Ebola in Guinea

I came across an interesting article about ebola from February 21, 2015. Since ebola was a well-known topic this past year when it came to Africa, I thought it would be an interesting blog topic. The subtitle of the article is "To end the outbreak in west Africa, Ebola must be snuffed out where it began." The article states that there have been over 9,300 deaths in western Africa caused by ebola. 

Above is a map of where ebola has occurred in Africa. 

The darker the color, the more cases that have been identified. 

Since cases of ebola have spread throughout Africa, it has made it a lot more difficult to end the epidemic. Just in the week that this article was written, (February 21) there had been 128 new confirmed cases, and over 800 in the fall of 2014. Most of the cases were in Sierra Leone, but according to the article, they are more worried about Guinea because most of the cases there were people who health workers did not even suspect having ebola. In order for ebola to be contained, those with the virus must be isolated, but if these people are not even known to health workers, then it is almost impossible for the virus to be ended. While people in Liberia and Sierra Leone have begun to take caution and changing their behavior in order to stop the spread of ebola, people in Guinea have not taken that sort of care. There, they kiss and shake hands, unafraid of catching ebola.

The article states that the longer the virus continues, the harder it will be to completely stop it. Since there have been so many cases that healthcare workers did not even know about, it makes it very difficult to end the virus. 

African Romance

While reading this website, I found it very interesting how several famous and well-known authors, publishers, writers, translators and readers came together to write The Valentines Day anthology. I wasn't sure of the definition of anthology, so I looked it up and found it here. I have never heard of anyone doing this before, and the article discusses how Africa was able to come together and make this happen. As the website shows, two of the titles that were published are called "A Tailor-Made Romance" and "The Elevator Kiss." It amazed me that every title that was published by Valentines Day were all 1,000 words or less. I looked up the story "The Elevator Kiss" and there, I found a short synopsis of the story:

After her disastrous breakup with her fiancé the only thing on Sindi’s mind is rebuilding her life. Little does she know that an innocent invitation, a certain mistletoe and a sprinkle of holiday spirit would be the catalyst of a steamy and passionate affair that breaks all the rules right from the bat. The Elevator Kiss features gorgeous locations, cosmopolitan characters, sneaky villains, drama and of course romance.

The website also discussed how the purpose of writing these short stories was so people could read about different romance stories from different culture's perspectives and see what they actually mean to them. 

A Little About Myself...

My name is Beth Wickham and I created this blog for my African Cultures class. I am from New Hampton, Iowa but I am now living in Waterloo and attending Hawkeye Community College. I am currently in the Elementary Education Transfer Program and will be graduation this coming May. After I graduate, I am either going to go to Wartburg or UNI. The thing that I enjoy doing the most is playing with my two dogs. I have a shih tzu who just turned two years old and a chocolate lab who will be two in May. Both of them have a lot of energy and love to play outside. Another thing that I love doing is spending time with my 6 month old niece. I have loved having the privilege of watching her grow.
A little bit more about me: I have two full sisters, one older and one younger, who are my absolute best friends. My dad got married two years ago, giving me two step sisters, both younger than me, and I now have two half sisters. One of them just turned a year old January 11 of this year, and the second one will be born later in February. I don't get to see them much but when I do I love every minute of it.