Introduction- Mali, Ethiopia, and South Africa are three countries on the continent of Africa. Location-wise they are about as far away from each other as they could possibly be and still be in Africa. However, they share many similarities in climate, physical land forms, culture and quality of life of their citizens. The South African citizen shows the highest life quality with the best chances of advancement. While many of those in Mali and Ethiopia are facing a poverty stricken life style as a hard working farmer for the foreseeable future.

A) Physical environment (landforms)- Mali, South Africa, and Ethiopia are all located in different parts of Africa containing a varying array of landforms. Below is a map of Africa with Ethiopia in light green, Mali in yellow, and South Africa is in dark green. Mali is located in the western region of Africa, Ethiopia in the east, and South Africa is in the south.

The three countries are each slightly less than twice the size of Texas. Both Mali and Ethiopia are landlocked while South Africa has about 2,798 kilometers of coastline. This coastline provides South Africa with a continental shelf 200

3. D) Life styles (leisure time)- In Mali, leisure time consists of talking to friends, playing ball, or listening to music. They spend about 2 hours a week talking to friends, 1 hour a week listening to music, and in September they canoe race about twice a week. Most people from Mali don't have enough money to go on vacations. In Ethiopia, there is almost no leisure time, except when the children play at home. Several times a week a neighbors may visit each others houses to chat and drink coffee for twenty minutes. There is also a religious gathering once a month, called Mahber, one for women, one for men. South Africans have a little more leisure time. They are able to visit friends for about 6 hours a week, listen to music for about 8 hours, watch TV for about 15 hours, and read for about 18 hours. They also are able to go on vacations about once a year.

4. D) Life Chances (health)- Most people who live in Mali have no form of Health care or birth control. There are some health care clinics, but they are very spread apart. In Ethiopia, the health care is about the same. They only have clinics to go to when they are very sick. South Africa has a more money and is able to afford public health care services and inform people about birth control.

2. B) Family (number)- The population of Mali is 9.9 million. Families in Mali are generally large. When two random families were chosen, one consisted of four people and one consisted of 7 people. The growth rate in Mali is about 10,000 people so families should be larger than four on average. 27% of the people live in urban area while 73% of the people live in rural areas. The population of Ethiopia is 42. million. When a random family was chosen, it consisted of 8 people. 13% of the people live in urban areas while 87% live in rural areas. The population of South Africa is 42.7 million people. When a random family was chosen, it consisted of 7 people. 51% of the people live in urban areas and 49% of the people live in rural areas.

There were two aspects of family life that shocked me greatly. The first aspect was the poverty and lack of wealth of the people, meager food, health and leisure. The second aspect was the theft in South Africa. People go in at 8pm and lock there doors to avoid robbers. This makes the house suffocatingly hot. Armed bandits rob restaurants and the newspapers are full of people killed in their homes by intruders. I could not begin to imagine leading a life like this. The other aspect was the poverty. In Ethiopia and Mali they don't even have ready access to any form of birth control. Everyone has one pair of used clothing and two if they are lucky. These farmers know they are destined to be poor like their parents.

Conclusion-. Mali, South Africa, and Ethiopia are three countries located in opposite sides of Africa, but are very similar in many ways. For example, the three families interviewed from Mali, Ethiopia, or, South Africa described themselves as poor or struggling. All three of the families interviewed had a annual income less than $3,000. By contrast, in the United Stated, the average annual income is $22,356. That means on average Americans make more than 7 times as much as an African in Mali, Ethiopia, or South Africa. These countries were so poor that they could not afford a new bicycle. Birth control is not readily available, which is the reason for the 7 person family. The parents of these 5 children cannot afford the children and moving up in society, so they are ultimately doomed to live in poverty. The second aspect that held these three countries together was their kindness. You would rarely find people in the United Stated that would share their already meager rations, allow a stranger to sleep in their already over-crowded homes, and share their earning when they are so poor. Also, the three families on the CD-ROM were actively a part of their religion. I have noticed that

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