Education in Africa

After researching female circumcision I decided to look into Africa's education system. It was what I thought in the since that women are less than, and its about gender roles. It was sad to see that this still goes on but its not the US and other counties aren't as advanced as us so this is were they are stuck at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Africa

Female Circumcision

I wanted to future look into female circumcision in Africa after our class discussion. Ive heard of it before but never really took the time to research it. so after reading about it I gained a clearer understanding for why but I still don't support it but I wanted to read different reasoning why. Its really sad what they are doing to these ladies, but some of these ladies believe its suppose to happen.

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2313097.html

African Football

After watching the 49er game tonight (Go 9ERS!!) I decided to look into football in Africa.
After reading on a couple of sites I figured out that football isn't the same there as it is here, there definition of football is what we would call soccer! But hey thats fine since that was the case I continued to look up soccer and seen that its most popular in Morocco down to south Africa.


http://goafrica.about.com/od/workinafrica/a/football.htm

Christianity in Africa

After reading chapter 2 I decided to further look into Christianity in Africa.

• What I came across I found it really interesting according to the bcc website.

Christianity first arrived in North Africa, in the 1st or early 2nd century AD. The Christian communities in North Africa were among the earliest in the world. Legend has it that Christianity was brought from Jerusalem to Alexandria on the Egyptian coast by Mark, one of the four evangelists, in 60 AD. This was around the same time or possibly before Christianity spread to Northern Europe.

Once in North Africa, Christianity spread slowly West from Alexandria and East to Ethiopia. Through North Africa, Christianity was embraced as the religion of dissent against the expanding Roman Empire. In the 4th century AD the Ethiopian King Ezana made Christianity the kingdom's official religion. In 312 Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

In the 7th century Christianity retreated under the advance of Islam. But it remained the chosen religion of the Ethiopian Empire and persisted in pockets in North Africa.

In the 15th century Christianity came to Sub-Saharan Africa with the arrival of the Portuguese. In the South of the continent the Dutch founded the beginnings of the Dutch Reform Church in 1652.

In the interior of the continent most people continued to practice their own religions undisturbed until the 19th century. At that time, Christian missions to Africa increased, driven by an antislavery crusade and the interest of Europeans in colonising Africa. However, where people had already converted to Islam, Christianity had little success.

Christianity was an agent of great change in Africa. It destabilised the status quo, bringing new opportunities to some, and undermining the power of others. With the Christian missions came education, literacy and hope for the disadvantaged. However, the spread of Christianity paved the way for commercial speculators, and, in its original rigid European form, denied people pride in their culture and ceremonies.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/index_section8.shtml

• What I also came across was exploring africa website.

 Given this proximity, it is not surprising that Christianity spread to Egypt and North Africa in the first century C.E. Indeed, Egypt, particularly the city of Alexandria, became an important center of this new religion. Unfortunately, Christians today don't know much about the rich tradition of Christianity in Egypt and North Africa. This is because of the divisions that developed in Christianity in the first centuries of its existence.

In many religions in the centuries following the death of the founder of the religion, their followers quarrel over issues of belief and practice. This is what happened in the case of Christianity. Unlike the case with Islam, in the early centuries of Christianity, there was no sacred text of the teachings and revelations of Jesus. Moslems had the Quran to guide them after the death of Mohammed. Jesus left no such written testament. There were, to be sure, many oral stories and recollections of the life and teachings of Jesus, but no official sacred text to guide the new Christians. Consequently, there were different interpretations of what Jesus' teaching really meant. As a result, several different distinctive groups of Christians developed within the first centuries of the religion.

One important group was centered in Egypt and had influence throughout North Africa. This group was known as the Gnostics. You probably have not heard of this group, although they were very important and influential in the early history of Christianity. One of the other major factions of the early Christianity was centered in Rome. This faction was very much influenced by the teachings of the Apostle Paul. This faction became prominent in the fourth century C.E. when the Roman Empire officially became Christian. Recognizing the importance of a sacred text in solidifying their control over Christianity, the Roman faction brought together a collection of writings by early Christians and proclaimed these writings were inspired by God and that they were the true testament of the life and teachings of Jesus. This collection is known as the New Testament and is a central part of the Christian Bible. However, in creating the New Testament the Roman faction rejected as heresy all other writings about Jesus' life and teachings, including many books written by North African Gnostic Christians. No wonder so few people know of the importance of these early African Christians.

In spite of the repression of the Gnostic Christians by Roman Christians, Christianity continued to flourish throughout North Africa until the arrival of Islam in the seventh century C.E. The Christians in this area were known as Coptic Christians, named after the main language of the area. By the time of the arrival of Islam, the Coptic Orthodox Church had lost most of the Gnostic influence, although the Coptic faith, like the Gnostics placed a great deal of emphasis on contemplation and monastism. In structure, it was similar to the Church of Rome in that it practiced the same sacraments, and the church structure was made up of priests and bishops. Like the Roman Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church is headed by a Patriarch (similar to the Pope in the Roman Church) who lives in Alexandria.

Even after Egypt had been taken over by Arab Moslems, the Coptic Christians continued to form a small but important segment of Egyptian society. Indeed, Coptic Christians today comprise approximately fifteen per cent of the Egyptian population.

http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/m14/activity4.php

Africa Continent or Country?

Africa is defiantly a continent and not a country! Lots of people see it as the opposite, when most think or even speak of Africa HIV poor hungry kids come to mind but thats not all they have to offer, it's way more to life in Africa.
Here are 10 reason why Africa is important:

1.   Africa is the second largest continent (after Asia) with 700 million people

2.   The earliest pre-human fossils were found in Kenya and Tanzania

3.   During the 19^th century, European countries colonized Africa but became independent of colonial rule in the 20^th century

4.   The geography includes deserts (the Sahara desert is the largest in the world), rain forest jungles, mountains, grasslands, rivers and lakes

5.   Major rivers include the Congo, the Nile (the longest river in the world), the Zambezi (including the Victorian Falls), the Niger, the Ubangi and the Orange.

6.   The climate of Africa is tropical although there are temperate climates in the northern and southern extremes as well as in the mountains

7.   Animal life in Africa is extremely diverse and includes elephants, giraffes, hippopotamuses, gorillas, chimpanzees, zebras, rhinoceroses, crocodiles, leopards, cheetahs and birds like flamingos, herons, pelicans and storks

8.   Over 800 languages are spoken in Africa

9.   Africa has many mineral resources including aluminum ore, bauxite, chromium, cobalt, copper, diamonds, gold, iron ore, manganese, petroleum, platinum, and zinc

10.   Africa is a land of many different people, cultures, and languages and most people identify with their tribe or nation

These facts aren't ones that would come up everyday theres more to Africa then we think.