The word Africa

[Artemis Windsong]

What is your response when someone says they know someone who spent time in Africa?

The reason I ask is a friend was talking about her Mom's caretaker and how she had been living in Africa.  All of us pulled back for an instant.  My logical mind said the woman had been in the U.S. for a few years.  The scary mind thought, Yikes, ebola carrier.

[Tennesseer]

Africa.  The land of an incredible range of animal species, ancient cities and a diversity of people. Disease is not even on my list.

[Deleted]

yah, normally I think safari, Zebra, Elephant.

The last couple weeks Ebola and sadness and despair are in the mix.

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

The reason I ask is a friend was talking about her Mom's caretaker and how she had been living in Africa. All of us pulled back for an instant. My logical mind said the woman had been in the U.S. for a few years

Then she would have been here long before the current Ebola outbreak and not exposed to it.

[MarleyKeezy78]

I think ebola, but I have family that went to Africa a few years ago and I know they are just fine.

[Deleted]

Oct 18, 2014 21:26:27 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Africa.  The land of an incredible range of animal species, ancient cities and a diversity of people. Disease is not even on my list.

Also me! I think about elephants

[haapai]

My reaction differs depending on whether someone has an accent or not. 

If they don't have an accent or they have a West African accent, I immediately hope that I've run into another ACS alum or a Liberian.  I want to catch up and compare notes. 

If it's a commonwealth or French flavored accent, I try to guess where before they tell me.  I'm not very good at this any more.  My hearing has gone to hell. 

No, I do not think Ebola.  It's a huge continent folks. 

[The Captain]

I collect sansevierias, aloe, and crassulae.  With very few exceptins they all originate in Africa.  So I think about exotic plants.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Oct 18, 2014 21:26:27 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Africa.  The land of an incredible range of animal species, ancient cities and a diversity of people. Disease is not even on my list.

  Photo safaris.  A hugely diverse geography.  Gorgeous people and bright colors. 

[Tennesseer]

Oct 20, 2014 7:24:15 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

Oct 18, 2014 21:26:27 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Africa.  The land of an incredible range of animal species, ancient cities and a diversity of people. Disease is not even on my list.

  Photo safaris.  A hugely diverse geography.  Gorgeous people and bright colors. 

Funny you mention bright colors. I thought about adding that to my post too.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Oct 20, 2014 7:27:22 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Oct 20, 2014 7:24:15 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

  Photo safaris.  A hugely diverse geography.  Gorgeous people and bright colors. 

Funny you mention bright colors. I thought about adding that to my post too.

I suspect my image of Africa is pretty stereotypical, which means it may or may not be accurate. 

[ArchietheDragon]

Just for reference, Africa is 11.7 million square miles.  The continental USA is 3.1 million square miles.    

[cael]

Oct 18, 2014 21:08:51 GMT -5 Artemis Windsong said:

What is your response when someone says they know someone who spent time in Africa?

I think "oh man, jellyyyyy, I want to go back!!!" then I remember it'd probably be best if I wait a while before going back. I really hope our friends in Ghana continue to stay safe from the ebolas...

The woman who led our trip is in Ghana now and coming home this week... I wonder how she feels about it. She's quite intelligent so I'm sure she isn't freaking out for no reason. The flights from Accra connect to Monrovia though.... so her flight home will have just come from Liberia.

[Value Buy]

South Africa while in control by white minority

Belgian Congo

Egypt

I guess I am lost in the black history of Africa

BLACK HISTORY = immoral

Now it seems like Africa with civil wars across the continent, is paying the price of European colonization of the 1800's similar to European and American interference in the Middle East.

Not enough central government control to protect citizens and natural resources.

Yes, a right winger saying not enough central government control, but when there is as much lawlessness as there is, government control is somewhat necessary.

Then again we have seen misery occur with the white governments falling to dictatorships raping the countries for the last 60 years or so.

[Bonny]

Oct 20, 2014 6:17:31 GMT -5 haapai said:

My reaction differs depending on whether someone has an accent or not. 

If they don't have an accent or they have a West African accent, I immediately hope that I've run into another ACS alum or a Liberian.  I want to catch up and compare notes. 

