins.htm

"Jackass Penguin-African Penguin Animals-Birds." Animals-Wildlife-Kids Coloring Pages-Animal Fact Guide. Web. 16 Apr. 2010

http://www.animalfactguide.com/animalfacts/african-penguin/ Image of map where the jackass penguins are located in Africa.

photograohy.nationalgeographic.com/photograph is where the image of the penguins are taken from.

World Cup In South Africa

In 55 days South Africa will be hosting a huge event the world cup for soccer. This tournament has been traditionally played every four years since 1930. June 11th is when this years tournament opens. Barcelona's Messis is just 22 years old and is expected to be the best soccer/football player in the world and by the looks of it he still has quite a few years to his soccer career. He sores 11 goals over the last 8 concesutive games. Messis slammed 27 goals through out the season and had 30 goals in the La Liga games. Winning the Golden Ball for being the top scorer in Europe in 2008. Since then Messi has proven time and time again for his successful talents and bringing coupus amounts of people to each game. More games are to be held on June 12 against Nigeria, June 17 against South Korea, June 22 with Greece and the final opponents will be on July 17. Argentina is picked as the favorite to play in final due to Messi's amazing talents. Barcelona a midfielder stated "Messi is incredible, a footballer you get once every 25 to 30 years." While Xavi Alonso had this to say about Messi "he Scores goals, he helps out, he put pressure on rivals, he defends. He is number one."





I thought that this was an interesting article about the World Cup that is to take place in South Africa. I would love to go see the games myself. Messi is an amazing player and South Africa is blessed to have such a talented player at there finger tips. It is great to hear that South Africa has a great footballer to provide entertainment to its citizens. In America the Super Bowl is a big thing but in South Africa it is soccer.





References





Green, Nick. "SOCCER: World Cup Could Be a Messi Situation-Pasadena Star-News. "Home-pasadena Star-News. 04 Apr. 2010. Web. 15 Apr. 2010

www.pasadenastarnastarnnews.com/ci_14871592 article

www.footiewallpapers.com/pic_upload/messi-golden-ball-wallpaper23-929x1024.jpg Image

South Africa Carbon Emissions

Even with South Africa poverty levels not budging to decline it is shocking to see that South Africa has a high-carbon emission. Per capita carbon emissions in South Africa are now higher than in many European countries. It is unlikely that the majority of South African will ever own a plasma tv. South Africa exceeds France carbon emission and falls shortly behind Japan's carbon emission. The majority of South Africa's carbon emission is coming from the industrial community infact 60% of carbon comes form coal. South Africa is now interested in looking into setting up a new coal plant. Experts argue that these emissions have been increasing the temperature around the world. Green house gasses are caused by carbon dioxide but it can occur naturally as well. Even if the emissions of carbon dioxide would ceased to be burned the climate change would still have negative effects for decades. Renewable sources are a great alternative. For South Africa they are looking into solar power. Du Plooy thinks that the climate change should be an economic opportunity and not a burden. There is scientific evidence that glaciers are melting and other areas of the world are affected by climate change as well such as Darfur.

This is an interesting article in which I would have never have guessed that South Africa would have carbon emissions higher than more well off countries. I am shocked that South Africa has such high amounts of carbon dioxide produced per capita. However, it may be expensive to look into greener options. By having companies run off of coal instead of renewable sources is not economical for South Africa at this point. I also found that it was interesting to know that even when carbon emissions are ceased to be burned the earth will still be suffering the effects of global warming for decades later. This was interesting and if the general public knew this fact as well we all could cut back on green house gases as well.

References

Copans, Guy. "SA's Carbon Emission a Cause for Concern." SA's Carbon Emissions a Cause for Concern. Engineering News. 25 Jan. 2008. Web. 15 Apr 2010

Garman, Joss. "South Africa Is Becoming a High-carbon Zone to Attract Foreign Investment." South Africa Is Becoming a High-carbon Zone to Attract Foreign Investment. 1 Apr. 2010. Web. 15 Apr. 2010

Web site articles

www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/sa039s-carbon-emission-a-cause-for-concern-2008-01-25

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/apr/01/south-africa-medupi-climate-polution the image above is also taken from this site.

