HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa

On VOA (Voice of America), Although many of the articles on this website are from America, there was one article that caught my eye was an article on Youths with HIV and AIDS. The article is called “Adolescents Often Neglected in African HIV Programs”. According to this article, the World Health Organization says only 10% of young men and 15% of young women in Sub-Saharan Africa know if they have HIV or not. Also, over 2,000,000 adolescents ages 10-19 are living with HIV in the world, and over 70% are from Sub-Saharan Africa.

This is the amount of AIDS  Related Deaths in Africa.

The reason why this is happening is because some laws in Sub-Saharan Africa do not allow adolescents under 18 to get checked for HIV. This article is about ways in which people can help decrease the amount or at least make aware to people living with HIV and AIDS.talks about steps people can and are taking to help adolescents and adults find out their HIV status.
This articles 

The picture on the right is from the article. It shows the amount of AIDS-Related Deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa  from 2005-2012. Many of these deaths were of people that were unaware of their HIV status.

African Masks, Statues, Artwork, and Crafts

If you are interested in African Masks, I found the perfect website! This website has pictures of hundreds of pictures of different masks across all the tribes in Africa. They have masks from the Yoruba Tribe, Igbo Tribe, Ashanti Tribe, and many more! You are able to choose which tribe you want to look at and they have a bunch of different masks to look at! Although it doesn't give you that much information on the masks, I feel that the masks tell the story of tribe alone. The pictures below are off of this website under the Baluba tab on the left side of the web page.

PaintedMask from the Baluba Tribe

Beaded Mask from the Baluba Tribe

These are two masks from the Baluba Tribe in the Congo. Many of their masks have these bright colors and round features. The one on the left is made out of stringed beads and the one on the right is painted. This tribe is my favorite because I love the colors and details put into their masks.

Nelson Mandela death: South Africa and world mourn

I found a very good article on the life of Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela, a true idol and hero of South Africa has passed away at age 95. Many people have been gathering all week and will continue to gather in Johannesburg and Soweto to mourn their former leaders death. Many have been seen dancing, paying tribute and singing in front Mandela's former home.


Mandela did a lot of things help make the world a better place. One of the biggest things he did was him and administration replaced the racist white- minority regime that had enforced segregation on black and white people. This policy was known as apartheid. He than went on to become one of the world's most respected statesmen. Along with this came hardships, like spending time in prison for treason, leaving the country without a passport, and charged with sabotage. He came out of it as a true inspiration. This article is very good I recommend it for anyone who wants to learn more about the fascinating life of Nelson Mandela. The pictures are from the article and their is also a video on remembering the life of Mandela.

E-Publishing in Africa

I found a news article that I thought was pretty interesting. It came off of BBC news. It is called “Will e-publishing help Africa switch onto reading?” It is about bringing e-publishing into Africa. The goal of doing this to get children and adults to enjoy reading by not reading the typical book. They feel that by having these E-Readers people of Africa will like it more because they are going to be able to do more on their E-Reader than just read. They are able to use the internet and listen to music also. Although not necessarily a good thing that the E-Readers will raise internet and cause more people to use smart phones, people feel that by introducing this more and more in Africa it might actually help them in a positive way rather than a negative way. Not only will this encourage people to read, but it will also save many African's money because it is very expensive to import books into Africa. E-Readers has hundreds of free books so it will be little to no cost too download a book to read it.
The increase in worldwide internet usage since the beginning off this millennium has increased by 556% which is a huge amount. When you look at Africa alone, they have increased by 3,606% in internet usage. This is why they feel it would be smart to bring e-publishing to Africa. More people have smart phones so they are more likely going encourage people to read because of this. This is the link to the news article where it explains so much more on the topic.The picture is also from this news article.

