Grace T.

     Somalia is a Nation in eastern Africa. To the east, it is bordered by the Indian Ocean, and the north it's bordered to the Gulf of Aden. There are not a lot of forestland, many areas are diminishing. Forest areas cover 12% of Somalia's land area, but only 4% of the land has dense tree.. The country is mostly a desert. The coastline has ports and fishing villages but most parts are uninhabitable. The mountains in the north reach more than 2000 meters. Somalia has a wrecked environment and there are not many natural resources.  

Population

      There are almost ten million people in Somalia. Major languages are Somali, Arabic, Italian and English however Somali is the official language. The official language has been spoken but in 1972, Somali became a written language. This  largely replaced the use of English and Italian. However, Arabic, English, and Italian are all still widely spoken and understood. The people is closely related to the Oromo from Ethiopia and the Afars from  Djibouti. Somalia is one of the most deeply divided nations of Africa. There are 100 clans, most Somalis are part of the Samaale clans. Conflict is belief in there culture. Standard living in Somalia is both harsh and demanding. People there face severe malnutrition and famine. Sadly, the average life span is 46 years old.              

Culture 

      Many of the Somali languages are related to the languages of Ethiopia and eastern Sudan. In some schools they teach English and Italian. On a warm day, workers and students who live in urban areas would wear Western-Style clothing. During a meal, mostly veggies are severed. Meat is served only a few times a month, usually on special occasion. Frying is the most commend method of cooking. Somalis are very social people. They like to invite there family or friends over, or go to other people's house. Kids would often play outside or play very popular card games (which usually involves mathematics) or tell stores to one another. For religion, Islam is the majority in Somalia however there is a small percentage of those who are Christians. The most important historical figure/person in Somali history is Muhammad 'Abdallah Bin Hasan (or the "Mad Mullah"). He was known as one of Somalia's greatest poets and was the first to call for Somali unity. One of the most famous rapper in Somalia is K'naan, he is well know throughout the country.  

Major Industries

     Before the start of civil war in the early 1990s, the manufacturing sector was beginning to develop. However, all industries suffered major losses during the civil war. Some major industries are: fish and meat canneries (a factory where meat is canned), milk-processing plants, sugar refineries, leather-tanning factories, and pharmaceutical and electronics factories.

Government in Power

     Somalia is one the world's best-known example of a failed government. The Civil War in 1992 had greatly devastated Somalia. The Clans in the North declared their open opposition to the government. The violence of the war caused the economy to collapse and the food production was distroyed. It had showed that severe starvation is likely. The Foreign assistance program no longer helped the people and the aid workers working in the country were evacuated. In 1988 the conflicts worsened the country.       

  Somali's Poverty Rate

      More than 43% of Somalia population are below the poverty line. There are many women that are uneducated, there isn't enough health awareness program, malnutrition is widespread throughout the country and many people are unemployed. Only 31% of the population had access to pure drinking water, which is rarely available outside larger cities. Water, collected from the lakes or rivers must be boiled or chemically treated however many take few of these precautions. A very low 17% of the population had proper sanitation, and only 27% had access to health care services. These problem are caused due to natural disasters (droughts and floods), outbreaks of civil war and the downfall of the government, which worsened the problem of poverty and famine in Somalia.

International Organization

     Other international organization like UN, WHO, UNESCO, UNICEF and other Aide organization are helping the Somalia government to get back their original position, finding ways for reducing poverty, improving health and education, and protecting the environment.

  Interesting Facts

1: The left head is considered unclean because it's used for washing the body

2: Rural Somalis eat by scooping food from a bowl with fingers with their right hand or with a scoop

3: Soccer is the national sport in Somalia

4: Somalia has one of the most advanced telecommunications system in Africa, average temperature reaches about 45 degrees

5: The Egyptians referred to Somalia as the Land of Punt

 

I)
 

Somalia's Good and Bad

     The reasons why you should visit Somalia are:

1: The Northern mountains (pic 1&2) and the coastlines (pic 3&4) look beautiful

2: The food looks and tastes delicious

3:  The hotels are nice

    However the negative things / cons about Somalia are:

1: There is lack of clean, safe water

2: The government carry out attacks in the country. There are numbers of people that have been killed in the fighting, so it is a very dangerous place  

3: There are alot of criminal activity such as kidnapping, killing and robbery  

4: Terrorist attack the country targeting civilian, including places that there are many foreigners

Resources:  

Thanks to the following websites: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalia,

Expert Space

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/somalia-facts/

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107979.html.

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/sub-saharan-africa/somalia

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/somalia/index.html

And a special thanks to http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Somalia.aspx