Dengue Fever

Dengue fever is a arboviral virus in which a mosquito carries the flavivirus gene. Dengue fever is a problem in tropical areas with initial symptoms of infection being asymptotic followed by an acute fever. Very few people who contracted and previously have had Dengue fever have problems with their blood vessels leaking. In some cases these patients are bleeding within their tissues which develops into shock and ultimately death. In times of weather changes, herd immunity, and mosquito control is an attribute towards epidemics in Africa. Generally the disease is prevalent in urban community and eventually spreads to heavier populated areas of host to transport the disease. Europe and Antarctica are the only places on earth that have not had this disease present. Dengue fever does not occur in European nations because of the lack of tropical climate along with appropriate vectors for passing on the virus, however, travelers returning from tropical regions have problems. Urban sprawl, increasing population to endemic areas, climate change, poor water systems and health care systems are all factors that does not have Dengue fever.

Mosquito bites are a problem in Africa they love standing water in which they breed. If inadequate blood is not received by the mosquito's' initial bite they move on to an acceptable host causing the virus to spread. Dengue is an infection primary to humans, therefore the mosquito's initially picks up the virus and and carries it to a healthy human host infecting the individual. The mosquito than carries the virus until its death 15 to 65 days later. Incubation time for a human after an initial bite is 3 to 14 days. Hemorrhaging and shock come on the 3rd to 7th day of infection. Depending on climate and medical care is the determining factor on how susceptible one is of recovering. Factors that affect healing rates include; health of status of the individual before the infection, age, nutritional sate, sequence of infection, ethnicity, and health care that is available.

Dengue fever causes sever headaches, nausea, vomiting, rashes, bleeding of gums, nose bleeds, abdominal pain, hypothermia, fatigue, malaise, sore throat, cough and an enlarged liver. Initial stages after 10 days of infection is an increase in temperature accompanied by flushed skin and flu like symptoms. This lasts for seven days after the fever subsides the body temperature then drops, circulatory failure follows with shock; a quick recovery ends the fever. No vaccination is available at this time.

This was an interesting article. When I think of diseases that are common to Africa I think of HIV/AIDS. So much attention is focused on HIV/AIDS and I thought that it would be interesting to see what other diseases that Africa has more prevalent to their content than to the United States. Tropical diseases are much harder to deal with when most diseases love to be in warm dark areas. I have never heard of Dengue Fever before and I was surprised to learn that this fever is passed for person to person through a mosquito. It was interesting to learn that this fever attacks the blood vessels and causes complications in serious cases which lead to death through hemorrhaging and bleeding to death.

References

Dengue Fever: EMedicine Infectious Diseases. "EMedicine Medical Reference." Web 15 Apr. 2010. .

Public Health Agency of Canada "Dengue Fever" Dengue Fever. Public Health Agency of Canada, 09 Dec. 2009. Web. 15 Apri. 2010

Web Site Article taken from

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/215840-overview

Picture taken from the Public Health Agency of Canada it shows the regions in the world that are at risk of Dengue fever.

Frantic Ugandans Race To Free Mudslide Survivors : NPR

Frantic Ugandans Race To Free Mudslide Survivors : NPR
There was a mud slide on March 1, 2010 in Ugandan. Heavy rains is the cause of this mud slide. Massive amounts of thick and heavy mud devoured a village. Many villagers are trapped under the thick and heavy mud. Some predict that the death toll will reach to the hundreds but as of right now the death toll is 86 people. Helicopters came to retrieve the stranded villagers. Some people were pulled form the mud slide alive, three days after the incident. There are an estimated 240 people missing. So far the mud is 16ft thick, this mud is so thick that digging out bodies is slow and difficult. The mud has buried buildings and the President Yoweri Museveni is adamant to have the residents leave the area for there may be more mud slides to come. There is also a concern that disease like malaria, diarrhea and other tropical diseases may be problems for the future.

Ugandan Mud slides are serious for this area it disrupts the lives of the people who live there. The community is living under mud and survival for this community is different now, food may be hard to come by, fresh water may not be available and disease may become wide spread to this area. In Iowa the people deal with harsh winters, floods and tornadoes. In other places of the world it is good to understand the natural disasters that the people face. This understanding helps us to learn more about why the people in this region live the way they do and how the culture is shaped around this.

www.citizen.co.za/index/AFPData/english/share picture

www.npr.org/templates/story.php?storyId=124267827 web site information

Darfur: Background | Global Solutions

Darfur: Background Global Solutions
The war in Darfur started when rebels attacked the Sudan government. The rebels were retaliating that the government was ignoring the region. To counter the attacks the government responds by killing massive amounts of Darfurians. Many people flee for safety thousands of Darfurians are then attacked by the ground as well as from the air. Rebel groups also known as the janjweed raid villages and burn everything. Many innocent lives are taken an estimated 400,000 people have lost their lives. 2.5 million people no longer live in their native lands and 500 people died a day during the war.

