Vaccines SAVE lives

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/07/opinion/vaccine-gavi-seth-berkley/index.html?hpt=iaf_t3

Some good news, vaccines help people fight against disease, but for those in Africa it is helping with economic growth, and population. , Tanzania is working closely with Gavi to increase routing vaccine coverage rates, by healthier children means more kids in school, being active , adults getting vaccines means more working, staying active and making more money. this is very positive. living longer is something they should look forward too, it will also help with the spread. :)

Sierra leones president wins second term

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/24/world/africa/sierra-leone-president-wins/index.html?hpt=iaf_c2

just thought this was interesting, something different from the bad things that are happening in Africa. Sierra leons incumbent president won this past election, he got more then 55% of the votes which means the people really like him, his idea is to move forward with action and see what Sierra Leone is made of. Watch the atatched video to see how Sierra leone cast ballots, pretty cool since most of us in class are Poli Sci majors. Many believe Koroma will be a positve influence during his second term they are looking to empower a new Sierra leone which is think is great, they have been through so much, and have overcome so many challenges. NOT only are the people of Sierra Leone happy but also the United states applauded Koroma believing he will help make a change.

Conflict diamonds

http://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=165271466

Sierra leone has gone through so much in reguards to the blood diamonds, many think this isssue has been solved but it has not, after doing more and more research on this topic i have come to realize it may never be resolved. there will alwyas been a want for diamonds and where do they come from Africa.  The war in Sierra Leone is over but the most valuabe resource that they have is still wanted by many. im excited to learn more about this and present it to the class.

New timeline for Benghazi Attack

Look at this link...

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/01/intelligence-official-offers-new-timeline-for-benghazi-attack/?hpt=iaf_c2


Just 5 days before the election their was a rare briefing to reporters on fox news giving a detailed account of what was going on here. They state the CIA refused to assits those americans who were under attack at the US mission. Fox news stated that the Americans there kept calling for military back up but it wasnt given to them. The CIA denies this and states there were a few dozen officers on site. This attack has been a huge part a debate during the Obama Administration and they ave been criticized by republicans.

Educating girls can save a nation!

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/25/opinion/banda-women-poverty/index.html?hpt=iaf_r1

Childhood friend of Malawi President Joyce Banda had to drop out of school

Chrissie's family couldn't pay for school, Banda says, so now she lives in poverty with kids

Banda calls for education, access to birth control to lift families out of poverty

I chose this topic becasue educating women and young girls can be beneficial. Joyce Banda is right by educating them it can help them get out of poverty, becasue Chrissie dropped out of school she ended up married with a tone of kids and is still living in the same place. Most of the people of Malawi live in poverty and are exposed to Malaria and Aids. Do you agree that all women should be knowledgable about health issues and birth control? Do you think knowledge will help with the decisons they make.

This is a great topic becasue we are facing this issue in our current elections, we want women to have the knowledge to be able to make the right decisions.

Trading Childhood for Marriage.

http://cnnphotos.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/11/trading-childhood-for-marriage/?hpt=wo_t3

Trading Childhood for marriage; after looking at this article I could not believe what I was reading, an 11 year old little girl was being forced to marry a 23 year old Ethiopian Priest.Why did he chose her, because she was young enough to still be a virgin. Destaye said that she wanted to be more then just a wife, she went to school and tried being someone great! Child marriage is found in many countries but in Ethiopia their are law preventing it, but most do not enforce these laws. What do you think, do you think it is ok for an 11 year old to be forced into getting married?

Central Nigeria-arts of the Benue River Valley

the Central Nigeria Art Exhibit is on the first floor of the Cantor Museum and i suggests that while taking this class everyone go and visit. The art teaches you all about the Upper, Middle, and Lower parts Benue and how the art is different and identifies everyone and their identities. The upper part of the Benue River is known for women artists, the middle part of the river were known for their rainmaking wand the Mumye people used this to assure fertility of their crops, and the lower part of the river were known for their Kundal healing figures in male and female pairs in the Muri Mountains.

I am having trouble adding the pictures of the art i took but i will post them when i can figure out how. :)


http://museum.stanford.edu/news_room/benue.html

South African Commission probing miners' deaths.

Watch the Video Attached to this link..

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/01/world/africa/south-africa-mine-unrest/index.html?hpt=wo_c2


Protests at the mine in the northwest killed 44 people, including two police officers, of the 34 miners/men that were killed were fighting with the police. The strikes started in August at Lonmin-owned Marikana platinum mine in the nation's northwest.10 more people were killed at this time and 2 of them were police officers. The workers who work at the mine ended this awful strike after almost a month of strikes and they received a pay increase of 22%.  Some of the miners were even charged with murder, i think they were charged only because the fights included police officers. 

Trafficking

http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/19/bedouin-successes-fighting-people-traffickers/?hpt=wo_t3

Tribe of people in Africa are the Bedouin.. you can watch a documentary called "stand in Sinai" on friday the 21st.

Look at the crazy pictures of traffickers melting plastic onto these refugees. Watch the Video on how these people are trying to stand up to the traffickers. These men and women are tortured and raped and if thet find someone to pay a ransom those who are raped are often killed

This is a quote from one of the Refugees
Another man from Eritrea also described his ordeal: "They chained our hands and legs together and hung us upside down and started hitting the bottom of our feet. They melted plastic on our skin and just kept constantly hitting us. And they told me, 'if you do not pay ($33,000), no one will come out of this alive.'"

Officer killed in Libya

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/11/world/meast/egpyt-us-embassy-protests/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

The united states says they were taking measures to protect its citizens against angry protesters, the people of libya were upset because of a film they thought was offensive to Islams.
  Many protested at the US embassy and tore down the American flag.

Hilary Clinton also responded and was heartbroken she was very strong about her feelings about what happened, Libyas own general national conference also was against the attack.

South African Miners

http://www.voanews.com/content/south_africa_miners_lonmin_reach_peace_deal/1502811.html

Look at the pictures on this link.   I also saw this on NBC 11 o clock news.

South Africa's Mining Industry

• Number of workers: 498,141
• Industry deaths: 128
• Key commodities mined: Diamonds, gold, platinum, palladium
• Real mining GDP: $12.06 billion
• Mineral exports: $36.25 billion