Beautiful Africa 8th edition

Greetings to everyone - we are back with the 8th edition of carnival. The team has been quite busy this year with other projects - apologies for the delay. We will try our best to keep posting great stories so stay tuned and keep sending us your contributions.

Personal experiences

Tim Abbott is first with Teddy Landrover posted at Walking the Berkshires, saying, "A tribite to our old landrover, and the extraordinary friendship it allowed us to establish with Namibian bush mechanics."

Esther presents Today, 20 years ago posted at her blog at esthergarvi.com "This very day, twenty years ago, I was visiting the field station with my family to see the development of the new mud buildings that Eden was setting up in Dalli, 13 km south of Tanout city. Although the buildings themselves were nice, the field station did not make that much of an impression on my seven year old mind. "

Loomnie's post is last in this section with Yoruba and English, Yoruba and French posted at Loomnie.com . "It is always interesting to speak Yoruba with Beninese Yoruba speakers. I – like most Nigerian Yoruba speakers – don’t speak Yoruba without code-mixing, and the other language in the mélange is almost always English."

Culture and tradition

Peter Jones presents Midwifery in Mali: Working with the Indigenous Minianka People posted at Indigenous Issues Today. This book review is about Monique and the mango rains - Kris Holloway’s Peace Corps experience among the Minianka indigenous peoples in Mali’s southeastern region near the Burkina Faso border. Peter writes : "The relationship between Fatumata and Monique is what makes this book succeed as it offers a unique glimpse into the day-to-day lives of the Minianka indigenous people and their contemporary struggles. The rarity of this glimpse is that we are given access to a component of Minianka life not often shared with the outside world – the inner realm of womanhood, midwifery, and childbirth."

Arts

Tauratinzwe sent us A Little Art Work posted at Observations of Africa, saying, "Lacking artistic talent myself, I can only enjoy and envy the work of those who are talented."








Sounds of Africa

My pick for this edition's music section comes from naijajams.com, a great blog for all those interested in Nigerian music - Yoruba Bata - A Living Drum and Dance Tradition from Nigeria . The YouTube description says : "Introduction to Yoruba Bata Performance as practiced in Erin-Osun, Nigeria. Featuring Lamidi Ayankunle, master Bata drummer from Erin-Osun."

Szavanna's contribution to this section is Abdullah Ibrahim's classic piece - Mannenberg posted at Szavanna_blog. The YouTube description goes : "For the first time ever, Abdullah Ibrahim, formally known as Dollar Brand, went to Robin Island, where Mandela was imprisoned. All forms of music were banned. A lawyer smuggled one of Abdullah’s songs into the control room, blocked the doors and played it over the loud speakers. Mandela’s first sound of music in decades. "

Sights of Africa

To end this edition have a look at The wild flowers of Namaqualand posted at Szavanna_blog. "Namaqualand in the north-west of South Africa is a sunburnt and barren semi-desert. But that changes dramatically in spring, when after a short rainy season the countless wildflowers spread over the wide plains like a colourful carpet."

That concludes this edition. Thank you for your contributions!
Submit your blog article to the next edition of beautiful africa using the carnival submission form.

Help us make this a great resource - please contact us if you come across great posts and bloggers that could be possible contributors to this carnival in the future.

Warm greetings and happy blogging,

Szavanna & BA Team