Banned Countries Week: Somalia

On to the next country in our theme week, Somalia! 

Somalia's U.S. Department of State's Travel Warning tells us to avoid all travel to the area.  Which is sad, because the horn of Africa has some cool things to see. The Laas Geel caves feature some of the earliest known cave paintings. The rock art is thought to be some of the most vivid in Africa, and among the world's best Neolithic rock art.  The beaches in Somalia are some of the world's longest, as it has the longest coastline of any country in Africa. 

Other fun Somalian fact: Somali's love a good nickname. They come up with them by taking a physical attribute and identifying someone by it. 

But sadly, Somalia is perceived as one of the least peaceful nations in the world, with it's capital city, Mogadishu, considered as one of the most dangerous cities in the world. 

Somalia is divided into three parts. At the bottom, where Mogadishu is located is Somalia. They have been plagued with bombings, conflicts, and warlords. In the middle is Puntland, who has to deal with the piracy in the Indian Ocean. And at the top, is the once golden child (and self-proclaimed independent state) of Somaliland. Unfortunately, this once decently stable area has been taken over by terrorism and kidnappings.

So, while, it could be viewed a bit insensitive, we made pirate ships for Somalia day. I mean, we did learn all about the pirates who take over cargo ships, and we also learned the Royal Navy apparently blasts 'Oops! I Did It Again!' by Brittany Spears to scare them off of the coastline. But, we made it into a STEM project, and they each had 15 minutes, a piece of foil, and a few other craft items at their disposal to create their ships. 

Then they got to float them in sink and load them up with 'treasure' (pennies). Now, the boys have been earning nickles, dimes, and quarters (and the occasional dollar) for their jars. If you don't remember/didn't read the Around the World blog, these jars can only be emptied before the Hawaii trip and at the end of the year, so every little bit helps. Now, the boys got to decide when they were done loading up their treasure, keeping in mind, if the boat sank, your treasure sank with it, and you didn't get to keep any of it. 

Hayden's boat sank with about 10 pennies on it, and he lost his treasure. 

Peyton stopped at 24 pennies, even though I think he easily could have gotten twice as many without sinking his ship. 

Calib really debated on how much to put on. He pet it on in stacks on top of Popsicle sticks inside his foil, and got somewhere around 45. 

Asa and I also built ships just for the fun of it. I let Hayden put treasure in mine, and told him he could keep a quarter of the treasure for doing the work, as long as he didn't sink my boat. He ended up with 12 cents. 

Both Asa and I could have fit way more pennies on our boats, but we used what was left in the jar after Calib and Peyton. 

Back over at the board we talked about Somalia. Life there is tough. Not only have they been in a Civil War since 1991, and have Al-Shabaab actively recruiting members, but they're one of the world's poorest countries. With no real trash disposal, litter is everywhere, and only one in four people have access to proper bathrooms. Refugees have set up huts to live in, while the very unstable government fights against the terrorists. One minor note about the info on the board: the election of the president had been rescheduled several times and actually happened yesterday! 

Peyton said he felt even worse after learning about Somalia that we're refusing entry to the refugees from there. And the boys also noted it makes sense that Al-Shabaab recruits kids, since their life is so difficult. I mean, if they can get a reliable source of food, it's an attractive option just to survive. Because, to be clear, survival in Somalia is difficult. The Life Expectancy in that country is just 51 and a half, which ranks in the bottom ten of countries. 

And the Somalia postcards: 

Dinner was a little crazy, we had peaches, Somali Summer Salad, Chickpea Pancakes with Tumerica, Chilli and Cumin with Sahawiq to dip them in, and Somalian Crabmeat Stew over Somalian Rice. 

Dinner earns two and a half spoons up. 

I gave it the half spoon, and everyone was like "I thought you couldn't give it a half spoon?", and I said 'I write the blogs, I can do whatever I want!' 

Anyway, the spoons came from Asa and Peyton, who ate everything on their plate, except for maybe the whole chickpea pancake (they were WEIRD, like a dense pancake if it were made from cornbread), and the dipping sauce (which everyone claimed tasted like a weird guacamole). 

The stew was good, and I would have that again, but for me, the rice was too spicy. The salad was pretty universally loved though, which was a surprise. The boys did, for the most part, pick around the green pepper though. 

I was in my seat earlier than everyone else, so I took a picture of what it's like when the boys come to the table. They always investigate their plate. 

Peyton's been our go-to nailpolish painter for the table, and he did a really nice job on the horn of Africa. 

18 Down, 175 to go! 

Next Up: Libya