Mount Kilimanjaro and it's mostly evaporated ice fields.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
A Date was not noted on this climbing guide so the pictures aren't accurate but the logistics are.
Mount Kilimanjaro and it's mostly evaporated ice fields.
The African Diaspora
SLAVERY.
The Slave Trade took millions of people out of Africa to the American southern colonies but also to places like Cuba, Brazil, the Carribean Islands including Haiti and Trinidad. They found themselves in trade to masters in Mexico, Central America, Northern South America and Ecuador. Some escaped and liberated slaves were able to find a life in places like Jamaica.
My point is that for as estranged as the Diaspora has become from it's heritage it is wrong and they should be given the opportunity to identify with their roots realizing the countries and communities of Africa are in need of advocacy for those that can and will.
If we are to look at Africa in detailed ways to solve it's problems and sustainability we need to look to the whole of Africa and that dictates those that were taken out of Africa against their will.
The Slave Trade took millions of people out of Africa to the American southern colonies but also to places like Cuba, Brazil, the Carribean Islands including Haiti and Trinidad. They found themselves in trade to masters in Mexico, Central America, Northern South America and Ecuador. Some escaped and liberated slaves were able to find a life in places like Jamaica.
My point is that for as estranged as the Diaspora has become from it's heritage it is wrong and they should be given the opportunity to identify with their roots realizing the countries and communities of Africa are in need of advocacy for those that can and will.
If we are to look at Africa in detailed ways to solve it's problems and sustainability we need to look to the whole of Africa and that dictates those that were taken out of Africa against their will.
What are hurdles that remain undefined in Africa?
Are they insignificant?
Or are we overlooking simple things that could be not so simple but when realized change a picture of Africa that might heal some of it's ills.
Let's take a look at language.
Africa has 10% of the total world population but 20% of the total land mass. Realizing there are two regions of Africa in that Subsahara Africa is seen as unique in it's needs, there is still a growth rate on this continent of approximately 3% per year with the concentration primarily increasing in ages below 15 years old. That speaks to several social issues including the devastation of HIV/AIDS leaving large populations of orphans and also the Arabian culture has issues of martyrdom and self sacrifice of their own lives causing the average age in those nations to fall to about age 16 or 17. Either way Africa has serious concerns regarding the competency of it's populations, educational levels, government stability and their brain trusts for leadership, business and research as well as a work force including farming. Many areas of Africa farming when not a drought is a high percentage of the occupation of the populous.
The geography of languages in Africa is remarkably complex. If people aren't able to communicate will they remain tolerant of each other? Many of the 'violent conflicts' occurring in Africa is related to the control of natural resources. The violence usually falls between ethnicities rather than nations. If violence existed between sovereign countries it would be easier to control by bringing parties before The United Nations Security Council to settle disputes. But the violence in Africa goes beyond the definition of sovereign state.
There are currently 800 living languages in Africa. 40 are spoken by more than one million people. The dominant indigenous languages spoken by 10 million people or more are Hausa (the Sahel), Lingala (Central Africa), Swahili (East Africa) and Tswana-Sotho and Zulu (Southern Africa. Hausa and Swahili are spoken by many as a second language for Trade. Complicated by all this is the fact recent colonial control has brought in English, French and Portugese. Arabic is most common in Northern Africa which also has a strong influence in Swahili.
The indigenous languages of Africa can be grouped into 'families' if you will. Afro-Asiatic of Northern Africa to include Somalia, Amharic and Tuareg. There is the Nilo-Saharan languages of Dinka, Turkana and Nuer of East Africa. The Niger-Congo group is the largest including Hausa, Yoruba, Zulu, Swahili and Kikuyu. A much smaller family of languages are spoken by the Bushmen of Southern Africa. It's distinguishing characteristic is a "click" when vocalized.
Currently I believe there are about 55 countries and 11 provinces in Africa. There is no dominant indigenous language in most African countries and while efficent to some degree sadly they have established Eurpoean languages for trade, school and government. Mind you this is for those that live in conditions that allow trade, school and government. There are three countries that have enough dominant overlap to allow an ethnic language to be the majority language and those are Somalia with the Somalia language, Botswana with the Tswana language and Ethiopia with Amharic as their dominant language.
To understand this better I'll look at the way the populations arrange themselves on this continent with vast deavastation of human life. Next discussion in a minute.
Or are we overlooking simple things that could be not so simple but when realized change a picture of Africa that might heal some of it's ills.
Let's take a look at language.
Africa has 10% of the total world population but 20% of the total land mass. Realizing there are two regions of Africa in that Subsahara Africa is seen as unique in it's needs, there is still a growth rate on this continent of approximately 3% per year with the concentration primarily increasing in ages below 15 years old. That speaks to several social issues including the devastation of HIV/AIDS leaving large populations of orphans and also the Arabian culture has issues of martyrdom and self sacrifice of their own lives causing the average age in those nations to fall to about age 16 or 17. Either way Africa has serious concerns regarding the competency of it's populations, educational levels, government stability and their brain trusts for leadership, business and research as well as a work force including farming. Many areas of Africa farming when not a drought is a high percentage of the occupation of the populous.
