Gabon: An Example For All of Africa
The country of Gabon is praised as being one of the most successful countries in Africa. Gabon is a very diverse country in many ways. There are a variety of different tribes that call Gabon home. Also, the land differs through out the county.
Gabon is one of the smaller countries of Africa with the area of 267,670 square miles. Comparatively, this is the almost the same size as Colorado. The terrain of this tiny country consists of narrow coastal plains; a hilly interior; and Savannah in the east and south. Much of the interior is rain forests and is not arable. Only 1% of the land is arable The remaining land is either meadows, permanent crops, or other land forms. (The World Fact Book
1995)
Gabon is one of the most thinly populated countries in Africa. It has a population of approximately 1,155,000 (July 1995 est.) There are 11 people per square mile. The majority of the Gabonese are of ages 15-64 years. The average life expectancy is 55.14 years. Women live to be around 58, while men are usually around 52 when they die. This is why only 5% of the population is older than 65. The infant mortality is lower than many other African countries, 92.4 per 1,000 live births. (The World Fact Book 1995)
As in most African countries, there are many Bantu tribes make up the ethnicity of the country. There are four major tribal groups. The Fang, Eshira,
Bapounou, and the Bateke. (The World Fact Book)
The largest of these tribes is the Fang. They live mainly in the northern area of Gabon. Many years ago they were considered the fiercest warriors of the area. Now, they dominate many of the countries governmental positions. (World Book Encyclopedia page )
One of the earlier tribes that is since gone was the Omyene. They lived along the coast. The Omyene are important because they were the first of the natives to meet the European traders and missionaries. They played an important role of keeping peace with the Europeans. (World Book Encyclopedia, 1992 page
2)
Along with there being so many different ethnic backgrounds, there are many religions as well. The major religion is Christian,75 % of the population.
About 1% of the population is Muslim. The remaining 24% are animists. These include all of the tribal practices. (The World Fact Book)
One of the reasons why Gabon has been so successful is that it has a stable government. It is a republic and has multiple political parties. The capitol, Libreville ( aprox.
Social Workers are very important to everyday life. They are the ones that help people in need when they have nobody else to turn too. Also, they provide resources and better understanding of predicaments that you could be experiencing. I will reflect on how the class has affected me, my own experiences and how some theories have connected to my life experiences, and lastly, if the class helped toward my major. This class is important for someone that wants to become a social worker and wants to learn about the different theories used. Also, learning about me during this process of completing this class is fun and a way to see if the social work profession is right for me. There was many theories explained throughout this class but many will not be said because it wasn’t the main points that I was trying to get across. There are two tools that are used that can help a social worker organize a client’s life: Bubble map and Briefcase exercise. There are so many different ways a social worker can help a client deal with their problems and come up with a solution. It is up to that social worker to identify the client’s problem and see what theory fits.
When studying Angola’s inflation rates and economy structure it is important to understand the inherent challenges faced. Unlike the US, Angola has a poorly developed infrastructure that makes moving goods and equipment difficult and costly. Also Angola suffers from an inefficient trading system with her African neighbors. Each side is required to first exchange their currencies into a third party foreign currency, like the US dollar, then they can conduct business. This makes transactions complex, time consuming, and expensive. Examples like this form the basis on why Angola’s inflation rates are relatively high. From 2009 to 2011 Angola dealt with rates between 13.5% and 14.5%. From 2012 to 2014 the inflation rates have steadily declined
Ryan, J. C. (2001). Countries and Their Cultures: Benin (Vol. 1) (C. R. Ember & M. Ember, Eds.). New York: Macmillan Reference USA.
Bryant H. McGill once said “Education should prepare our minds to use its own powers of reason and conception rather than filling it with the accumulated misconceptions of the past” (McGill ). There are misconceptions all around us; people look at certain things in a particular manner but what each person sees comes from their background. I have recently come to the realization that there are many misconceptions held about the African continent; my current class has helped me see these misconceptions and understand why they are incorrect and how I formed them. With the help of our Western society, I developed beliefs that Africa was a continent full of poverty, civil unrest, and in desperate need of help. Much of the media coverage in Africa showed droughts, famine, the need for clean drinking water; everything that was exposed to the American population about Africa through these channels carried a negative connotation. I was never taught or informed about the complex culture and fascinating traditions that make up such a diverse continent. The ancient kingdoms of West Africa were complex, developed civilizations that had rich culture, traditions, values, norms and skills that exceeded those of societies of the rest of the world such as European ones. In this paper, I will first further explain some of the common misconceptions that I had about African in general and about their ancient kingdoms.
