Africa in April

Africa in April Cultural Awareness Festival

                   

The 23rd Annual Africa in April Celebration held in Memphis, TN will take place April 16-19, 2009 in Robert R. Church Park in downtown Memphis. This year’s featured country is The Republic of Mauritania. 

I will definitely be in attendance. I love going out to the festival each year and viewing and purchasing the beautiful paintings, handmade jewelry, clothing, handbags and a host of other rarities. The smell of the delicate incense fills the air along with the great food being prepared by the country’s natives.  The music is vibrant and flowing through the festival by way of the breezes from the Mississippi River. This is an event for the entire family. It is an opportunity for those young and old to get a glimpse of Africa and its major significance to African Americans.

“If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.”
-Margaret Mead

This video has footage of past Africa in Aprica festivals —> Africa in April, Memphis, TN

Here is more information on the featured country of The Republic of Mauritania

National Geographic – Mauritania

Business Africa.net - The Islamic Republic of Mauritania

I also found this blog on Blogger that has good info on The Republic of Mauritania and some beautiful photos of the country –> Saharan Vibe – Mauritania

Piracy on the High Seas

Maybe I have just been out of the loop and uninformed, but I had no idea that pirates still existed. I can’t really say that before this chain of events I even believed pirates ever really existed. For me; pirates were one of those things that you don’t really believe in but you don’t put in the complete fairytale category. When I saw in the news that Somalian pirates had hijacked a US crew ship and had taken the captain hostage I was shocked. How could this have happened? I had no clue that there were modern day pirates and that ships were still being hijacked at sea.

I was amazed when reading these articles

U.S. Crew Ship: Pirates Holding Captain

They outran the pirates for between three and five hours,” Murphy said. “They were finally overtaken, substantial gunfire involved.”   -from CBS News

Pirates Vow to Kill U.S., French Sailors

“We have decided to kill U.S. and French sailors if they happen to be among our future hostages,” said Abdullahi Ahmed, a member of a pirate group based at Harardhere, a coastal town in central Somalia.”      -from CNN.com

New Wave of Somali Pirate Attacks

US President Barack Obama promised on Monday to “halt the rise of piracy” in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.   -from BBC News

 Halt…I didn’t even know it was taking place. I found some very interesting info on this Q&A of Somali Piracy.  It was devastating to hear of Somalia’s extremely poor economy which plays a major part in why some of these young men have become pirates. Read more here —>Young Somalis Lured by Piracy Riches

Now the question arises on how the captured pirates should be punished –> Obama Seeks to Halt Piracy on High Seas