The geography of languages in Africa is remarkably complex. If people aren't able to communicate will they remain tolerant of each other? Many of the 'violent conflicts' occurring in Africa is related to the control of natural resources. The violence usually falls between ethnicities rather than nations. If violence existed between sovereign countries it would be easier to control by bringing parties before The United Nations Security Council to settle disputes. But the violence in Africa goes beyond the definition of sovereign state.
There are currently 800 living languages in Africa. 40 are spoken by more than one million people. The dominant indigenous languages spoken by 10 million people or more are Hausa (the Sahel), Lingala (Central Africa), Swahili (East Africa) and Tswana-Sotho and Zulu (Southern Africa. Hausa and Swahili are spoken by many as a second language for Trade. Complicated by all this is the fact recent colonial control has brought in English, French and Portugese. Arabic is most common in Northern Africa which also has a strong influence in Swahili.
The indigenous languages of Africa can be grouped into 'families' if you will. Afro-Asiatic of Northern Africa to include Somalia, Amharic and Tuareg. There is the Nilo-Saharan languages of Dinka, Turkana and Nuer of East Africa. The Niger-Congo group is the largest including Hausa, Yoruba, Zulu, Swahili and Kikuyu. A much smaller family of languages are spoken by the Bushmen of Southern Africa. It's distinguishing characteristic is a "click" when vocalized.
Currently I believe there are about 55 countries and 11 provinces in Africa. There is no dominant indigenous language in most African countries and while efficent to some degree sadly they have established Eurpoean languages for trade, school and government. Mind you this is for those that live in conditions that allow trade, school and government. There are three countries that have enough dominant overlap to allow an ethnic language to be the majority language and those are Somalia with the Somalia language, Botswana with the Tswana language and Ethiopia with Amharic as their dominant language.
To understand this better I'll look at the way the populations arrange themselves on this continent with vast deavastation of human life. Next discussion in a minute.
Interethnic relationships? Is that possible?
The multiplicity of language and DIALECTS outline a large number of distinct cultural and ethnic groups. These groups have an artifical boundary in their languages. These groups are often led by chiefs and some are monarchies of kings and queens.
I want to look at where these people 'congregate' in communities. I am going to do it by vegetation types. Five to be exact.
The largest group of people live in forests with medium to high rainfall. Oddly or maybe not so oddly this is where the diversity of ethnicity and language reside in it's greatest number.
The major language divisions are Western Bantoid, Central Bantoid, Eastern Bantoid, Indo-European, Central and Eastern Sudanese, Mande and in smaller degree Bantu. To be more specific we can look at smaller groups of language within these same demographics and those number at least 24 with one million people speaking those languages. Mind you now of all the five vegetation regions in square miles it is the smallest.
Maybe some of the problems here are related to population density stress complicated by language barriers. The countries of this region are Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D'ivooire (The Ivory Coast), Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea including Malabo, Gabon, Congo, with protions of Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The next vegetative area which is the largest in square miles receiving moderate to low rainfall is the Savannah. It ranks second in population density. Here the major languages are a bit less but then this is third in population density. There is Bantu, Nilotic, Semitic-Hemitc, a degree of Kanuri, Lingala, Amhara and Hausa. Oddly the number of minor languages seem to be about 41. This because there is less populous for a larger area, hence creating unique situations for language.
The third vegetation area is desert which exists in large area in Northern Africa and a smaller degree in Southern Africa. In the north rainfall is very low but in the south the rainfall is very low to low. Here is language distribution is far more simple. Majorly Khosian, Bantu, Swahili, Lingala, Amhara and Semitic-Hamitic. The lesser languages of people numbering in populations of greater than 1 million is about 30. Especially in the north a strong history of nomadic tribes existed for a long time and that caused a great deal of language speciality.
The fourth vegetation region is called Intrazonal and it lies at the margins of the Savannah both in the north and south and along the rivers with very small square mileage devoted to this designation yet for as small a region as it still has twice the populous. I won't get into specifics here although there are ethnic differences but most of the languages were included in the list for the Savannah.
The last vegetation region is The Evergreen Forest which is at opposite extremes of the African continent both north and south with low amounts of rainfall. The region in the north is primarily Semitic-Hamitic with about five minor languages. The area is coastal Mediterranian. In the south there is some Bantu, Zulu, Tswanna-Sotho and Indo-Eruopean. There are about three minor languages.
These are all rough estimates of language.
The worrisome issue with language is that a tribe could literally wipe itself out because it has a barrier to information regarding HIV/AIDS or be isolated to have a larger tribe commit genocide.
This may be nothing but I do believe it is a major hurdle to solving Africa's problems and as we proceed in resolve to accomplish the task of 'Righting the Wrongs' of Africa this observation might bring to light an issue that once overcome will allow resolve of simple vaccinations or medication distribution go quicker with a far better resolve.
