1st Period: Team Gerrard

Country: South Africa

History
In june 1993 South Africa and swaziland signed a judicial agreemnt providing for south africa judges, magistrates, and prosecutors to serve in swaziland courts.
They also provide training for swazi court personnel

4th century migrants from the north settle
In 1914 national party founded
In 2001 pharmecutical companies halt legal battle to stop south africa from importing generic Aids drugs

South africa separeted from many people groups and fought in many people groups and fought in many wars changing the way they lived.

Cooking-infuenced by eastern flavors, western tastes and traditonal african dishes
Information provided by: 14

Religion: deal with male ancestrol rituals and those of the Khoisan peoples . In the bantu religion there is no priesthood or officialy recognized mediater between spiritual worlds.
Information provided by: 16

Geography/Current Issues
Tensions between South Africa and Zimbabwe have been high since 1965, when south africa demonstrated tacit support for the unilateral decleration of independance (UDI) by white dominate-dominated Rhodesia
Information provided by: 17

Main bodies of water are the south atlantic and the indian oceans
Information provided by: 16

Culture/Politics/Government
South africa and Namibia have formed a joint administrative authority to manage the port facilities
 agriculture....security....transportation.....and medicine
south africa: lesotho democratic.....completely surrounded by south africa....changed name from basutoland when gained independance from UK
has had strained relations with botswana but were normalized in 1990s
bilateral realationships with zimbabwe have improved as apartheid legaly ended .....in december 1993 the foreign ministers got together for first time.
Information provided by: 16

South africa will host one of the worlds most popular sporting events this year: the world cup.
Information provided by: 18

South African "Rand"

Information provided by: 17

Language -zulu, xhosa,afrikaans, and english
Information provided by: 16

(15) south african music: popular (jive), folk, gospel, jazz, techno, metal, and reggae

these genres changed throughout the years because of government restrictions and the development of the music industry important people: steve biko founded the Black Consciousness movement. He later became a martyr.

Important People:
Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, was a world acclaimed international statesman who dedicated his life to equality between blacks and whites

Desmond Mpilo Tutu was a high school teacher and later a bishop. he was a famous religious leader and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984

Current issue: HIV/AIDS

• South Africa has the most people affected by HIV in the world.
• There are 1.4 million AIDS orphans and 280000 under-15s living with HIV in 2007
• HIV is transmitted in 3 differnet ways. Sexual, through blood, and mother to child transmission. There are many ways to prevent from spreading or from catching it Information provided by: 15
• Another current issue going on in south africa is the World Cup. It is going to start in the summer but the preliminary srages have already begun. It is the highest stage of soccer that a player can go to....and it is in south africa
• The first South African was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987.
• One indication that AIDS and HIV would not be prioritized by the new government was the placing of the AIDS Programme Director in the Ministry of Health instead of the President's Office.
• AIDS was more regarded as a health issue than an epidemic that required the coordination of many government departments.

Information provided by: 15

Solution:
Abstinence education is a good way to prevent HIV
Information provided by: 18



HIV can be stoped with more political and news awarness. And it must be treated as an epidemic rather than a simple problem like a cold.
Information provided by: 17

Solution Letter:

February 15, 2010


Mr. Donald Gip, Ambassador
Ambassador to South Africa

Dear Mr. Gip,

We are students at WCHS in Worthington, Ohio. Our history class has been doing a WebQuest on the countries in Africa, and we chose to learn about South Africa. We had to research one current issue and then come up with a solution to send to you. The current issue we researched is HIV and AIDS. It came to our attention that South Africa has the most people living with HIV in the world. After reading various articles on the topic, we came up with a few ideas on how to improve the situation.



We noticed the shortage of physicians able to treat HIV patients and believe that if there were specific HIV/AIDS hospitals located throughout South Africa with doctors trained just for the treatment of HIV patients the number of deaths would decrease. Also, with more physicians trained in HIV treatment, the amount of patients who would receive treatment in the early stages of the disease would increase.



We also believe that the earlier diagnosis is key, and therefore testing should be available to everyone, and in some cases required. For example, all babies should be tested especially if their parent(s) are known to have it. Also, the threshold for antiretroviral therapy should be raised to 350 cells/mm3 like many people want.



Thank you, and we hope you consider these ideas and continue to help South Africa.



Sincerely,

14 15 16 17 and 18