It's Black History Month in HL brehs....

[Sinnerman]

Imhotep

Of the non royal population of Egypt, probably one man is known better than all others. So successful was Imhotep (Imhetep, Greek Imouthes) that he is one of the world's most famous ancients, and his name, if not his true identity, has been made even more famous by various mummy movies. Today, the world is probably much more familiar with his name than that of his principal king,Djoser. Imhotep, who's name means "the one that comes in peace". existed as a mythological figure in the minds of most scholars until the end of the nineteenth century when he was established as a real historical person.





He was the world's first named architect who built Egypt's first pyramid, is often recognized as the world's first doctor, a priest,. scribe, sage, poet, astrologer, and a vizier and chief minister, though this role is unclear, to Djoser (reigned 26302611 BC), the second king of Egypt's third dynasty. He may have lived under as many as four kings. An inscription on one of that kings statues gives us Imhotep's titles as the "chancellor of the king of lower Egypt", the "first one under the king", the "administrator of the great mansion", the "hereditary Noble", the "high priest of Heliopolis", the "chief sculptor", and finally the "chief carpenter".



Of the details of his life, very little has survived though numerous statues and statuettes of him have been found. Some show him as an ordinary man who is dressed in plain attire. Others show him as a sage who is seated on a chair with a roll of papyrus on his knees or under his arm. Later, his statuettes show him with a god like beard, standing, and carrying the ankh and a scepter.





Inscription with the names of Netjerikhet (Djoser) and Imhotep



Imhotep may have been born in Ankhtow, a suburb of Memphis early in Egyptian history. However, other classical writers suggested that he was from the village of Gebelein, south of ancient Thebes. His father might have been an architect named Kanofer. His mother could have been Khreduonkh, who probably belonged to the province of Mendes, and he may have had a wife named Ronfrenofert but none of this is by any means certain. As a commoner at birth, he rose through the ranks quickly due to his genius, natural talents and dedication.



As the High Priest of Heliopolis, he would have been one of the chief priest of Lower (northern) Egypt. Even though Egypt's capital may have been located at Memphis, it is likely during this period that Heliopolis was recognized as the religious capital of Egypt.



As a builder, Imhotep is the first master architects who we know by name. He is not only credited as the first pyramid architect, who built Djoser's Step Pyramid complex at Saqqara, but he may have had a hand in the building of Sekhemkhet's unfinished pyramid, and also possibly with the establishment of the Edfu Temple, but that is not certain. The Step Pyramid remains today one of the most brilliant architecture wonders of the ancient world and is recognized as the first monumental stone structure.









Imhotep's best known writings were medical text. As a physician, Imhotep is believed to have been the author of the Edwin Smith Papyrus in which more than 90 anatomical terms and 48 injuries are described. He may have also founded a school of medicine in Memphis, a part of his cult center possibly known as "Asklepion, which remained famous for two thousand years. All of this occurred some 2,200 years before the Western Father of Medicine Hippocrates was born.



Sir William Osler tells us that Imhotep was the:



"..first figure of a physician to stand out clearly from the mists of antiquity." Imhotep diagnosed and treated over 200 diseases, 15 diseases of the abdomen, 11 of the bladder, 10 of the rectum, 29 of the eyes, and 18 of the skin, hair, nails and tongue. Imhotep treated tuberculosis, gallstones, appendicitis, gout and arthritis. He also performed surgery and practiced some dentistry. Imhotep extracted medicine from plants. He also knew the position and function of the vital organs and circulation of the blood system. The Encyclopedia Britannica says, "The evidence afforded by Egyptian and Greek texts support the view that Imhotep's reputation was very respected in early times. His prestige increased with the lapse of centuries and his temples in Greek times were the centers of medical teachings."



Along with medicine, he was also a patron of architects, knowledge and scribes. James Henry Breasted says of Imhotep:



"In priestly wisdom, in magic, in the formulation of wise proverbs; in medicine and architecture; this remarkable figure of Zoser's reign left so notable a reputation that his name was never forgotten. He was the patron spirit of the later scribes, to whom they regularly poured out a libation from the water-jug of their writing outfit before beginning their work.