I want to look at where these people 'congregate' in communities. I am going to do it by vegetation types. Five to be exact.
The largest group of people live in forests with medium to high rainfall. Oddly or maybe not so oddly this is where the diversity of ethnicity and language reside in it's greatest number.
The major language divisions are Western Bantoid, Central Bantoid, Eastern Bantoid, Indo-European, Central and Eastern Sudanese, Mande and in smaller degree Bantu. To be more specific we can look at smaller groups of language within these same demographics and those number at least 24 with one million people speaking those languages. Mind you now of all the five vegetation regions in square miles it is the smallest.
Maybe some of the problems here are related to population density stress complicated by language barriers. The countries of this region are Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D'ivooire (The Ivory Coast), Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea including Malabo, Gabon, Congo, with protions of Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The next vegetative area which is the largest in square miles receiving moderate to low rainfall is the Savannah. It ranks second in population density. Here the major languages are a bit less but then this is third in population density. There is Bantu, Nilotic, Semitic-Hemitc, a degree of Kanuri, Lingala, Amhara and Hausa. Oddly the number of minor languages seem to be about 41. This because there is less populous for a larger area, hence creating unique situations for language.
The third vegetation area is desert which exists in large area in Northern Africa and a smaller degree in Southern Africa. In the north rainfall is very low but in the south the rainfall is very low to low. Here is language distribution is far more simple. Majorly Khosian, Bantu, Swahili, Lingala, Amhara and Semitic-Hamitic. The lesser languages of people numbering in populations of greater than 1 million is about 30. Especially in the north a strong history of nomadic tribes existed for a long time and that caused a great deal of language speciality.
The fourth vegetation region is called Intrazonal and it lies at the margins of the Savannah both in the north and south and along the rivers with very small square mileage devoted to this designation yet for as small a region as it still has twice the populous. I won't get into specifics here although there are ethnic differences but most of the languages were included in the list for the Savannah.
The last vegetation region is The Evergreen Forest which is at opposite extremes of the African continent both north and south with low amounts of rainfall. The region in the north is primarily Semitic-Hamitic with about five minor languages. The area is coastal Mediterranian. In the south there is some Bantu, Zulu, Tswanna-Sotho and Indo-Eruopean. There are about three minor languages.
These are all rough estimates of language.
The worrisome issue with language is that a tribe could literally wipe itself out because it has a barrier to information regarding HIV/AIDS or be isolated to have a larger tribe commit genocide.
This may be nothing but I do believe it is a major hurdle to solving Africa's problems and as we proceed in resolve to accomplish the task of 'Righting the Wrongs' of Africa this observation might bring to light an issue that once overcome will allow resolve of simple vaccinations or medication distribution go quicker with a far better resolve.
Africa by Toto
I hear the drums echoing tonight.
She hears only whispers of some
quiet conversation.
She is coming in twelve thirty flight.
Moonlit wings reflect the stars
that guide me towards salvation.
I stopped an old man along the way
hoping to find some long forgotten words
or ancient melodies.
He turned to me as if to say,
"Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you."
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you.
There's nothing that a hundred men
or more could ever do.
I bless the rains down in Africa.
Gonna take some time to do
the things we never had.
Wild dogs cry out in the night
as they grow restless longing
for some solitary company.
I know that I must do what's right
sure as Kilimanjaro rises
like Olympus above the Serengeti.
I seem to cure what's deep inside,
frightened of this thing that I've become.
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you.
There's nothing that a hundred men
or more could ever do.
I bless the rains down in Africa.
Gonna take some time to do
the things we never had.
"Hurry boy, she is waiting there for you."
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you.
There's nothing that a hundred men
or more could ever do.
I bless the rains down in Africa.
I bless the rains down in Africa.
I bless the rains down in Africa.
I bless the rains down in Africa.
I bless the rains down in Africa.
Gonna take some time to do
the things we never had.
She hears only whispers of some
quiet conversation.
She is coming in twelve thirty flight.
Moonlit wings reflect the stars
that guide me towards salvation.
I stopped an old man along the way
hoping to find some long forgotten words
or ancient melodies.
He turned to me as if to say,
"Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you."
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you.
There's nothing that a hundred men
or more could ever do.
I bless the rains down in Africa.
Gonna take some time to do
the things we never had.
Wild dogs cry out in the night
as they grow restless longing
for some solitary company.
I know that I must do what's right
sure as Kilimanjaro rises
like Olympus above the Serengeti.
I seem to cure what's deep inside,
frightened of this thing that I've become.
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you.
There's nothing that a hundred men
or more could ever do.
I bless the rains down in Africa.
Gonna take some time to do
the things we never had.
"Hurry boy, she is waiting there for you."
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you.
There's nothing that a hundred men
or more could ever do.
I bless the rains down in Africa.
I bless the rains down in Africa.
I bless the rains down in Africa.
I bless the rains down in Africa.
I bless the rains down in Africa.
Gonna take some time to do
the things we never had.
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