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Cover Story

Cover Story - Spanish Version

Mini-Lesson

Comprehension Quiz

Teacher's Guide and Worksheets

A Historic Visit

Under a gleaming hot African sun, 1,000 schoolchildren got a very special history lesson last week. The kids sat on a grassy hill in a village outside the city of Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Their teacher was U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Clinton told them that "the United States has not always done the right thing by Africa." But "perhaps the worst sin," he confessed, "was the sin of neglect and ignorance."

With his historic 12-day, six-nation trip through Africa, Clinton hopes to make amends for these mistakes. He wants to reach out to Africans and change the way Americans view that continent. For years Americans have paid little attention to Africa. The U.S. has missed opportunities to stop wars and aid countries that are moving toward democracy. And U.S. companies have been slow to develop business with Africa. Only 1% of U.S. exports go to Africa. Only 2% of African goods come to the U.S.

Clinton would like Americans "to see the new Africa with new eyes." Traveling with his wife Hillary, he is the first U.S. President to visit Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, Botswana and Senegal while in office.

The President began his visit in Ghana, where he was greeted with almost frightening enthusiasm. A crowd of hundreds of thousands surged toward him. It looked as if people would be crushed. "Back up! Back up!" Clinton yelled.

Help For Africa's Children
In Uganda, his next stop, the President visited a school to emphasize the country's focus on education. Uganda, like most of Africa, is very poor. The average yearly income per person is only $260.

The children who greeted Clinton wore brightly colored uniforms and big smiles. But their classrooms had dirt floors, and some had no roofs. Africa's schools are in need of books, supplies and money.

Half of Africa's people cannot read or write. While in Uganda, Clinton promised to give $120 million over the next two years to help improve education. He also pledged money to combat disease and increase food production. "We want to help you," he said. "We want to see the lights that are in these children's eyes in their eyes forever."

Clinton met with six African Presidents in Uganda. The leaders pledged to respect human rights.

An Emotional Journey
During the trip, there were moments of joy and of deep sadness. In Uganda, shopkeeper Betty Namugosa handed the President her two-day-old baby. The infant's name: Bill Clinton. "Oh, he's beautiful!" said the President, as he cradled the baby.

In Rwanda, Clinton was close to tears when he met with survivors of war. In 1994, a million people died in a brutal civil war there. Clinton listened to tales of senseless killings. He apologized for the failure of the U.S. and others to step in.

In South Africa, Clinton met with President Nelson Mandela. Together they visited Robben Island, where Mandela had spent 18 years in prison. His crime: fighting for the rights of black South Africans. Mandela called Clinton "the leader of the free world" and challenged the U.S. to set an example as a peacemaker.

Another highly emotional moment will occur when Clinton visits Senegal's Goree Island. For more than 200 years it was a center for the slave trade. In a stone building called the House of Slaves, Africans were herded into cramped holding pens to await passage to the New World. Their last contact with their homeland before boarding slave ships came at the Door of No Return.

Many people would like Clinton to offer African Americans an official apology for slavery. The President came close to making that apology in Uganda. "Going back to the time before we were even a nation, European Americans received the fruits of the slave trade," Clinton admitted. "And we were wrong in that."

The President insists this trip is not about the past but about the future. "Our futures will be brighter," said Clinton, "as we let go of our hatreds and as we realize that what we have in common really does matter far more than our differences."

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A Look At Africa

• Africa is the second largest continent. But it has 53 countries--more than any of the other six continents.
• One out of every eight people on earth lives in Africa. Only the largest continent, Asia, with 63% of the world's population, has more people.
• There are more than 600 different tribal groups in Africa.
• From the 1800s until the 1960s, most of Africa was ruled by European countries. Europeans set the boundaries of many African nations and often failed to take into consideration tribal homelands.
• About 1,800 languages and dialects are spoken in Africa. In Ghana, which is about the size of Oregon, more than 50 languages and dialects are spoken. South Africa alone has 11 official languages!
• The world's longest river, the Nile, is located in Africa.
• The world's largest desert, the Sahara, is in northern Africa. It covers almost 3 1/2 million square miles--one-quarter of the continent!
• Africa holds two other huge deserts--the Kalahari and the Namib. They are in southwest Africa.
• The world's second largest rain forest is in central Africa. (South America's Amazon rain forest is the biggest.)
• The hottest place in the world is Mesewa, Ethiopia. It has an average year-round temperature of 86.4°F.

Next: Finally, A Dinosaur With Real Guts!