Shane Galloway
The Central African Republic has many beautiful things within it that often go unseen as they are not what makes the top headlines for news stories each night. One of these great things is the music that the people are so passionate about. One of the more popular instruments that is used is the sanza, it is made of a wooden board and pieces of metal and is played by plucking. The Banda people who live in the Central African Republic have made some modern popular music of which some has been recognized. The United Nations Educational Scientific, and Cultural Organization has said that the trumpet based jazzy music the Banda people have made is one of the greatest musicological discoveries of our century. Music is very important in the lives of many Central African Republican people as it is used in their religion and as a form of entertainment.
Another positive thing about the Central African Republic is the fact that primary schooling is free. While many nations struggle to become educated there is hope that children can get an education while not having to pay for it. One fascinating discovery in the Central African Republic was a new species of bee. While this new bee does not produce honey it plays a crucial role in pollenating plants and crops in the area. This is important as farming needs to be as productive as possible so learning more about these bees could give insight as to how crop production could be increased leading to more food available to the people. Also it is so exciting to see just how diverse the wildlife in the Central African Republic is, discovering a new species with how much technology we have today shows how little we know about the world and makes you wonder what else could be out there. Like many other countries in Africa, soccer is very popular but recently basketball is being used to try to bring the country together. While there is a lot of violence in the Central African Republic a recent basketball tournament brought people together for a peaceful gathering. Sports have been used to unite nations before and many in the Central African Republic are hoping that basketball will be able to do the same for them. The power that sports can have really can be incredible and are a great distraction from everyday life or not so ordinary situations like there are currently in the Central African Republic. But this game gave the leaders, players, and many of the people hope that peace can be restored and progress can be made going forward.
Learning all of these amazing things about the Central African Republic has made me realize just how bad the stereotypes are that the media and even education systems in the United States have. Growing up in America Africa is always seen as so far behind and always portrayed as this one country not the multiple ones that it is. Finally getting to learn more about an individual country and what they do and all the technologies they have makes me feel ignorant for the way I looked at them previously. Typically when looking at Africa the only sport I would ever think of was soccer seeing as it is so popular. But now that I saw what this basketball tournament did in the Central African Republic my eyes have been opened to realize that you need to actually research things for yourself before you can form an opinion on them. I really believe that is what this entire class has taught me, how the mainstream media does not portray the truth and until you try to find out the facts for yourself or educate yourself you will never truly know what is going on around the world.
