World Geography and Culture: Tanzania and Kenya, East Africa

East Africa includes Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania.

Kenya

Orphaned baby elephants in the Daphne Scheldrick Santurary of Nairobi Park.
World Food Cafe by Chris and Carolyn Caldicott

We ate Sukuma Wiki, which in Kenyan literally means “stretch the week.” I am not a fan of kale, so I wasn't sure about this dish, but I LOVED it. I got the recipe from Global Table Adventure, and I loved the way she presents the recipe.

"...First, fly to Kenya and pick up some produce at the local market..."

Shopping at Kenyan markets. Photos by Ryan Harvey and Angela Sevin

Dry Potato and Pea Sak

Sak means a spiced vegetable dish, and this dish is a mild curry.

We also tasted Sweet Potatoes and Celery in Mung Dal (Yellow Split Peas).

Tanzania and Zanzibar

We enjoyed sampling Zanzibar Beans in Coconut Sauce. We served fish with this dish, as it is served traditionally in Tanzanian island of Zanzibar.

"Zanzibar, politically part of Tanzania, owes its cooking traditions more to Arab and European colonialism and to Indian traders than tot mainland East Africa." -World Food Cafe

Masai

A Masai tribesman on the edge of the Rift Valley in Tanzania.
World Food Cafe by Chris and Carolyn Caldicott

Alex did this art project of a Maasai using crayons and tempera paint.

Kenyan Maasai shave their heads and wear many many layers of beaded necklaces and earrings. 

We listened to the East Africa song from Geography Songs.

Nairobi, Kenya is the biggest city. The Indian Ocean is on the coast. The highest mountain is Kilimanjaro. The biggest lake is Victoria.

books:

• Papa, Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. Joosse is a story about the unconditional love between a father and a child. It is set in a Maasai village and provides a lot of information about Maasai culture through the simple story. It also has a glossary in the back of the book that gives further information about the Maasai.

sources: 

• World Food Cafe, Chris and Carolyn Caldicott
• Discover Africa Notebooking Packet, Balancing Everything
• East and South Africa Squidoo Lens
• East Africa song from Geography Songs

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World Geography and Culture: Ethiopia and The Horn of Africa

SOURCE

The Horn of Africa is a peninsula that juts out south of the Red Sea. It has Somalia and Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. The biggest city is Addis Abbaba in the country of Ethiopia. Most of the people live in sea ports by the Indian Ocean." -Geography Songs, Larry and Kathy Troxel

Ethiopia

Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

We decided to do our own Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony, with just a few modifications.

Katie gathered the flowers from her garden.

First we prepared things by gathering flowers,

 brewing coffee (no, we did not roast the beans ourselves), 

I decided to make whole wheat pumpkin pan cakes as our bread.

making the bread 

and popcorn. 

While we ate our snack, we talked about the geography and culture of Ethiopia.

sources and inspiration:

• Geography Songs, Larry and Kathy Troxel
• Discover Africa Notebooking Packet, Balancing Everything
• Ethiopian Coffee Tradition at The Forest Room
• Ethiopian Feast at East and South African Lesson on Squidoo
• Ethiopian Dinner on YouTube
• Welcome to my neighborhood in Djibouti at Djibouti Jones

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World Geography and Culture: The Seychelles and Southern Africa

"Malawi, Botswana, 

We learned about Tswana music and dance from Botswana.
Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, 

notebook pages from Discover Africa at Balancing Everything

Lesotho, and Swaziland, these are the countries of Southern Africa. Comoros, Seychelles and Madagascar and Mauritius are islands to the east." -Geography Songs by Larry and Kathy Troxel

The Seychelles

The Seychelles is a group of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean.

"There are abundant forests full of fruits; palm-fringed beaches of white sand, and warm, clear water full of fish; and long days of sunshine and blue sky...Much of the appeal of La Digue lies in the things it lacks -such as tropical diseases, crime, cars, poverty, pollution, large hotels, crowds and dangerous wildlife." - World Food Cafe

"La Digue (one of the islands in the Seychelles) was a uninhabited until just over 200 years ago. It was first settled by French colonialists and their slaves, then gained by the British, along with most of the Indian Ocean islands, as spoils of the Napoleonic wars. Withe the abolition of slavery, the British encouraged the migration of Indians and Asians to the islands. La Digue gradually developed as a community with the rich ethnic blend of African, Asian, Arab and European roots and cultural influences that define the Creole-speaking Seychellois and their food."- World Food Cafe

