Sudan at a Glance

This week's blog will give an overview of Sudan.

Sudan is the largest country Africa; located in the northeastern part of the Continent. The main exports of the country include oil, cotton, sesame, livestock and hides. It also has gold and many areas of land that could be used for farming. Sudan has the most diverse landscapees in Africa. It has mountains, deserts, rain forests, and swamps.

According to BBC News, there are 35 million people in Sudan. The official language of the country is Arabic, and the official religion of the state is Islam. Sudan is not allowed to enforce Islamic law on the country because there are many people that do not speak Arabic and are not Muslim.

The country suffered a civil war that lasted 21 years. The conflict took place between the Muslim north and the Christian south. Many lives were lost during the war. As the country was regaining peace amongst itself, fighting broke out in early 2003 in the western part of Darfur. The conflict started when a rebel group attacked government targets.

That is the country of Sudan at a glance. Future blogs will contain more details about the conflict in Darfur and information regarding the people that live in Sudan.

"Invisible Children" showing in March

To recap recent events, yesterday evening the Peace and Justice series featured Derrick Ashong speaking about Why Africa Matters. Derrick was born in Ghana in 1975. He attended school in both Saudi Arabia and Qatar. He is currently working on a doctorate in African-American studies and Ethnomusicology at Harvard. He also started and has maintained the record label ASAFO productions. I was not able to attend this event because I was out of town last night, but I know that it went very well, and there was very good attendance.

Next week on Tuesday and Thursday the fundraiser for the refugees in Sudan will continue. Stop by and buy something for someone you love, or just treat yourself to a present.

On March 2nd there will be a showing of the movie "Invisible Children." This movie is a documentary from 2003 that follows three college students through Uganda. It shows the effects of the war on children from the Lord's Resistance Army. Many children in Uganda flee their homes to avoid being abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army, who is recruiting them to be trained as soldiers. These children have to walk miles to find shelter anywhere that they can to get away from this.

Invisible Children Inc. is a nonprofit organization that has been set up to help curb this problem by spreading awareness. For more information on the movie or information about donating to the organization go to www. invisiblechildren.com.

Also in early March, St. Scholastica will be celebrating International Women's Day. This day has been observed all over the world since the 1900s. International Women's Day is celebrated with events held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. There will be a free reception at 3 pm on campus in Somers Main Lounge on March 8th. There will also be a raffle coming soon, and another fundraising event set for sometime in April. Keep checking back for official dates and more information.

First African Female President

On my post today I am going to focus on Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and I will tell you all a little bit about her background and how she came to power. Enjoy and celebrate this amazing woman!

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was born on October 29, 1938 and is the current president of Liberia and Africa's first elected female head of state. The Liberian elections commission announced her victory on November 23, 2005, following the 2005 election. She is the third black woman head of state in the world, after Eugenia Charles of Dominica and Sylvie Kinigi of Burundi.
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is a 68-year-grandmother of six, has already earned the nickname "Iron Lady" and, according to Forbes, is the 51st most powerful woman in the world.
President Johnson-Sirleaf graduated from the College of West Africa (Monrovia), a United Methodist high school. She also received a B.b.c in Accounting at Madison Business College in Madison, Wisconsin, USA in 1964, an economics diploma from the University of Colorado in 1970, and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University in 1971.
She returned to Liberia after Harvard to become the Assistant Minister of Finance in President William Tolberts administration. After Tolbert was overthrown, Johnson-Sirleaf went into exile in Nairobi, Kenya, where she worked for Citibank. She returned to run for Senate in 1985, but because she spoke out against President Doe's military regime, she was sentenced to ten years in prison, however she only spent a short period in prison before she moved to Washington D.C.. She returned to Liberia again in 1997 as an economist, working for the World Bank, and Citibank in Africa.
In 1997 she ran against President Taylor but only managed to get 10% of the votes. In 2005 she came back on the scene and started her campaign and ended up with second highest votes of 175,520.This put her through to the runoff vote on November 8 against former footballer George Weah. On November 11, the National Elections Commission of Liberia declared Johnson-Sirleaf to be president-elect of Liberia. On November 23, they confirmed their decision declaring that she had won with a margin of almost 20% of the vote.