Many civilians of Darfur flee to Chad the government in Chad is then accused of supporting Durfur Rebels. The people of Chad then flee in fear of janjaweed attacks. The Chad government is upset with Khartoum thinking they support the increasing genocides in Chad.

The US investigates to conclude that both the Sudan government and the janjaweeds are responsible for the massive killing of innocent civilians. They both violated international human rights and the humanitarian law. Both parties came together to sign a peace agreement in May 5, 2006. The US was to take action if the agreement was broken since then the janjaweed has not disarmed or stopped violence. Darfur government also has not stopped fighting. Steps are slowly starting to be put in place to protect the civilians.

I have always wondered what was really going on in Darfur and why was there genocide going on. After looking at this article it opened my eye to know what is really going on and to see how many thousands of people have been innocently caught in the middle of the fight. I think that as Americans it is easy to get caught up in our own lives and we fail to look on the other side of the world where peace is not seen.

http://themovingtargetfiles.wordpress.com/2008/08/refugees_darfur1.jpg black and white photo

www.truthdig.com/eartogrounduploads/icrc_darfur_350.jpg stranded refugees photo

Africans in America/Part 1/Prince

Prince Henry the Navigator
Prince Henry the Navigator heard that gold was in abundance in Africa. He then became determined to learn more about orientation of ships to Africa in seek of gold and riches. Navigation in the waters was one of the most difficult tasks in sailing a ship. Dias was able to navigating around the southern tip of Africa this was a major accomplishment in trading. The Swahili people traded gold and clothing in exchange for sliver, hardware, clothing, horses, and beeswax. Portugal also brought a sense of monarchy, Christianity, and the production of sugar.

Prince Henry the Navigator wells excellent in navigation when sailing however, he never really actually sailed. I thought that this was very interesting. You would think that he would want to be out in the action and seeing his accomplishments first hand. The link tells more depth about the life of Prince Henry the Navigator. Instead he heavily supported these successful trips.

www.1902encyclopedia.com/G/GEO?geograph-13.htm picture of Prince Henry of Navigators

www.link75.org/wcs/warner/kellen%20r.htm map picture

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p259.html

Niger River

The Niger River is important to Africa in many ways it provides transportantion from the Atlantic Ocean. The river also is a great source of water for farmers crops and fish. Farmers first grew crops along the river that included yams, palm kernels, cereral, and bananas to name a few. Cattle was also raised in this forested area. The Niger provide lots of opprotunities for the natives.

http://http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/414815/Niger-River

This web site provides alot more information about the Niger River. It tells how the river is the third largest river in the world and the type of fish that are native to the region.


"Niger River." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopedia Britannia online. 27 Feb. 2010 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/414815/Niger-river

http://www.fcps.K12va.us/KingsParkES/technology/mali/images/malimap1.gif Google Images. Web 27 Feb. 2010


I think that after reading the information on this website I had a greater understanding for the Niger river. When reading the material of Ibn Battuat he reaches the Niger river he comes to relizing that the ruler there will not be visited by white men and they would be terminated before they reach him. He also talks about a crocodile and the unsual food prepared for him.

YouTube - World's Toughest Jobs: Salt Miner

YouTube - World's Toughest Jobs: Salt Miner

In this link it shows a video of the process of minning salt and transporting the salt across the desert. In the readings from the book "Africa A Short History" it tells the readers how important trade was to the natives. Africa is rich in gold and would use the exportation of gold in exchange for salt. Africans then used the salt for cooking and medicines. The book comments on how people can live with out gold but not without salt. This is why salt is so valuable. Infact salt is just as vuluble as gold itself. It also talks about how difficult it is to travel through the Sahara desert with little water and little direction as to where you are going. Cammels are interesting animals for they can store fat in their humps along with storing water in their bellies going up to ten days with out water.

I thought that this video is interesting and it relates to this weeks readings well. Trade among the state were very important for survival and for the economy. This video goes into more depth than the readings did and I thought that it was good to see the salt being processed than to just read about it. The video points out that the caravan would use the markings in the sands to tell the direction of the wind blowing as a reference to where they were heading.

World's Toughest Job: Salt Miner. Youtube.com. National Geographic. Web. 27 Feb. 2010
http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi9bJhRZtKA&feature=related

Karen Pink-Africa

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