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.

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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.

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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.

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