Baobab oil comes from the seeds of an indigenous African tree and is regarded throughout the continent as
nutritious food for the skin.
A good oil for moisturizing, baobab will leave your skin
glowing and
shielded from
the elements.
......................................................................
Download these great baobab images for your computer!
(click on the image. Then right-click on larger image and select "save image as...")
One of the best parts of our trip to Senegal was meeting the kids who live in the villages there. Life is often hard in the hot, dry places we visited. Families get their food and money from farming, and often there isn't enough rain to grow their crops. But the kids we met were energetic and fun loving, like kids everywhere.
A typical day for a kid in Senegal starts with a simple breakfast, like a piece of bread, followed by chores, such as getting water from village wells. Then some head off to school — but only some.
All kids up to age 16 are supposed to go to school to learn the basic reading, writing and arithmetic — but there aren't enough schools, so less than half of them actually attend. Not even half of the boys and girls in Senegal ever learn to read.
--------------------------------------------------------
Soccer is the favorite sport for both boys and girls in Senegal. This game was being played next to baobab trees in one of the villages we visited.
The care of children is shared by entire neighborhoods. Family and neighbors take turns helping busy mothers.
The most common family meal in Senegal is rice cooked with a spicy sauce
and vegetables. One special dish is chep-bu-jen, which means "rice
with fish" in the native language. Tea is often served at the end of a
meal.
Most kids also commonly drink a tart juice called bui, which is made from the dried pulp of baobab fruits.
--------------------------------------------------------
The base of a baobab tree is a traditional meeting place for villagers. You might remember seeing a baobab tree in the movie The Lion King. The Tree of Life — the tree Rafiki makes his home — is a baobab. Baobab fruit also appears in the movie.
Your time: !
Time:
This game may not work properly in outdated versions of Internet Explorer.
Download these fun coloring pages!
(click on the image. Then right-click on larger image and select "save image as...")
Oware is a game that's been played throughout Africa since ancient times. There are many, many versions of the game, including a popular one worldwide called Mancala. In some versions, the object is to collect the most seeds. In others, the goal is to get rid of your seeds!
Children in Senegal often use the very hard baobab seeds and holes dug in the sand to play Oware. You can create your own Oware board using an egg carton (see below) and seeds, paper clips, or other small items.
Here's one simple version of Oware to play with a friend:
You'll need:
To Play:
To decide which of you will go first, hold a seed in your hand and have your friend guess which hand it's in. If she guesses correctly, she goes first. If she guesses the wrong hand, then you go first.
Whoever starts: Choose any hollow on your side. Pick up the seeds in it. Then place one seed in the very next hollow, going in an anti-clockwise direction (to your right as you are facing the board). Continue placing one seed in every hollow after that until you use up all of the seeds in your hand. This is called "sowing" your seeds.
(If you reach the end of your row, keep going into the other row, continuing in the same anti-clockwise direction.)
After you place your last seed in a hollow, if the number of pieces in that hollow is 2 or 3 and the hollow is on your friend's side of the board, pick up the 2 or 3 seeds in that hollow. If the hollow just before that hollow also contains 2 or 3 seeds, also pick those up, and so on, for as long as the hollows contain 2 or 3 seeds and they are on your friend's side of the board.
Take turns with your friend.
Note: As you continue to play and you pick up 12 or more seeds, you will be able to do more than 1 lap around the board. When this happens, skip the hollow that you started with on that turn as you pass it, and continue instead onto the next one (so that the original hollow is kept empty at the end of your turn).
The game is over when either you or your friend has no pieces to move because all of your hollows are empty. The person with the most seeds captured wins.
Note: If you see that your friend will not be able to continue play because she has no pieces remaining and you are able to make a move that will leave pieces in her row, then you must make that move. And she must do the same for you, if you find yourself without any seeds in your row and she can help you out!
Follow these links to play Mancala, a popular version of Oware online:
http://www.memory-improvement-tips.com/play-mancala-online.html
http://www.aflcio.org/Mancala