Stephane, Meeting Discussion

Hi everyone,
My name is Stephane Tsamba Massala. I am from Gabon, a small country in west central Africa. I am currently a senior at the College of Saint Scholastica. I am getting a degree in Computer Information System and have concentrated my major in web design and development. I am working at a company called 50 Below. My job is to maintain websites in other words, I am updating customers' websites. I usually hang out or go out with my friends. I like to travel too. During the summer, I do some physical activities. I work out, play soccer, basketball and so on... I am a member of the United for Africa since last year. I really enjoy being part of a group, a club or an association that discuss issues that we have where I am from.

My responsibilities in this blog, is to discuss about what has been discussed at our club's meetings. I will talk about the calendar projects, events or fund raising that the club is planning. By talking about it, I hope people to give us more ideas concerning what we are doing. Also, people could give us suggestions on a planned event and projects. I think it is very important to get feedback from an outsider, someone who is not in the club.

Last week, the group talked about :

- Collaborate with Grey Gordon to Fundraise to help refugees in Darfur get Solar Pots: Do a Fundarasier Dinner.

- Community Service Ideas: Volunteer down in the twin cities at "Feed my starving children ".

-Raise awarness by showing a Movie of the Invisible children: Possibly ask professors to make it an extra-credit for students.

- Planning for upcoming Sweet Mother Tour Conference in October 2007 @ CSS.

We are open for suggestions for all themes if people have some ...

Krystal Kinney, What's happening in Sudan

Hi, I'm Krystal Kinney. I am currently a junior at the College of St Scholastica in Duluth, MN. I am pursuing a degree in accounting. While being a full time student, I have also been involved with the softball team, a bowling team, and working part time at Skyline Lanes/Dave's Pizza. During the summer I spend my time working, spending time at my cabin, coaching softball, and spending time with friends and family.

I am not a member of United for Africa here at St Scholastica. For this blog I will be talking about what is happening in Sudan. For quite some time now, there has been a conflict going on, the "Darfur Conflict". Over the course of these blogs, I will try to explain what has occurred with the conflict and any new things that have happened.

By learning what is going on with Sudan, maybe there is a way to help. One way to help would be to buy something in the student union, like Amanda mentioned early, the proceeds will go toward helping the refugees. Also, by learning about what is going on in other places of the world, it will help us realize that the world does not revolve around the United States and that others have problems too.

Amanda Hayle, Events and Activities

        My name is Amanda Hayle. I am currently attending college at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota. I am a junior pursuing a major in accounting. I am involved in the Chamber Choir here on campus, and have enjoyed that for the past three years. My home is in Savage, Minnesota, which is about fifteen miles south of the cities. I enjoy the small town feel here in Duluth, but it isn’t really a small town. Some of my favorite times are spending time in Canal Park when the weather is warm and watching the ships come and go. I am not a member of the United for Africa group on campus but I am very interested in learning more about the issues the people of Africa are facing.

        My job in this blog is to educate you on the events and activities sponsored by United for Africa. I will let you know if there are speakers or other activities happening that will help you become more educated on African issues. I will let you know the overall focus of the activities as well as details about what will be happening and how you can get involved. My hope is that these posts will encourage you to become involved with this group. Or if you don’t get involved, I hope you will learn something about the issues that Africans are facing. I will also try to provide some follow-up information about the activities.

        One upcoming event happening on campus is the Treasures From Africa sale. Monday and Tuesday of next week in the Union, United for Africa will be selling handmade products from Africa including jewelry, candles, baskets, and fragrances. This is a great opportunity for you to purchase a gift for someone, possibly for Valentine’s Day, Easter, or maybe you know someone with a birthday coming up. You don’t even need to go very far in the cold to finish your shopping, just stop by the Union and get a unique product that you can insure will be duplicated by someone else. The proceeds from this sale will go to help finance solar cookers for refugees from Sudan.



 

Awah Foncha ( Blog 1)

Hello, my name is Awah Foncha and I am currently a junior at the college of St. Scholastica. I am originally from Cameroon, in West Central Africa and I have been in the United States since August of 2003. I enjoy going to school up here in Duluth, the small town feel makes it easier to study! I enjoy reading a lot, writing not so much. On my free time I love visiting with friends and shopping. I am a news maniac I enjoy watching and reading the news because it keeps me in touch on what is going on around the world, even though many people think that is a strange hobby. My focus in the blog is going to be women in Africa. I am going to focus on the lives of women in Africa and what roles the play in the society politically, economically and socially. I am going to cover women from all over Africa and not just on one particular country. I hope you enjoy what you learn about African women as you read my blog.