The Soninke people today are probably best known for their skills as farmers and herdsmen, derived from the influence of a tribe called the Fulani, who taught them the trade.

They reside in and around Ghana, speaking a Mande language called Soninke, which is spoken in many areas of West Africa. It is thought that there are just over one million speakers of the language in countries ranging from Mali, Senegal and the Ivory Coast, to Mauritania, Guinea and of course, Ghana. Soninke is, in fact, the national language in Mali, Senegal and Mauritania.

Regardless of race, native language or origin, Christmas is a holiday that countless people around the world look forward to celebrating every year. Over the past few decades, Christmas for many has become a casual family celebration, however for a large number of people it is a wholly religious time. As a Christian holiday, it is historically a time when people celebrate the birth of Jesus, however this doesn't stop some people from other religious and cultural backgrounds enjoying the festive season.

When people think of Christmas, the typical image that comes to mind is of a picturesque white setting full snowmen and decorations, although for several countries this is the totally opposite of what they know Christmas to be.

Barack Obama has successfully secured another term in the White House, ensuring the Republicans are kept away for at least another four years. For now, America is celebrating, eagerly anticipating the change to come but the residents of the US are not the only ones affected by the vote. Mixed reactions have surfaced from every corner of the globe and not all of them are positive. Translation of the election has allowed events to unfold in multiple languages in hundreds of countries. The removal of language barriers on political events has ensured that more and more people become involved with issues outside of their own country. 

400km north of Ethiopia’s thriving metropolitan Capital Addis Ababa – away from the hysteria of long-distance runners grasping Olympic medals being blazoned across state of the art building sized screens in squares and piazza’s crisscrossed by palm-tree lined boulevards – is Lalibela; a small sandblasted town of 15,000 second only to Aksum in terms of religious importance to Christian Ethiopia. This is because of a surreal collection of monolithic rock churches sewn into the hillsides in the late 12th century by King Lalibela that to this day are the focus point of Ethiopian Orthodox Christian pilgrimages.

The Growing Impact of Internet and Social Media in Africa

Africa is a continent with rich natural resources which attracts a lot of investment from both western and eastern governments and companies.  Amongst these the Chinese are now one of the biggest investors in Africa investing billions in copper, agriculture and other resources undeniably becoming (in the eyes of western governments) a force to be reckoned with.

This has brought vast technological advancement to the continent of Africa amongst these the use of mobile phones and internet is much more enormous than many would anticipate. With more than 400 million mobile phone subscribers in Africa alone and over 139 million internet users according to internetwordstats.com, there is great potential for companies to reach large audiences and conduct business within countries such as Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt all with natural resources ranging from cocoa to gold providing huge opportunities for businesses to penetrate the African market.