The Carri Coco Curry was the most labor-intensive dish that we have made so far. It is a curry dish made from sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkin and Napa cabbage with coconut milk and herbs. Steven, in particular, liked it. The Sweet Apple Salad is made from tart apples, Napa cabbage and red onions, which have been fried with spices. It is sweet, savory and spicy all at the same time.

books and recipes:

• Journey to Jo'burg: A South African Story, Beverley Naidoo (grade 5/age 9 and up)
• Malva Pudding
• Milk Tart

World Geography and Culture: Mali and West Africa

Pirogues -traditional canoes (picture above) -on the Niger River

West Africa includes the countries of Niger,  Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso,

Ghana, Togo, Benin,

Nigeria, the Islands of Cape Verde and Mali.

"The countries of French-speaking West Africa have inherited many food customs from their colonial past. Froissants, baguettes and cafe au lait are ubiquitous in restaurants and cafes -even in Bamako, capital of Mali, one of West Africa's poorest and least developed states. However the street food, cooked and served outdoors, belongs to quite another tradition: The ingredients and style are wholly African." -World Food Cafe

For our country study of Mali, we made West African Beans and Okra and Sweet Potatoes in a Cayenne, Ginger and Peanut Sauce. We liked these dishes better than the dishes from Egypt and Morocco but not as well as the dishes from Oman. Okra is one of the most common vegetables of the region, and both dishes were more like what we think of as traditional African dishes than the previous dishes we have tasted.

We studied the history of Ghana from 700-1240.

• Read from The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, page 117. Made notes of key words as we read. Write a few sentences about what you have learned in your history notebook. Another option is to use the Medieval History Portfolio, Homeschool Journey.
• Colored an appropriate map such as the one with History Odyssey, Pandia Press, Level 2 (5th-8th grade).
• Included appropriate dates on the timeline.

books:

• The Hatseller And The Monkeys by Baba Wagué Diakité is from Mali  and is the African version of Caps for Sale. It is the story of some monkeys that stole BaMusa’s hats on his way to the market and how he was able to trick them into giving them back to him.
• Beat the Story-Drum, Pum-Pum, Ashley Bryan, (age 8 and up), Nigerian folk tales.

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World Geography and Culture: Egypt and the Levant

"The Bedouin are warm, hospitable, generous and entertaining hosts. The harsh desert environment has inspired traditions of providing food, drink and shelter to any passing stranger."  - World Food Cafe

James drew this map of Egypt using the instructions from Mapping the World with Art. 

This week our geography studies took us to Egypt ...

and the Levant, which today consists of the island of Cyprus, Israel, Jordan...

Lebanon's Flag 
made from tomatoes, pita bread and parsley
source: Marvelous

Lebanon, Syria, Palestine...

Turkey's Flag 
made from Turkish Delight
source: Marvelous

and part of southern Turkey (the former Aleppo Vilayet). 

The term Levant, which appeared in English in 1497, originally meant the East in general or the Mediterranean lands east of Italy. It is borrowed from the French levant which speaks of the French involvement in the area. In French it means "rising", referring to the rising of the sun in the east, or the point where the sun rises. The populations of the Levant share not only the geographic position, but cuisine, some customs, and history.

"Bread plays an essential part in the diet of this region. Its Arabic name, aysh means 'life' and it is part of every meal, from the most basic street snack to he grandest Bedouin feast. All breads from this region are unleavened."  - World Food Cafe

We ate Ful medames, which is Egypt's national dish and several side salads for dinner, and for the meat-eaters, I suggested that we make chicken kabobs to eat in the pita bread. When James was preparing the meat, however, he decided just to cook the chicken in strips, without making them into kabobs. The Ful medames is made from fava beans, something we had never had before, but we found them to be not much different than Lima beans.

"Ful medames is served all across Egypt and Jordan by everyone from street vendors and small cafes to the smartest hotels...accompanied with fresh salads of beet, radishes, red onion, tomato, cucumber, carrot, plenty of parsley and cilantro leaves and of course pita bread." - World Food Cafe

Baba Ghanoush

Another day we had a lunch of Baba Ghanoush (an eggplant dip) and hummus, both served with warm pita bread. The Baba Ghanoush Steven and I loved, but the kids wouldn't touch. They enjoyed the hummus, however.

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