What Are Some of the Poorest Countries in Africa?*

1. Chad
2. Mali
3. Ethiopia
4. Mozambique
5. Somalia
6. Sudan
7. Uganda

For my project I have chosen to mainly research Mali, Somalia, and Sudan

*I have decided to focus in on Africa because 21 out of the 30 poorest countries in the world are in Africa.

Vocabulary copied from Geography Alive!

Gender based division of labor: the division of work into two categories based on gender. the result is that men and women do different kinds of work.

informal economy: the part of the economy in which goods and services are exchanged outside of government control. People who work in the informal economy often sell goods on the street or in a street market.

Micro-enterprise: a very small business with few or no employees

Micro-entrepreneur: a person who starts and runs a micro-enterprise

Charity Links*

http://www.mybednet.com/AboutUs_CharityStatus.aspx

http://www.brac.net/index.php

http://www.girleffect.org/

* not all of these links relate to my project, but they are good charities

(more later)

What are some health issues caused by poverty in Africa?

1. Undernourishment. When kids are undernourished, that often stunts their growth

2. AIDS. They can't afford new drugs to help with AIDS. By 2010, 20 million children will have lost one or both of their parents to AIDS. Most children drop out of school, and sell things on the street to keep them, and often their brothers and sisters alive, once both their parents have died

3. A lot of people get sick from their water. In the U.S. our water is filtered before it comes through our taps. But with poor, and often corrupt governments, they can't afford to filter the water.

4. Malaria. Malaria is a disease spread by mosquitoes. It causes headaches, and muscle pains. It also causes fever, and chills of and on. it is estimated that every 30 seconds a child in Africa dies of malaria. There are many charities that buy bed nets that keep mosquitoes from biting people at night (see link on links post)

Project Details

I think that I am going to do my project on poverty. I think that I will mainly focus on Africa, (because 21 out of the 30 poorest countries ion the world are in Africa) but this could change. I think that I will definitely have a section about women, and the micro-loans that they can start small businesses with. I think that it is amazing that they can go so far with such a little amount of money. I think that I will try to focus on more than one country in Africa, because they do different things in each country. But I don't think that all of my project will be about the women. I think that I will do some about how poverty affects the childrens lives. For example, most of them can't afford any medicine, or vaccines. Some little kids die of diseases that in the U.S. we could treat very quickly, if we weren't vaccinated already, like Measles.

1. A pseudonym is a false name that people use when writing blogs, books, etc.

2. Watermusic

3. i chose this name because I love swimming, and music/theater