African Food History, Art, and Spirituality

Major Pierre Claver Karangwa, one of the executioners of the 100 day long Rwandan Genocide lived in the Netherlands for 26 years before his arrest​. Rwanda is the most densely populated country in mainland Africa with a population of 13 million living on 10,169 square miles of land; Rwanda is about the size of the US state of Maryland. The population is divided among ethnic lines with Hutu 85 percent, Tutsi 14 percent, and Twa 1 percent.  Major Pierre Claver Karangwa In 1959, three years before independence, the majority ethnic group, the Hutus, overthrew the ruling Tutsi king. Over the next several years thousands of Tutsis were killed, and some 150,000 driven into exile in neighboring countries. The children of these exiles later formed a rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front and began a civil war in 1990. The mass killing of Rwanda’s Tutsi population was ignited on April 6, 1994, when a plane carrying the-then president, Juvénal Habyarimana, was shot down and crashed in Kigali, t

Easy Recipe  Make Perfectly Seasoned Sweet Potato Leaves Cook sweet potato leaves in recipes just as you would spinach. Blend sweet potato leaves in smoothies, make sweet potato leaves stir-fry or eat sweet potato leaves washed and raw. Sweet potato leaves are eaten raw and cooked; add sweet potatoes to your salad or mix them in with spinach, sweet potato leaves go well with any meat dish such as chicken, beef, pork, or fish. Perfectly Seasoned Sweet Potato Leaves Sweet potato leaves are universally eaten throughout Africa in too many recipes to count. Sweet potato leaves are edible and delicious with a soft texture that tastes like kale or spinach. The best way to cook sweet potatoes is just to simply sauté them with a little bit of onion, olive oil, salt and pepper. Sweet potato leaves have five times more vitamin C than other greens such as spinach. Sweet potatoes do not have a particular season but are grown year-round in the United States; however they are at their peak sweetness

Borno State’s capital in Maiduguri northeastern Nigeria had many internally displaced persons (IDP) camps which were home to thousands of people who fled their homes because war had been declared on the everyday people.  Internally Displaced Persons means persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border. Life in an IDP camp In IDP camps every inch of space counted. Jerrycans and cooking pots were stacked on top of each other and clothes hung from the roof. Living in an IDP camp means you have to start your life from zero, and you may not have a safe place to live once you arrive.  One night in May 2020, Awofaa, a 38-year-old widow was sleeping with her three children

War zone blockades shut off the import of food supplies. The land is real, its there but it is not obtainable to feed families during war. War zone blockades shut off the import of food supplies by cutting off transportation by land and sea.  There are over 1.2 billion people living in Africa; 44.5 million live with daily threats of terrorism and war. According to the last stats as of June 2019, there are fifteen African countries involved in war or are experiencing post-war conflict and tension. Africa has 54 countries, 27 percent of people on the African continent are directly affected by tribal conflict, wars and involved with perpetual terrorist violence. Africa's farming economy of imported manufactured goods and local industry is neither large nor well developed enough to meet demand to feed families during times of war and conflict. In Africa small families grow 70 percent of their food supply. War creates a lack of rich farming land. The cycle of poverty, malnutrition, star

Africa averages around four coups per year. Burkina Faso has the most successful coups in Africa, eight. Seven African countries, Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Sudan and Tunisia had coups; an illegal and overt attempt to unseat sitting leaders in 2021. Africa averages around four coups and coup attempts per year however 2021 was unusually high with three failed coup attempts and four successful. The year 2022 has started with two coups on the African Continent. There were successful coups in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Guinea and failed military takeovers in Tunisia, Niger and Sudan. Burkina Faso, in West Africa, has had the most successful coups , with eight takeovers, four alleged coups and one failed coup. January 23, 2022 was the latest coup in Burkina Faso. A coup is a illegal seizure of power by a political group civilian or military who forcefully carries out the removal of the sitting government and its powers. A political or military coup causes intense sectarian