An AK-47 on the flag, another blog country--Hey USA?

A visitor from a country with an AK-47 and bayonet on its flag clicked on this blog today, making it the 142nd on my list of countries  with readers.
Looking up the facts I saw the flag and read about it, immediately thinking  the USA should follow suit, with the complete lack of gun control in this country and constant, read constant, mass shootings (one today in Kansas).

Let's take a hint from our friends in Mozambique and replace all our stars with assault weapons. It's be more appropriate.

But I'm not making fun of these people in southeast Africa, who put the weapon on  their flag as a sign of their struggle for independence from the Portuguese in 1975. It's the only U.N country  with a weapon on the flag. More on that later.
The country, named after an early Arab trader, now has 24 million people and is one of the poorest in Africa, thanks to being exploited by Portugal for centuries for its minerals, spices and slaves. Vasco de Gama visited it in 1498 and it was colonized in 1505 as Portuguese East Africa, an important trading island, port and country that declined after the Suez Canal opened in 1869.
After gaining independence for about two years, it descended into civil war until 1992, has had multiple party elections and is a relatively stable republic. Official language, spoken by about 50 percent, is Portuguese, with others speaking tribal languages of the Bantu people. Main religion is Christianity, plus large Muslim and tribal religion minorities.

Ah, the flag, adopted in 1983: Green for the riches of the land, black  the African continent, yellow  the country's minerals, and red  the struggle for independence. The rifle stands for defense and vigilance, the open book the importance of education, the hoe  the country's agriculture, and the star Marxism and internationalism.
This reader and country make it the 25th on the continent who have followed this blog. 
Africa is huge. Look at the map below. And, to my new reader, welcome and thanks.

Blogging right along...unanswered questions

I don't understand a lot about blogging, even though I've been at it for years. 
In fact, don't even ask me why I blog--multiple reasons perhaps, and I'm not sure I know the answers.
Two questions cropped up this week.
The first was over the weekend when a reader from war-torn Syria clicked on my blog, representing the 141st country in my roll call of visitors.

What is happening in Syria is a humanitarian tragedy, dictatorship, civil war, global conflict (Russia and the U.S.), and global terrorists (ISIS).
In America, hate groups (so-called Christians against everything Jesus was about) are targeting, for selfish, political reasons only, Syrian refugees--poor people desperate to get out, leaving behind homes and families to get to safety. 

Official flag

Rebel flag

I just wonder who this person is who had time and security to click on my blog, and why? Fact, the capital of Syria, Damascus, is the oldest continuously occupied city in the world. It's also where the Apostle Paul sojourned.
Today, Syria has about 23 million people. Arabic is spoken by about 85 percent. Nine percent of the population is Kurdish, in the northeast, the most displaced, under represented ethnic group in the world--I think--along with the Palestinians. It has two flags--one of the "Republic," and one of the opposition, the rebels. I admit, as a Southerner, I understand "rebels."

Today's blog traffic, and popular posts

My second question today had to do with blog traffic. I'm a first-born Capricorn journalist, so I'm competitive. I always check the readership stats on my blog, and today 243 people clicked on it. Notice the day has already ended, about 6 p.m., something else I don't understand.

Today's country traffic

I wonder why. I didn't even post. I also clicked on which posts got the most traffic. One thing I learned long ago is if I mention trains, I get more traffic. I didn't mention trains today, but past posts still get traffic. So "All aboard!"
And, for the reader in Syria, regardless of which side...Shalom. Americans don't hate you. Thank you.

Memories of an African trip

In Mali, playing with happy kids, seven years ago

Yellow fever shots. Malaria pills.
Africa.

How can you not love kids

Seven years ago this month, I was preparing for a trip of a lifetime.
Thanks to a former student at OSU, now Dr. Shelly Pepper Sitton of the OSU Ag Com Department, I joined a group of journalists on a week-long trip to Mali. It was a State Department-funded trip to help bolster the media in that poor, West African country, a rare democracy and friend of America in the Muslim world. I went along as the newspaper journalist.
Perhaps it didn't work, because since then there has been a military coup, and an uprising in the Saharan north that split the country. If the French hadn't intervened, Al-Qaeda might have the entire country now. Of course, what prompted much of the turmoil was the overthrow of Libya's Gaddafi to the north, destabilizing the entire region. But we were not concerned with politics when there, and welcomed by people where ever we went.

Poor but proud

Lots of miles and wrinkles since then, I still am thankful for what I experienced and learned. I would go back, if I could, so powerful was the trip.
I wrote  and photographed  extensively about it, if you want to see more photos.

• From a rooftop in Mali 
• Terry Clark reporting
• Sorrow in Mali
• Memories of Mali