If it's a commonwealth or French flavored accent, I try to guess where before they tell me.  I'm not very good at this any more.  My hearing has gone to hell. 

No, I do not think Ebola.  It's a huge continent folks. 

What is ACS?

[Tiny]

The list of things the word Africa causes to pop into my mind goes something like this:
Sun Ovens/Solar cooking
How sucky it can be for women/children to live in parts of Africa
Endless wars/grinding poverty
Malaria/guinea worms/and a whole host of other nasty diseases - lassa fever, dengue fever, leprosy,and now ebola
Wild untamed places with amazing animals
Kilimangaro
The River Nile
Egypt
Morroco
Rick's Cafe (casablance - place and movie)...


I guess it all depends on what kinds of things interest you as to what a particular word makes you think of...

[haapai]

It's the school that I went to in Monrovia.  I think that it was a refugee camp during the civil wars and it may have been shelled during that time.  Another school may have been re-established on the same site, possibly with the same acronym, but the old school was destroyed during the war and the new school is quite a different type of entity. 

I loved the years that I spent there but it was definitely an odd place.  It's taken me thirty years to realize that the tennis courts that were installed after the coup in 1980 might have been built to land helicopters. 

[Opti]

What is your response when someone says they know someone who spent time in Africa?

I'd ask where first.

I've gotten some interesting insights from people who have lived in Kenya

and Morocco.

Anyone notice Ebola and Ebonics start with the same two letters...

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

]

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

I second so many of the other thoughts posted here -- especially the wildlife and the beauty and the history -- and then, sadly, I think of Darfur, and Ethiopia, and famine, and civil wars, and Rawanda and then I feel guilty because, damn, I have it pretty damn good in comparison.  

[swamp]

 I bless the rains down in afriiiicaaaaa
That song by Toto runs through my mind. Or the shakira one. Depending on my mood. 

[Bonny]

Oct 20, 2014 17:21:16 GMT -5 haapai said:

It's the school that I went to in Monrovia.  I think that it was a refugee camp during the civil wars and it may have been shelled during that time.  Another school may have been re-established on the same site, possibly with the same acronym, but the old school was destroyed during the war and the new school is quite a different type of entity. 

I loved the years that I spent there but it was definitely an odd place.  It's taken me thirty years to realize that the tennis courts that were installed after the coup in 1980 might have been built to land helicopters. 

What an interesting childhood you must have had Haapai. Were your parents Dips or Peace Corp folks?

[weltschmerz]

Oct 20, 2014 17:21:58 GMT -5 Opti said:

What is your response when someone says they know someone who spent time in Africa?

I'd ask where first.

I've gotten some interesting insights from people who have lived in Kenya

and Morocco.

Anyone notice Ebola and Ebonics start with the same two letters...

Anyone notice that Ebola and Coca Cola end with the same three letters?

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

As YDS noted, "more people die of the flu than have died from Ebola.  So, why all of the hype?  What are they hiding from us by distracting us with the non-Ebola story?"

[Artemis Windsong]

I wonder who pays for the 21-day quarantine of people coming from West Africa.  That is probably unpaid leave from work. 

[Tennesseer]

Oct 26, 2014 15:57:44 GMT -5 Artemis Windsong said:

I wonder who pays for the 21-day quarantine of people coming from West Africa.  That is probably unpaid leave from work. 

New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, and the governors of New Jersey, Illinois and Forida, mandated all health care workers returning from the west African nations affected by ebola, must go into a 21 day isolation in a hospital.

Last night, Cuomo changed that and the health care workers can go into quarantine and isolation in their own homes. The governor also said those in quarantine at home will be compensated for lost income.


Under Pressure, Cuomo Says Ebola Quarantines Will Allow Home Isolation

[Artemis Windsong]

TN post #26.  Thanks for that information.

I would not want to be a home owner in self-quarantine then get e-bola.

People compare e-bola to the flu.  Half or more e-bola patients die a painful death.  I don't know what percent of the population who get the flu die.  The CDC search I did said underlying  complications are attributed to flu deaths.  There is not an accurate count.

www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related_deaths.htm