Research conducted by Lillianna Guerrero et al. at the Built Department at Eindhoven University of Technology in Den Dolech showing the challenges of waste management challenges for cities in developing countries that waste management comes at a high cost that most countries don’t have the money to set aside for in the annual budget (1). They found that even when the money is set aside, failure to follow guidelines hurts the budget even more. This is important because they must figure out how to make sure guidelines are followed so they can make planned budget costs. Budgeting for a smaller country with no money can be tough especially when there is another factor in their country that needs as much resources as it can get, such as food and water supply for their countries people. Worsening the problem can be avoided if they inform their people on how to properly dispose of their waste and recycle item that could be used in place of another object that will potentially end up as harmful waste. According to Guerrero’s research the outcomes are a comprehensive list of stakeholders that are relevant in the waste management systems and a set of factors that reveal the most important causes for the systems’ failure. For example, failure to educated the public causes incorrect disposal techniques to
but held the forest and agricultural land as common ground. Some of the land was
Culture is customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group. It includes behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, values, and norms that is shared by a group of people to sustain their lives. Mexican culture is influenced by their familial ties, gender, religion, location and social class, among other factors. Today life in the cities of Mexico has become similar to that in neighboring United States and Europe, with provincial people conserving traditions more so than the Mexican living in the city. In the United States Mexican includes any person of Puerto
he Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has an image problem. The DCR has one of the highest incidences of poverty in the world due to many complex reasons, however the underlying factor always being political struggles. At a rate of 71.34, its incidence of poverty is “extremely high”, even in comparison with other central African countries which has lead to DCR being the worlds poorest country. This essay will explore the underlying reasons and show that the political struggles of The Democratic Republic of Congo in the 19th century until now have caused great social strain for the community. Its underlying thesis is that the Congolese people have shown a significant interest in the politics of their country which as a result has caused social problems such as ethnical rivalries, sexual exploitation and a substantial amount of death.
U.S.A and Gabon are two beautiful countries with many similarities and differences. In fact, I can
Africa’s geography put them at a great disadvantage over the Europeans, which eventually allowed the Europeans to colonize Africa with ease. The geography of Africa is wildly different than that of Europe’s. Crops in Europe were very suitable for farming, and their native animals could be domesticated easily. Because of this, farming in Europe didn’t take very much effort, and surpluses of food could develop at a quick rate. These surpluses allowed specialists to form. Specialists devoted all of their time to developing new and advanced technology, instead of farming. With the formation of this advanced technology, the Europeans quickly gained an advantage over the rest of the world. The opposite was true in Africa. Africa’s crops were difficult to grow, and their animals were nearly impossible to domesticate. Because of this, the Africans had to work much harder than the Europeans just to produce enough food to survive. Specialists couldn’t form in African society because everyone was devoted to farming. This absence of specialists led to a lack of advanced technology, which caused Africa to slowly fall behind the rest of the world. Africa eventually became so vulnerable, that when Europe came along to colonize the continent with the technology that they had formed, Africa couldn’t do a thing to stop them.
Nigeria, an African country on the Gulf of Guinea, is known for its natural landmarks
Environmental pollution has been a major concern to many stakeholders due to the related adversities that are associated with the practice. Human beings in general are well known to like having comfort and convenience at the minimum costs possible. The results of this has been the focus on the short term gains with little or no thought spared for the long term consequences of our behavior. Environmental problems are usually long term and the solution to these problems will only be realized at a higher cost if the remedy is not initiated early enough. Management of solid waste has come with a lot of challenges especially when recycling issues come to board. Solid waste management through recycling is something that has to do with behavior change among the population. According to environmental psychologists, recycling has been referred to as a ‘commons dilemma’. This means that natural resources are being overused due to the existing conflict between individual and group interests. Nevertheless, the government has taken center stage in conservation of the environment through the initiation of the recycling programs.
Benin is known officially as the Republic of Benin. This phallus-shaped belt of land extends perpendicularly about 415 miles inland from the Gulf of Guinea – a part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean (World Book). The country is bounded by the Republic of Togo on the West and the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the East. Burkina Faso and the Republic of Niger border Benin on the North. Including both land area and water area, the country is 112,622 square kilometers, which is slightly larger than Tennessee but slightly smaller than Pennsylvania (CIA). The official capital is Porto Novo. However, the nation’s de facto administrative capital and chief commercial center takes place in Cotonou, which is located 20 miles to the West of Porto Novo. Most of government offices and embassies are located in this port city.
Traditional methods of waste disposal have proven to be ineffective and have caused harmful effects on the environment. The most popular and inexpensive way to get rid of garbage is burial, but burying your problems does not necessarily mean getting rid of them. Landfill sites pose as severe ecological threats as these mass garbage dump yards overflow with trash and frequently contaminate our air, soil and water with hazardous wastes. About 400 million tons of hazardous wastes are generated each year1. A large-scale release of these materials can cause thousands of deaths and may poison the environment for many years. For example many industrial companies around the world cannot afford to enforce the strict pollution regulations set by many developed countries. This usually forces these types of companies to move to developing countries where pollution regulations are very lenient. These developing countries knowingly accept environmentally hazardous companies usually because they are in desperate need of employment. The harmful effects of these companies were clearly illustrated in the 1960s and 1970s when residents living near Minamata Bay, Japan, developed nervous disorders, tremors, and paralysis in a mysterious epidemic. The root was later found to be a local industry that had released mercury, a highly toxic element, into Minamata Bay. The disaster had claimed the lives of 400 people1. Since 1970 you can bet that a lot more than 400 people have died as a result of waste disposal. If the type of waste disposal were cheaper and effective we wouldn’t have to deal with waste problems, which still plague mankind today.
Efficient waste managing approaches help with reducing and avoiding unpleasant impact on the environment and human health, while allowing financial development and progress in the quality of people’s life. People do not even imagine what is the size and capacity of their activities and the impact they produce on the environment. Garbage is an important ecological problem. It is seems amazing that approximately all of the citizens of the world identify rubbish as a major environmental problem and yet these people still litter. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (2008), an American produces 250 million tons of garbage per year (para.2). There are different circumstances that are based on the society, environmental conditions, occupation and size of each of the different family. As Richmond (2010) stated, if no administration organizations has the responsibility or resources to concentrate their efforts on the waste disposal, then the responsibility to do that is on ...