Contemporary African Art

African Jewelry

I found a really neat website that talks about different forms of African Art. The have information and pictures on paintings, Decor, tribal art, sculpture, and jewelry. I found the jewelry information to be the most interesting just because I make jewelry of my own. I learned a lot of things about the different forms of jewelry made! All the pictures are taken straight of the website also.
African Jewelry is used in many different ways. It is used to decorate the body, creates a storage of wealth, and also has a symbol of power and prestige reflecting status in society. It is used in religion, rituals and ceremonies Found objects are often included and can carry personal and symbolic meanings to the person wearing the jewelry. Jewelry is worn by men, women, and children. Many children are seen wearing jewelry at a very young age and as they get older their jewelry changes. Events like puberty, manhood, or marriage changes the jewelry people wear.

stone jewelry

shell beads

The oldest African Jewelry ever discovered was found in Blombos Cave on the southern tip of South Africa. The beads they found are estimate at being over 75,000 years old. Some other jewelry also dates back 45,000 years.


Historically, African jewelry is also used to trade, mainly in exchange for cloth and food, but also for slaves. The jewelry is created from organic materials like hide, porcupine quill, bone, animal teeth, animal hair, seeds, nuts, husks, sea and land shells, egg shell, wood, ivory, coral, and carved stone. Ostrich bone is one of the oldest forms of material used.
African jewelry has been used to adorn necks, ears, arms, legs, toes, hair, waists, and can be pierced, strapped and sewn on and sometimes left for long periods of time causing physical body damage and restricting movement.
Tribal African Jewelry is dependent upon what is available locally, what has been traded over the centuries and what the customs and traditions are in the different cultures.

Ghana King wearing gold jewelry

In Ghana, for instance, the coronation of kings and leaders is celebrated with a show of gold wealth that is astounding in glory. Gold bracelets, necklaces, and rings all have symbolic meaning attached to the styling and motifs used in the making.

Kenyan bride

Beaded African art has its own language and much can be derived about the history, culture, and status. In southern and eastern Africa, most people can wear beaded refinement, but in Yoruba culture, it is confined to rulers, and in the Cameroon, beads are an expression of privilege.

Mali Wedding beads

 Some African tribes are known for recycling things from nature and creating them into beautiful pieces of jewelry. Here is a picture of recycled plastic bracelets.

CCTV Africa

I found a youtube page that was very intriguing to me! Its called CCTV Africa. It has hundreds of up to date videos on all African News. It has news about military problems, new advancements in medicine, poverty and much, much more.
One of the major things in the news right now is electing a new leader to Madagascar. They are struggling and they need to elect a new leader to help make things better in that country. Here is a link to the video that goes along with this
Madagascar: New leader to face tough task of rebuilding the country

Another big issue going on right now is the rise in the number of cases of people getting Polio. It is one of the biggest killers in Africa right now. 301 cases have been reported in 2013 alone, with Somalia and Kenya in the lead. They have found a new advancement in helping get this disease to decline. As of right now there is no known cure for polio but with proper vaccination the people are protected for life. This is the video that goes along with this.

Our Africa

I found a really neat website called Our Africa. It's the one stop website for all the information you need about Africa. The website talks about African food, their health, sports and games, climate, development and much, much more. You can also learn about each country in Africa individually too!! There's so much information and it's all really fascinating!

What I found the most interesting on this website is the games they played. I never knew that the game Mancala originated in Africa. I always thought it came from Asia. I found this interesting because my family plays this game all the time!

Another thing I found really interesting about this website was the foods that they ate! Other countries have influenced Africa's taste in food in many ways, and different parts of Africa have different tastes.. In the north, Arabs introduced spices and the Turks introduced some baked goods. Olives are also used in almost everything they make! In the South, the cow is sacred so they rely mainly on grains, beans, vegetables, and fish. In East Africa, they eat a lots of fruit and steamed rice and they used spices from the Arabs to give their dishes more taste. In West Africa, they enjoy starchy foods, and also use a lot of spicy foods in their cuisines.

