For the past term students in M3 have been feverishly studying many aspects of Africa. This continent has a lot of natural resources such as gold, minerals, diamonds, silver and petroleum.

Despite this we were fascinated to learn of Africa's great poverty level. Through our studies we learned of European colonisation of Africa and how countries turned their attention to Africa's resources after the slave trade ended. Despite the widespread poverty in Africa, ethnic fighting and diseases such as malaria and AIDS, Africa is one of the most beautiful continents in the world.

Scientists believe it is the original home of mankind. There are beautiful stretches of deserts, tropical rainforests and savannahs that are the homes to thousands of species of plants and animals. Another aspect covered was how many unique ethnic groups live there and how diverse their cultures are.

All of our knowledge about this interesting country resulted in a project, an artifact and an oral presentation.

The project was the written part, which was put together in a decorated scrapbook. Inside the portfolio there were various maps, crossword puzzles, word searches, A-Z African animal list, a research paper on an African animal and an ethnic group of the student's choice, and many other things. The artifact was a choice of any product or any object related to Africa. The oral presentation gave students a chance to share information on their artifact. I was amazed at the creativity of my fellow classmates when I saw the projects that are now on display in our school. Some of them are good enough for a museum.

What I liked the most about this project was all the information I learned on Africa. I also enjoyed decorating the cover of my scrapbook. I love to decorate things even though I am not very creative. I find it fun to figure out what goes best with what colour and which pattern fits the topic best. Africa is quite a colorful country if you think about it, so when it came to the decorating part I had a lot of fun.

The most challenging part was creating my artifact. I featured the cowry shell and I used green and gold beads to compliment the shells. I used the green because that is considered an African colour and is used in many flags along with yellow and/or red.

I used the yellow beads to represent the gold and because it is also used in many flags. I found it hard to make it because it took really long and sometimes the beads fell out and I had to start all over again.