Imhotep is one example of the "personality cult" of Kemet, whereby a learned sage or otherwise especially venerated person could be deified after death and become a special intercessor for the living, much as the saints of Roman Catholicism. About 100 years after his death, he was elevated as a medical demigod. In about 525, around 2,000 years after his death, he was elevated to a full god, and replaced Nefertum in the great triad at Memphis. In the Turin Canon, he was known as the "son of Ptah". Imhotep was, together with Amenhotep, the only mortal Egyptians that ever reached the position of full gods. He was also associated with Thoth, the god of wisdom, writing and learning, and with the Ibises, which was also associated with Thoth.



We are told that his main centers of worship were in the Ptolemaic temple to Hathor atf Dier el-Medina and at Karnak in Thebes, where he was worshipped in conjunction with Amenhotep-Son-of-Hapu, a sanctuary on the upper terrace of the temple at Deir el-Bahari, at Philae where a chapel of Imhotep stands immediately in front of the eastern pylon of the temple of Isis and of course, at Memphis in Lower (northern) Egypt, where a temple was erected to him near the Serapeum. At saqqara, we are told that people bought offerings to his cult center, including mummified Ibises and sometimes, clay models of diseased limbs and organs in the hope of being healed.





Read more: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/imhotep.htm#ixzz2sr4sipcK

 

[Crakface]

I cant wait till the day black people are no longer *the first black* to do something.

 

[Sinnerman]

King Jaja of Opobo

Born in Igboland and sold as a slave to a Bonny trader at the age of twelve, he was named Jubo Jubogha by his first master. He was later sold to Chief Alali, the head of the Opubo Annie Pepple Royal House. Called Jaja by the British, this gifted and enterprising individual eventually became one of the most powerful men in the eastern Niger Delta.

The Niger Delta, where the Niger empties itself into the Gulf of Guinea in a system of intricate waterways, was the site of unique settlements called city-states.

From the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, Bonny, like the other city-states, gained its wealth from the profits of the slave trade. Here, an individual could attain prestige and power through success in business and, as in the case of Jaja, a slave could work his way up to head of state. The House was a socio-political institution and was the basic unit of the city-state.

In the nineteenth century—after the abolition of the slave trade in 1807—the trade in slaves was supplanted by the trade in palm oil, which was so vibrant that the region was named the Oil Rivers area.

The Houses in Bonny and other city-states controlled both the internal and external palm oil trade because the producers in the hinterland were forbidden to trade directly with the Europeans on the coast; the Europeans never left the coast for fear of malaria.

Astute in business and politics, Jaja became the head of the Anna Pepple House, extending its activities and influence by absorbing other houses, increasing operations in the hinterland and augmenting the number of European contacts. A power struggle ensued among rival factions in the houses at Bonny leading to the breakaway of the faction led by Jaja. He established a new settlement, which he named Opobo. He became King Jaja of Opobo and declared himself independent of Bonny.

Strategically located between Bonny and the production areas of the hinterland, King Jaja controlled trade and politics in the delta. In so doing, he curtailed trade at Bonny and fourteen of the eighteen Bonny houses moved to Opobo.

In a few years, he had become so wealthy that he was shipping palm oil directly to Liverpool. The British consul could not tolerate this situation. Jaja was offered a treaty of "protection", in return for which the chiefs usually surrendered their sovereignty. After Jaja's initial opposition, he was reassured, in vague terms, that neither his authority nor the sovereignty of Opobo would be threatened.

Jaja continued to regulate trade and levy duties on British traders, to the point where he ordered a cessation of trade on the river until one British firm agreed to pay duties. Jaja refused to comply with the consul's order to terminate these activities, despite British threats to bombard Opobo. Unknown to Jaja, the Scramble for Africa had taken place and Opobo was part of the territories allocated to Great Britain. This was the era of gunboat diplomacy, where Great Britain used her naval power to negotiate conditions favorable to the British.

Lured into a meeting with the British consul aboard a warship, Jaja was arrested and sent to Accra, where he was summarily tried and found guilty of "treaty breaking" and "blocking the highways of trade".

