What if you lived in Africa?

AFRICA: What comes to mind when you hear that name? A continent of spectacular beauty? A place filled with herds of wild animals running free? The home of people with a rich and varied heritage?

Africa is all those things--and more. It is the world's second-largest continent, both in area and in population. Asia is larger and has more people. But Africa's population--now 933 million--is growing faster than that of any other continent.

Africa is divided by the Sahara, the world's largest desert (see map). Most Africans who live north of the Sahara or in the desert are Arabs. Most Africans who live south of the Sahara are black.

Africa has a rich history. It has been called the "birthplace of the human race," because the earliest evidence of prehistoric humanlike creatures was found there. Also in Africa is the Nile valley, site of ancient Egypt, one of the world's first great civilizations.

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Independent, at Last

Today, Africa is divided into 53 independent countries. But from the mid-1800s until the 1960s, most of Africa was ruled by white European countries that exploited Africa for its natural resources. When African countries finally gained independence, few of their leaders could cope with all the problems that European rulers had left behind.

The most serious problem is poverty. Two thirds of all Africans live in rural areas. Most of them are poor farmers who use hand tools to work small plots of land. Many farmers are fortunate if they can raise enough food to feed their families.

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Parts of Africa have rich mineral resources, including oil, gold, and diamonds. But most of these are found in just five countries--South Africa, Libya, Nigeria, Algeria, and Zambia. Few Africans benefit from those resources. In Nigeria, which is rich with oil, many people go hungry.

Poverty has serious consequences. Children who go hungry are often weak and come down with disease. Children in poor families lack the money to pay for school. Some children become victims of war and violence. Let's look more closely at these problems.

No Money for School

Many African children want to go to school but cannot. In some countries, families must pay for their children's education; many parents do not have the money.

Sekinat, 13, who lives in Nigeria, had to drop out of school so that she could help support her family. (See photo above.) That is not unusual. In Nigeria, only 32 percent of boys and 27 percent of girls attend secondary school. Some places have no schools nearby. Knowing this, TV talk-show host Oprah Winfrey recently built two boarding schools in South Africa that girls can attend for free. But many more schools are needed throughout Africa.

Victims of War

Millions of African children are victims of civil wars. Some of the wars are mainly struggles for power between different ethnic and religious groups. In Darfur, the western part of Sudan, Arab militias have torched the homes of black Africans, forcing people to flee. The militias attack without fear of being stopped, many people say, because they are supported by Sudan's Arab-run government.

Hannah, 13, and her family lived in Darfur. They took shelter in a nearby village after militias attacked their own. "Nothing is left of my village," Hannah tells JS. More than 2 million people in Darfur have been forced to flee.

Civil war has struck several countries in Africa, including Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, and Uganda. Some children are forced to fight in these wars. Many children are separated from their families.

The Biggest Killer

The biggest single killer in Africa, however, is AIDS. United Nations officials believe that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, will kill about a third of all young people living in Africa today.

About 12 million children in Africa are orphans because their parents died of AIDS-related illnesses. Nancy Lema. 12, of Tanzania, lost both parents to AIDS.

"It was a hard time to live through this nightmare," Nancy tells JS. "A teacher would be teaching our class, and I would be dropping tears. Just imagine you reach a point where you have nobody to turn to."

Millions of African children do not live to see their fifth birthday due to the combination of malnutrition and mostly preventable diseases, such as diarrhea, malaria, and measles.

No Easy Solution

Experts agree that there is no easy solution to Africa's problems. As former British Prime Minister Tony Blair explained, "Everything is connected. There is no point in providing health care [for example], if there is no clean water."

However, progress is being made. Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is above the world average for the fifth year in a row. But so much needs to be done. Forty of Africa's 53 countries still rank among the poorest in the world.

What do you think should be done to reduce poverty in Africa? To learn more about the continent, study the map on p. 1 and the chart on p. 4.

Words to Know

* continent: one of the seven large landmasses on Earth.

* heritage: what is handed down from one generation to another.

* ethnic: having to do with the various racial and cultural groups in a society.