Restaurants and Some Chefs in Africa

When you visit restaurants in Africa on this site called africa.com it gives you a rating form bronze, gold and platinum. Which is different from our rating systems we go from 1 star to 5 stars. On this site you can choose from one of the ratings to view what type of restaurant you would like to visit. For me to use as an example I chose the rating gold. It gives you a list of restaurants that are on the gold rating. It also gives you the website you can visit. There are many restaurants on the gold list about 40 pages. 

Also on this site it gives you about three chefs and what they call the African.com's Global Culinary Council. On this council there is Stephen Billingham, Benny Masekwameng and Richard Harden.   

Chef Stephen Billingham is the President of the South African Chefs Association. He is also the director of a culinary arts school (HTA) and the school under his direction has won 12 culinary competitions in South Africa.  You can learn more about his qualifications on africa.com or at this site called CHS.

Chef Benny Masekwameng, is the executive chef at Southern Sun Hotels. He is also one of the judges on MasterChef SA. He is mostly known for being a judge on the show. You can learn more at africa.com or a site called South Africa.

Richard Harden, is a co-founder of Harden's Guides. You can learn more about him on africa.com

On this site there is so much more you can view about restaurants; not just what I listed. There are so many restaurants you can view from south africa on.  

Africa Living Languages (Numbers)

Africa has a population of 1,101,542,500 with a total of 2,138 living languages. The languages are separated into different regions; North Africa, Western Africa, Middle Africa, Eastern African and Southern Africa. 

In Northern Africa there are 211,800,000 in population. With a total living language of 97. Within the living languages there are 8 that are institutional, 22 that are developing, 17 that are vigorous, 36 that are in trouble and 14 that are dying. There are 7 countries in the Northern part which include; Algeria (18), Sudan (76), Egypt (12), Tunisia (6), Libya (9), Western Sahara (3) and Morocco(14).     

In Western Africa there are 327,920,000 in population. With a total of 886 living languages. Within the living languages there are 58 that are institutional, 221 that are developing, 501 that are vigorous, 57 that are in trouble. and 49 that are dying. There are 16 countries that are in the Western part which include; Benin (55) , Liberia (31), Burkina Faso (70), Mali (66), Cape Verde Island (2), Mauritania (7), Cote d'Ivoire (81), Niger (21), Gambia (11), Nigeria (520), Ghana (81), Senegal (38), Guinea (37), Sierra Leone (25), Guinea-Bissau (22), and Togo (43). 

In Middle Africa there are 134,641,000 in population. With a total of 676 living languages. Within the living languages there are; 32 that are institutional, 157 developing, 350 that are vigorous, 96 that are in trouble and 41 that are dying. There are 9 countries in the Middle of Africa; Angola (37), Democratic Republic of the Congo (676), Cameroon (280), Equatorial Guinea (14), Central African Republic (71), Chad (131), Gabon (42), Congo (62) and Sao Tome e Principe (4).  

In Eastern Africa there are 366,551,500 in population. With a total of 431 living languages. Within the living languages there are 82 that are institutional, 136 that are developing, 139 that are vigorous, 53 that are in trouble and 21 that are dying. There are 20 countries within the Eastern part which include; Burundi (3), Mozambique (43), Comoros (6), Reunion (3), Djibouti (5), Rwanda (3), Eritrea (15), Seychelles (3), Ethiopia (86), Somalia (13), Kenya (67), South Sudan (68), Madagascar (14), Tanzania (125), Malawi (16), Uganda (41), Mauritius (7), Zambia (21), Mayotte (3), and, Zimbabwe (21). 

In Southern Africa there are 60,630,000 in population. With a total of 48 living languages. Within the living languages there are 14 that are institutional, 6 that are developing, 19 that are vigorous, 3 that are in trouble and 6 that are dying. There are 5 countries in southern which include Botswana (28). South Africa (28). Lesotho (5), Namibia (28) and Swaziland (5). 

This next blog is about War and Conflict; Conflicted: The fight over Congo's Minerals

This caught my eye because this seems to be a big issue in Africa. It seems that Congo is actually being hurt due to the minerals conflict. This site is actually stating what is being done.  This is a quote from the site:

"We are working now at 20 percent of normal capacity. We've lost a lot of money..... Those who did that feeling that they helped Congo, they didn’t help Congo at all. It harmed thousands and thousands of Congolese."

This quote caught my eye because it seems to me that people say they are helping; when it seems all that they are doing is hurting. Congo is not very developed. However, they do have tons of mineral reserves that have not be touched. However, the eastern part of the country has tantalum, tungsten, and tin, which are handled by hand and which then are shipped worldwide for manufacturing electronic devices.

Advocacy groups in both the US and Europe has been going to companies; more specific technology companies to source where the minerals come from to use in their products. This led to the passing of section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010. This requires companies to track where the minerals they use come from. One long term consequence of this is that the Congolese people are not being paid for the work that they have done, and this act did not help the people of the Congo.

#BringBackOurGirls

The bring back our girls campaign has been a big issue in Africa. In April of 2014; 276 girls were kidnapped from their school. They were kidnapped by a Terrorists group called Boko Haram. According to the #bringbackourgirls facebook it has now been 583 days and no return. 57 escaped and 219 are still missing. This campaign has been going strong since the girls have been missing. They are not giving up hope on finding these girls. All over the world people have the #bringbackourgirls.

       

On webpage called Take Action. It talks about how families of the missing girls for over 500 days marched in Nigeria in the hopes that it will help in the rescue of the girls. It also states that to help the campaign women thrive worldwide will deliver the messages that you send directly to the "Bring back our Girls" Campaign in Nigeria so that the families can feel the support. This a custom message from the site:

"I believe every girl has a right to be free from violence and to have an education. I stand with the families from Chibok, Nigeria, whose daughters are still missing and their fight to bring them home. I will work to educated my friends about the need for action to make the world safer for girls who want an education."

Also on this site there is a support button you can click to support the girls.

This campaign is still going strong until the girls have a safe return. These were just a few sites that I saw. There are more that are still out there. No one should have to live with what is happening in Chibok, Nigeria. #BringBackOurGirls