He was deported to St. Vincent, West Indies and four years later, he died en route to Nigeria after he was permitted to return.

Ironically, Jaja's dogged insistence on African independence and effective resistance exposed British imperialism and made him the first victim of foreign territorial intrusion in West Africa. The fate of Jaja reverberated through the entire Niger delta. Amazed at this turn of events, the other delta chiefs quickly capitulated.

In addition, the discovery of quinine as the cure for malaria enabled the British traders to bypass the middlemen and deal directly with the palm oil producers, thus precipitating the decline of the city-states.

King Jaja's downfall ensured a victory for British supremacy, paving the way for the eventual imposition of the colonial system in this region by the end of the century.

 

[Sinnerman]

Not black history, but I found this on the AU site

Agenda 2063: an e-mail from the future Presentation by Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission to the Retreat of Foreign Ministers held at Bahir Dar, Ethiopia on 24-26 January 2014.
Jan.26.2014Agenda 2063: an e-mail from the future Presentation by Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission to the Retreat of Foreign Ministers held at Bahir Dar, Ethiopia on 24-26 January 2014.
Agenda 2063: an e-mail from the future
Presentation by Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission to the Retreat of Foreign Ministers held at Bahir Dar, Ethiopia on 24-26 January 2014.

Date: 24 January 2063
To: Kwame@iamafrican.com
From: Nkosazana@cas.gov
Subject: African Unity

My dear friend Kwame,
Greetings to the family and friends, and good health and best wishes for 2063.
I write to you from the beautiful Ethiopian city of Bahir Dar, located on Lake Tana, as we finalize preparations for the Centenary celebrations of the Organisation of African Unity, which became the African Union in 2002 and laid the foundations for what is now our Confederation of African States (CAS).
Yes, who would have thought that the dream of Kwame Nkrumah and his generations, when they called in 1963 on Africans to unite or perish, would one day become a reality. And what a grand reality.
At the beginning of the twenty first century, we used to get irritated with foreigners when they treated Africa as one country: as if we were not a continent of over a billion people and 55 sovereign states! But, the advancing global trend towards regional blocks, reminded us that integration and unity is the only way for Africa to leverage its competitive advantage.
In fact, if Africa was one country in 2006, we would have been the 10th largest economy in the world! However, instead of acting as one, with virtually every resource in the world (land, oceans, minerals, energy) and over a billion people, we acted as fifty-five small and fragmented individual countries. The bigger countries that should have been the locomotives of African integration, failed to play their role at that time, and that is part of the reasons it took us so long. We did not realize our power, but instead relied on donors, that we euphemistically called partners.
That was the case in 2013, but reality finally dawned and we had long debates about the form that our unity should take: confederation, a united states, a federation or a union.
As you can see, my friend, those debates are over and the Confederation of African States is now twelve years old, launched in 2051.
What was interesting was the role played by successive generations of African youth. Already in 2013 during the Golden Jubilee celebrations, it was the youth that loudly questioned the slow progress towards integration. They formed African Union Clubs in schools and universities across the continent, and linked with each other on social media. We thus saw the grand push for integration, for the free movement of people, for harmonization of education and professional qualifications, with the Pan African University and indeed the university sector and intelligentsia playing an instrumental role.
We were a youthful continent at the start of the 21st century, but as our youth bulge grew, young men and women became even more active, creative, impatient and assertive, often telling us oldies that they are the future, and that they (together with women) form the largest part of the electorates in all our countries!
