Sunday, March 19, 2017

Government Week: Equatorial Guinea

This week we're talking about different types of government. We're covering seven: Democracy, Republic, Dictatorship, Totalitarian, Theocracy, Monarchy, and Anarchy. Now, some of those are tough, because they overlap. But, we're just giving a general idea and moving on. We also talked about how many countries fall under more than one of those. 

I had wanted to start with Democracy, but I moved things around a bit, because of recipes and having a visitor later this week. So our first lesson was in Dictatorships, which brings us to the tiny little African country of Equatorial Guinea. 


First we had to talk about Dictatorships, and how Dictators usually come to (and stay in) power. 



There are a lot of Dictators in the world, so I looked around for what country would best fit into our theme. I was saving North Korea for Totalitarian day, so in my search for other awful leaders, I found Equatorial Guinea's "President".  I present to you, Teodoro Obiang Nguema. 


Nguema's uncle was in charge, and a pretty awful dictator. But then he became seriously paranoid, went legit crazy, and even murdered a bunch of Nguema's family. Nguema then staged a coup, and took the power. Many of Equatoguinan people thought Nguema would be better. But, like all dictators, Nguema got drunk on his power. (So drunk in fact, rumor has it he EATS powerful people to take on their power, so there's that). 

But what makes this country so different from other repressed countries, is that Equatorial Guinea is rich. Like, really, really rich, all in thanks to black gold struck off the coast in the mid 1990's.  In terms of Gross Domestic Product per capita, it is the richest country in Africa; and with a GDP of $14.3 Billion, it is the 38th richest country per capita in the world. 

However, the riches of the government does not trickle down to the people of Equatorial Guinea. It is a country where 75% of the population live on less than $1 a day. 


For now, e capital, Malabo, is on an island, all it's own. It's not right next door either; it's about a 40 minute plane ride.  The island is to the north, much closer to Cameroon's mainland than it's own. In fact, 10,000 years ago, before the last ice age, it was connected to Cameroon, instead of an island, it was a peninsula. 

The island receives a substantial amount of rain. With over 411 inches of rain a year, it is the wettest place in all of Africa. 

Perhaps that's part of the reason Ngueme is working to make a new capital, this time on the mainland. His eyes and construction team are on the city of Oyala. Once an underdeveloped jungle, the city has taken shape. 

While it's citizens live in poverty,  the government spends on it's leader's lavish lifestyle. The Sipopo resort was built for African leaders. It boats 52 luxury presidential villas, a conference hall, an artificial beach, the country's first 18 hole golf course, and the country's first spa. 

When the leaders arrived, they were greeted in a lavish VIP lounge at the airport, drove down nearly empty six lane highways, past state of the art hospitals with no patients, and through blocks of brand new lavish homes that make up a virtual ghost town. All of these things were built, but nobody can afford to go there. 

And visitors aren't all that welcome either. Visas are hard to get, and travel permits are regularly checked throughout the country. Tourists are rare, and therefore scrutinized, so getting around Equatorial Guinea involves a mixture of faith, and fearlessness. Plus, perhaps, a bit of bribe money. 

If you ever make it there, you can check out the Bongos (the cute little white striped antelopes live in the lush and dense forests), and the Goliath Frog (the world's largest!). 


The boys made some good Equatorial Guinea postcards. 


Calib might have taken the cannibalism thing a little too far though. 


Peyton had an interesting perspective with his leaf, the rain, the frog and the bongo. (Oh and that little stick guy diving in to swim the the corner is 'Eric the eel', a 2000 Summer Olympian- who took twice as much time to finish the 100 meter freestyle race as any of his competitors, but set an Equatorial Guinean record!) 


Hayden's card featured Nguema taking all the money for himself. That is also a poop emoji because I made the mistake about telling him about a guy who is now known as Fernando Poo. He was the Portuguese explorer who discovered Bioko Island in 1472. (His name is actually Po, but somewhere along the line it changed to Poo. Surely he appreciates that). 


For dinner we had Shrimp with Equatorial Glaze (because they eat fresh catch from the Gulf of Guinea), Garlic Mashed Cassava (Cassava is super popular there), Akwadu (a banana dish often served for breakfast), and Equatorial Succotash


This meal earned three spoons up. 

Asa was the only cassava fan. The rest of us thought the consistency was like someone made mashed potatoes with glue. But the rest of it was pretty good. I didn't like the shrimp as much as I thought I would, but everyone ate their succotash. Some of us liked the bananas more than others, but it definitely went over better than the 'grass bananas' from Indonesia day

Peyton colored in the tiny country, and made a dot for the island. 


That's 42 countries down, 151 to go! 

Next Up: Totalitarian Day complete with North Korea







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