Congo History!

In school our class learned about the Congo not too long ago. Not only that we learned about the Congo today but what happened to the Congo before our time. It was awfully interesting to learn about. Learning about the history of one country can help one understand about the problem and situations. If you want to understand someone better, you would ask them about their relationship history or something along those lines. I will apologize in advance that we learned this a long time ago (for me that is) and I'm only writing this in memory so if something is off, just ignore that.

How was Africa divided? Africa was divided like it was just a piece of cake. Mrs. Shepherd did a great example in class by baking the whole class a cake that had the map of Africa in it. One by one, each of us (if we were lucky), would pick a piece of Africa and eat the piece. The cake was delicious by the way.



I'm over exaggerating. Just imagine that Hello Kitty was Africa.

Anyways, some of us got a good big piece and others not so much. After that, Mrs. Shepherd explained that Africa was divided just like that. In 1884, there was something called the Berlin Conference. It was organized by Otto von Bismarck. The Berlin Conference is where fourteen nations (Belguim, France...) sat down and simply said, "I want to take this piece of Africa" and it was given to them. The first country to pick usually got the most resources. The Sramble for Africa is another term for the Berlin Conference. The country that got the Congo was Belgium. Belgium had a ruler named King Leopold ll.



He was a harsh ruler and didn't care about the people in the Congo. King Leopold ll never did step in the Congo. He was always in Belgium. Villages would always be massacred if the village didn't meet a certain goal. Peoples hand would be cut off if the slave would not listen, did not meet the status quo or when the soldiers (or henchmen) felt like it. Thanks to King Leopold, over 10 million Congolese people died. The violence in the Congo today has seemed to tone down a bit but women are still being raped and child soldiers are being added to the army.



The main resources the Belgians wanted at the time was the Ivory tusks of Elephants and rubber from rubber trees.



Today in the Congo, there are quite a few statues of King Leopold ll. People of the Congo might see him as a hero or the devil. King Leopold ll used the money raised from the Congo to build the most beautiful structures in Belguim. Take the Cinqauntenaire for example.



French is one of the official languages in the Congo since the Belgians came to the Congo. I think that is really interesting!

Spread the Word!

Article: Mass Rapes in Congo Reveals U.N weakness

This week has been quite busy at school with Music Festival but that hasn't stopped us on blogging and fundraising for the Congo! So far, our group has been putting boxes around town to donate to the Congo and we raised at least 100$? I'm the only one blogging and I might have to check again. The Congo can change with the help of you, our precious viewer. How? Just talk to your friends, family, pets or whatever about the Congo. You can make a difference!

If you want more info, check out this article! :D
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/world/africa/04congo.html?pagewanted=all

Reactions:

First of all, this article was very horrifying being a female myself. The sexual violence in the Congo is known to be the worst in the world. The article states that, "...the disturbing fact that in Congo’s wars, the battleground is often women’s bodies.", which is utterly true. Just read or watch video's about the stories of poor woman after rape.



"Several women in Luvungi said that after they were raped, the rebels hollered into the night, as if they were celebrating. Mrs. Mburano lay bleeding on her floor, listening."- from the Mass Rapes in Congo Reveals U.N weakness.

After reading that made me really angry. How can people do that? I hate how the rebels do that. That is so horrible! > x <

Spread the Word!

Holiday's in the Congo

It's Easter weekend! Thinking about holiday's, what kind of holiday's does the people of the Congo celebrate? We just had to look it up and this is what we came up with!

The people of the Congo celebrate the normal holidays we have in Canada such as Christmas (Noël), New Years Day (Jour de l'An), Labour Day (Fête du Travail), Independence Day (Fête Nationale) and All Saints Day (Toussaint). The people of the Congo celebrate Easter, Easter Monday, Ascension Day (40 Days after Easter on a Thursday) and Pentecost (Seventh Sunday after Easter). 

Spread the word!

Congolese Food

Greetings from Toronto! The grass is so green here! So different from Alberta! I'm just one person posting today from the group and I always think of food so enjoy this post!



In the Congo, the land is 2% for farming. Fish is known to be plentiful. There are various lakes and rivers. Fish can be fried, boiled or baked. Congolese food consists of a kind of starchy ingredient along with meat and vegetables that are thrown into a stew. This stew will become into a form of paste. The paste can be either called fufu or ugali.



Fufu is often rolled up into golf sized balls and dipped into a spicy stew.



From Wikipedia

• Moambe, a sauce or a dish prepared with a sauce usually made from the pericarp (not the seeds) of palm nuts, the fruit of the African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) tree, in western Middle Africa.
• Chikwanga or Kwanga, made from cassava, cooked and stored in banana leaves, darker in some parts of the country, nearly white in other parts.

• Fufu, sticky dough-like dish made of cassava flour. This is a staple dish much as rice or potatoes in other countries.
• Loso na Madesu - rice and beans.
• Sombe or Mpondu, boiled, mashed and cooked cassava leaves
• Ndakala, small dried fish
• Pili pili, very hot pepper, served with nearly everything, even occasionally dried and sprinkled on fruit.
• Palm wine made from the sap of a wild palm tree, is fermented by natural yeasts, and gives an alcohol content of between five and seven percent.

All that food is making me hungry......time for a midnight snack! 

Spread the word! 

Clothing of victims of the Congo: Sapeurs

It is interesting what the internet can bring us. We have found clothing that would be cool in the Congo. Too be honest, the clothing is pretty out there and we questioned why the congolese men were wearing the type of clothing they were wearing.



http://harlemworldmag.com/2010/09/20/sapeurs-the-fashion-victims-of-congo/

(Check that site out, that is where we got the information!)

It turns out that Sunday afternoons very much like this one, Africa rebels would walk by the Congo river with $1,000 suits and rebel without causing riots like in canadian hockey games.



This style in Congolese slang is called "La sape" which is a society of elegant people.



Spread the Word!