Of course this was but one of the drivers towards unity. The accelerated implementation of the Abuja Treaty and the creation of the African Economic Community by 2034 saw economic integration moved to unexpected levels.
Economic integration, coupled with infrastructure development, saw intra-Africa trade mushrooming, from less than 12% in 2013 to approaching 50% by 2045. This integration was further consolidated with the growth of commodity exchanges and continental commercial giants. Starting with the African pharmaceutical company, Pan African companies now not only dominate our domestic market of over two billion people, but they have overtaken multi-nationals from the rest of the world in their own markets.
Even more significant than this, was the growth of regional manufacturing hubs, around the beneficiation of our minerals and natural resources, such as in the Eastern Congo, north-eastern Angola and Zambia’s copper belt and at major Silicon valleys in Kigali, Alexandria, Brazzaville, Maseru, Lagos and Mombasa, to mention but a few such hubs.
My friend, Africa has indeed transformed herself from an exporter of raw materials with a declining manufacturing sector in 2013, to become a major food exporter, a global manufacturing hub, a knowledge centre, beneficiating our natural resources and agricultural products as drivers to industrialization.
Pan African companies, from mining to finance, food and beverages, hospitality and tourism, pharmaceuticals, fashion, fisheries and ICT are driving integration, and are amongst the global leaders in their sectors.
We are now the third largest economy in the world. As the Foreign Minister’s retreat in Bahir Dar in January 2014 emphasised, we did this by finding the balance between market forces and strong and accountable developmental states and RECS to drive infrastructure, the provision of social services, industrialization and economic integration.
Let me recall what our mutual friend recently wrote:
“The (African) agrarian revolution had small beginnings. Successful business persons (and local governments) with roots in the rural areas started massive irrigation schemes to harness the waters of the continent’s huge river systems. The pan-African river projects - on the Congo, the Nile, Niger, Gambia, Zambezi, Kunene, Limpopo and many others – financed by PPPs that involved African and BRIC investors, as well as the African Diaspora, released the continent’s untapped agricultural potential.
By the intelligent application of centuries-old indigenous knowledge, acquired and conserved by African women who have tended crops in all seasons, within the first few years bumper harvests were being reported. Agronomists consulted women about the qualities of various grains – which ones survived low rainfalls and which thrived in wet weather; what pests threatened crops and how could they be combated without undermining delicate ecological systems.
The social impact of the agrarian revolution was perhaps the most enduring change it brought about. The status of women, the tillers of the soil by tradition, rose exponentially. The girl child, condemned to a future in the kitchen or the fields in our not too distant past, now has an equal chance of acquiring a modern education (and owning a farm or an agribusiness). African mothers today have access to tractors and irrigation systems that can be easily assembled.
The producers’ cooperatives, (agribusinesses) and marketing boards these women established help move their produce and became the giant food companies we see today.’
We refused to bear the brunt of climate change and aggressively moved to promote the Green economy and to claim the Blue economy as ours. We lit up Africa, the formerly dark continent, using hydro, solar, wind, geo-thermal energy, in addition to fossil fuels.
And, whilst I’m on the Blue economy, the decision to form Africa-wide shipping companies, and encourage mining houses to ship their goods in vessels flying under African flags, meant a major growth spurt. Of course the decision taken in Dakar to form an African Naval Command to provide for the collective security of our long coastlines, certainly also helped.
Let me quote from our mutual friend again:

