Happy Birthday to Panama!

Community health care workers in Ethiopia. *Photo from Wikipedia May 28 is Downfall of the Derg Day, a National Day of Ethiopia. The Derg is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987. It took power following the ousting of Emperor Haile Selassie I. Tracing its roots to the 2nd millennium BC, Ethiopia was a monarchy for most of its history. During the first centuries AD, the Kingdom of Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region, followed by the Ethiopian Empire around 1137. Ethiopia derived

Maseru, the capital and largest city of Lesotho. *Photo from Wikipedia October 4 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Lesotho from the United Kingdom in 1966. The present Lesotho (then called Basutoland) emerged as a single polity under paramount chief Moshoeshoe I in 1822. Under Moshoeshoe I, Basutoland joined other tribes in their struggle against the Lifaqane associated with the reign of Shaka Zulu from 1818 to 1828. Subsequent evolution of the state was shaped by contact with the British and Dutch colonists from Cape Colony. Territorial conflicts with both British and Boer settlers arose periodically, including Moshoeshoe’s notable

A Chadian tailor sells traditional dresses. *Photo from Wikipedia August 11 is: Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Chad from France in 1960. French colonial expansion led to the creation of the Territoire Militaire des Pays et Protectorats du Tchad (Military Territory of the Lands and Protectorates of Chad) in 1900. By 1920, France had secured full control of the colony and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa. The French primarily viewed the colony as an unimportant source of untrained labour and raw cotton. Only the Sara (ethnic group who reside in southern Chad and Central African Republic)