African Rock Art

The most interesting thing for me to learn about is African rock art. Each piece tells a story! Some of the most famous rock art pieces can be found in South Africa and were created by the San. The reason I find rock art so interesting is because they were made over three thousand years ago, and you can still see them today.They were done by some of the first humans on this earth who were assumed to be very unintelligent. Looking at these rock art designs proves that theory wrong, they were actually very intelligent

I found two websites on rock art that I would like to share.  

This website shows pictures of some of the most famous rock art in South Africa and gives information about each piece of rock art.
This website gives information on how rock art is created and also show some famous rock art designs in South Africa.
African rock art depicts paintings or carvings of animals and people. Rock art pictures were carved or painted on rocks outside and also inside caves. There are many theories on why these pieces were created. Many archeologists believe that these rock art designs were created to bring the people of that time good fortune. Others believe that they painted and carved things into rocks that they thought were beautiful in nature. Although African rock art has been around for over three thousand years, they were only discovered 350 years ago.

What I found the most interesting about this website was the section on what ancient rock artists used. Since the people that created these didn't have the same supplies that we did today, everything they used to create rock art was from the earth and animals. The brushes they used to paint with were made from bird feathers or animal hair. They used quill pens to make the really skinny lines in their rock art and to add detail. The paint they used were made of red ochre pigment. This pigment came in three different shades, but archeologists believe that they added different shades of white clay and bird droppings to create different colors. The carvings were created using sharp sticks and other sharp items they found in nature. It is said that the reason that we can still see these rock art designs today is because ancient rock artists put egg whites on top of the rock art to preserve it!

All the pictures of rock art on this page are from the Brad Shaw Foundation Gallery. It was taken on their field trip to South Africa.

The African Guide

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Taken in a store in the Zulu tribe.

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taken by robphoto2008

I found two websites that are very interesting while searching African tribes. They are The Africa Guide and Zulu Tribe of South Africa. They are both really informative websites.  that talks about the Zulu tribe that is located in South Africa. They are one of the largest Ethnic groups in Africa. What I found the most interesting about this tribe is what they wear and their artwork. The Zulu tribe are known to wear beautiful brightly colored beads. They are also known for their baskets they make.

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 There everyday lives are very interesting. Their native language is kwazulu which includes clicking of the mouth when they talk. They worship a god known as Nkulunkulu. This god does not interact with the Zulu tribe or have any interest in their daily lives. Since this is the case, they interact with the spirits. In order to communicate with these spirits they have to use divination. According to dictionary.com, divination is the practice of attempting to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge by supernatural means. The Zulu people believe that all misfortune in the tribe is from evil sorcery or offended spirits. They believe that there are no natural causes. One of the most interesting thing on this website was the Zulu's cleanliness. They use separate utensils and separate plates for every item of food they eat. Not only that but they bathe up to three times a day!

Not only can you find information about the Zulu tribe on the Africa Guide website, but they have information on other tribes in Africa, African weddings, African art, and much much more! I took the time to read through all of it and it's all so interesting!! This link will take you to the introduction page of the Africa Guide website where you can look up more information!!

African Lifestyle

I found this article through google search. While it's not necessarily an African website, I found this story very interesting and had to share this! This article is on voanews.com. The Article is called, South Africa Youth See New Life Through Photography. The article is about how disadvantaged teens in South Africa are finding an all new perspective on how they live their lives through photography. This project is called " I was shot in Joburg," and was created by Bernard Viljoen.
 This new initiative is one of the biggest beneficial changes in Pritchard Ndlovu's life. Pritchard grew up in a world of violence and poverty and was living in a shelter when he met Bernard Viljoen. Bernard gave the him a camera and told them to find the beauty in the world. He has even set up places to sell the children's photographs and the children even get to keep the profit. The money is to help pay for education and further their careers. 
I think that Bernard is a true inspiration. I think it's so cool how one person can make such a big difference in someones' life. I beg everyone to read this story for it has changed my life quite a bit.

This is the video that goes along with the article. It was created by Voice of America.