 

[Sinnerman]

Part 2

‘Africa’s river system, lakes and coast lines abound with tons of fish. With funding from the different states and the Diaspora, young entrepreneurs discovered… that the mouths of virtually all the rivers along the east coast are rich in a species of eel considered a delicacy across the continent and the world.
Clever marketing also created a growing market for Nile perch, a species whose uncontrolled proliferation had at one time threatened the survival of others in Lake Victoria and the Nile.
Today Namibia and Angola exploit the Benguela current, teaming with marine life, through the joint ventures funded by sovereign funds and the African Development Bank.”
On the east coast, former island states of Seychelles, Comoros, Madagascar and Mauritius are leading lights of the Blue economy and their universities and research institutes attract marine scientists and students from all over the world.
Dear friend, you reminded me in your last e-mail how some magazine once called us ‘The hopeless continent’, citing conflicts, hunger and malnutrition, disease and poverty as if it was a permanent African condition. Few believed that our pledge in the 50th Anniversary Declaration to silence the guns by 2020 was possible. Because of our firsthand experience of the devastation of conflicts, we tackled the root causes, including diversity, inclusion and the management of our resources.
If I have to single out one issue that made peace happened, it was our commitment to invest in our people, especially the empowerment of young people and women. By 2013 we said Africa needed a skills revolution and that we must change our education systems to produce young people that are innovative and entrepreneurial and with strong Pan African values.
From early childhood education, to primary, secondary, technical, vocational and higher education – we experienced a true renaissance, through the investments we made, as governments and the private sector in education and in technology, science, research and innovation.
Coupled with our concerted campaigns to eradicate the major diseases, to provide access to health services, good nutrition, energy and shelter, our people indeed became and are our most important resource. Can you believe it my friend, even the dreaded malaria is a thing of the past.
Of course this shift could not happen without Africa taking charge of its transformation, including the financing of our development. As one esteemed Foreign minister said in 2014: Africa is rich, but Africans are poor.
With concerted political determination and solidarity, and sometimes one step back and two steps forward, we made financing our development and taking charge of our resources a priority, starting with financing the African Union, our democratic elections and our peacekeeping missions.
The Golden Jubilee celebrations were the start of a major paradigm shift, about taking charge of our narrative.
Agenda 2063, its implementation and the milestones it set, was part of what brought about this shift. We developed Agenda 2063 to galvanize and unite in action all Africans and the Diaspora around the common vision of a peaceful, integrated and prosperous Africa. As an overarching framework, Agenda 2063 provided internal coherence to our various sectoral frameworks and plans adopted under the OAU and AU. It linked and coordinated our many national and regional frameworks into a common continental transformation drive.
Planning fifty years ahead, allowed us to dream, think creatively, and sometimes crazy as one of the Ministers who hosted the 2014 Ministerial retreat said, to see us leapfrog beyond the immediate challenges.
Anchored in Pan Africanism and the African renaissance, Agenda 2063 promoted the values of solidarity, self-belief, non-sexism, self-reliance and celebration of our diversity.
As our societies developed, as our working and middle classes grew, as women took their rightful place in our societies, our recreational, heritage and leisure industries grew: arts and culture, literature, media, languages, music and film. WEB du Bois grand project of Encyclopedia Africana finally saw the light and Kinshasha is now the fashion capital of the world.
From the onset, the Diaspora in the traditions of Pan Africanism, played its part, through investments, returning to the continent with their skills and contributing not only to their place of origin, but where the opportunities and needs were found.
Let me conclude this e-mail, with some family news. The twins, after completing their space studies at Bahir Dar university, decided to take the month before they start work at the African Space Agency to travel the continent. My old friend, in our days, trying to do that in one month would have been impossible!
But, the African Express Rail now connects all the capitals of our former states, and indeed they will be able to crisscross and see the beauty, culture and diversity of this cradle of humankind. The marvel of the African Express Rail is that it is not only a high speed-train, with adjacent highways, but also contains pipelines for gas, oil and water, as well as ICT broadband cables: African ownership, integrated planning and execution at its best!
The continental rail and road network that now crisscross Africa, along with our vibrant airlines, our spectacular landscapes and seductive sunsets, the cultural vibes of our cities, make tourism one of our largest economic sectors.
Our eldest daughter, the linguist, still lectures in KiSwahili in Cabo Verde, at the headquarters of the Pan African Virtual University. KiSwahili is now a major African working language, and a global language taught at most faculties across the world. Our grand children still find it very funny how we used to struggle at AU meetings with English, French and Portuguese interpretations, how we used to fight the English version not in line with the French or Arabic. Now we have a lingua franca, and multi-lingualism is the order of the day.
Remember how we used to complain about our voice not being heard in trade negotiations and the Security Council, how disorganized, sometimes divided and nationalistic we used to be in those forums, how we used to be summoned by various countries to their capitals to discuss their policies on Africa?
How things have changed. The Confederation last year celebrated twenty years since we took our seat as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and we are a major force for global stability, peace, human rights, progress, tolerance and justice.
My dear friend, I hope to see you next month in Haiti, for the second round of unity talks between the Confederation of African States and the Caribbean states. This is a logical step, since Pan Africanism had its roots amongst those early generations, as a movement of Africans from the mother continent and the Diaspora for liberation, self-determination and our common progress.
I end this e-mail, and look forward to seeing you in February. I will bring along some of the chocolates from Accra that you so love, which our children can now afford.
Till we meet again, Nkosazana.

what y'all think?

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

I'll believe it when I see it. It'd be good to see it tho.

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Ferguson_(mass_murderer)

 

[Kritic]

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/02/10/140210fa_fact_aviv?mobify=0

 

[Blackking]

What distinguishes the Zanj from numerous other slave rebellions cannot be measured in terms of numbers or the length of their struggle alone because one needs to bear in mind the aptitude displayed time and again in outmanoeuvring the ruling class. Instinctively they knew what needs to be done. That is not to belittle their numbers for this is one instance when quantitative comparisons are not misleading. The Spartacus Rebellion lasted for 3 years (73-71 BCE) and involved around 120,000 slaves. By contrast, the Zanj were 500,000 strong and maintained a marooned state for 15 years. Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise that their history has not been subjected to the gaze of Hollywood for the latter has an inbuilt tendency for de-memorizing and reifying proletarian resistance to class society. It is, therefore, left to us 21st century proles to re-create the world and times of kindred spirits separated from us by more than a millennium.

No sooner had they taken up arms (well pots and pans to be more precise) against their exploiters that they became adept at night-raids on enemy territory, liberating weapons, horses, food and fellow slaves, burning the rest to cinders to delay retaliation. During their 15 year uprising (869-883 A.D.) the Zanj acquired what was for its time state of the art technology: siege-laying catapults; flame-throwers; rapid chariots; multi-headed arrows. They trained expert engineers who blocked the enemy's advance by constructing impenetrable fortresses, coc00ned inside layers of water canals or conversely built rapid bridges and communication lines for uninvited courtesy calls to the citadels of the gods.

They did not handicap themselves by ignoring the seas. They possessed war ships and freighters. In one battle alone they overcame the Khalifeh's navy to capture 24 ships, which had been chained together by their captains to enhance their defensive capabilities! Rafi' in what seems to us an exaggeration puts the Zanj naval force at 1900 ships!

IDEOLOGICAL WARFARE

It pleases the Machiavelli and Cesare Borgia in us to observe that the Zanj never lost sight of the 'conspiratorial' nature of their adventure. Even in the beginning, although lacking in weapons, they displayed great organizational skills. They were ice-cool. Having devised a secret plan, Ali Razi informed his fellow rebels of the details by code. Accordingly each slave was to assassinate on the hour of the same day his (and most were male) master and thus take over his house, wealth and land. The plan worked so well that in no time at all most of present day Iraq, Bahrain and parts of Iran came under their rule.



these brothas man... I don't think we would have it in us today.

The Negro rebellion or Zanj

Sometimes it takes killing 100K persians and cac to get your point across

 

[Blackking]

And keeping your natural swag and "coolness" and style during a slave revolt and slavery is just

 

[Sinnerman]

King Juba II of Numidia and Mauretania

Juba II, (born c. 50 bc—died ad 24), son of Juba I and king of the North African states of Numidia (29–25bc) and Mauretania (25 bc–ad 24). Juba also was a prolific writer in Greek on a variety of subjects, including history, geography, grammar, and the theatre.

As a child of about five Juba was paraded in Rome in Caesar’s triumphal procession after the death of Juba I but subsequently was given a good education in Italy. Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) befriended Juba when he was a young man and in 29 bc installed him as king of Numidia, which had been a Roman province since the defeat of Juba I in 46. In 25 Juba was made ruler of Mauretania, which he governed until his death. His first wife, Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, exercised great influence on his policies.

Succeeding generations praised his scholarly work, but from the meagre fragments that survive it seems that, though his interests were extremely wide, he had little originality. He was content to excerpt or rearrange material from earlier authors, which he collected in a substantial library at his capital city of Caesarea (formerly Iol, now Cherchel, Alg.).

In the period from 1 to 500 A.D., western North Africa is one of the most prosperous and stable regions of the Roman empire, supplying the capital with staple crops and luxury goods. Peace and wealth create ideal conditions for a flowering of artistic and intellectual life

Married Cleopatra's daughter

 

[Captain Crunch]

I'll be pissed if they got rid of the farms. It needs to get that historic site status to remind these cacs of what they did. But yeah, it's vacant properties everywhere. I had an idea of tryna start a co-op/community garden tn that empty lot by the church and charter school. The real residents need jobs to try to shield the community from gentrification somewhat and good food to dodge them diseases. I don't even know where to begin with that tho.

But you right, it's lots of properties goin for the low. nikkaz gotta stop the invading hordes of hipster, cheese and cracker with they wine havin, extra smug and privileged cacs.

You belong to any groups, try running it by them if so? A co-op(rent; 6 full time $10/hr workers, supplies) could probably be had for $300 k a year, if 10,000 DC black folks put up $30, that's enough to establish it for one year. Let me know if you follow suit with this.

 

[JBoy]

good stuff in here

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

You belong to any groups, try running it by them if so? A co-op(rent; 6 full time $10/hr workers, supplies) could probably be had for $300 k a year, if 10,000 DC black folks put up $30, that's enough to establish it for one year. Let me know if you follow suit with this.

Nah I don't belong to any I just read a lot about the business model and I like it. Where I want to implement it will be difficult though. I'm gonna investigate this and get back to you, I may reach out to Kojo Nnamdi from NPR he likes to get involved in local things.

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

Inspired by my breh @Black Reign it's time to get better aquainted with our African countries. I watch a great movie called Tasuma on Africa Channel, it came from the first country I'll profile.

Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso

FlagCoat of arms
Motto: "Unité–Progrès–Justice" (French)
"Unity–Progress–Justice"
Anthem: Une Seule Nuit / Ditanyè (French)
One Single Night / Hymn of Victory

Location of Burkina Faso(dark blue)
– in Africa(light blue & dark grey)
– in the African Union(light blue) – [Legend]

Capital
and largest cityOuagadougou

12°20′N 1°40′W
Official languagesFrench
Recognised regional languages

• Mòoré
• Mandinka
• Bambara

Ethnic groups(1995)

• 47.9% Mossi
• 10.3% Fulani
• 6.9% Lobi
• 6.9% Bobo
• 6.7% Mandé
• 5.3% Senufo
• 5.0% Gurunsi
• 4.8% Gurma
• 3.1% Tuareg

Demonym

• Burkinabé
• Burkinabè
• Burkinabe

GovernmentSemi-presidential republic
- PresidentBlaise Compaoré
- Prime MinisterLuc-Adolphe Tiao
LegislatureNational Assembly
Independence
- from France5 August 1960
Area
- Total274,200 km2 (74th)
105,869 sq mi
- Water (%)0.146%
Population
- 2010 estimate15,730,977 (64th)
- 2006 census14,017,262
- Density57.4/km2 (145th)
148.9/sq mi


Burkina Faso ( i/bərˌkiːnə ˈfɑːsoʊ/ bər-kee-nə fah-soh; French: [buʁkina faso]), also known by its short-form name Burkina, is a landlocked country in West Africa around 274,200 square kilometres (105,900 sq mi) in size. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north; Niger to the east; Benin to the southeast; Togo and Ghana to the south; and Ivory Coast to the southwest. Its capital is Ouagadougou. In 2010, its population was estimated at just under 15.75 million.

Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta, the country was renamed "Burkina Faso" on 4 August 1984 by then-President Thomas Sankara, using a word from each of the country's two major native languages, Mòoré and Dioula. Figuratively, Burkina, from Mòoré, may be translated as "men of integrity", while Faso means "fatherland" in Dioula. "Burkina Faso" is understood as "Land of upright people" or "Land of honest people". Residents of Burkina Faso are known as Burkinabè (/bərˈkiːnəbeɪ/ bər-kee-nə-bay). French is an official language of government and business in the country.

Between 14,000 and 5000 BC, Burkina Faso was populated by hunter-gatherers in the country's northwestern region. Farm settlements appeared between 3600 and 2600 BC. What is now central Burkina Faso was principally composed of Mossi kingdoms. In 1896 France established a protectorate over the kingdoms in this territory.

After gaining independence from France in 1960, the country underwent many governmental changes. Today it is a semi-presidential republic. The president is Blaise Compaoré. Burkina Faso is a member of the African Union, Community of Sahel-Saharan States, La Francophonie,Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and Economic Community of West African States.