Central African Republic Unit

Part of what I was thinking as we studied the Central African Republic is the initial spell CAR. I think there was even a joke about that in the Geography Now video. Either way, it’s amusing and I enjoyed our geography lesson for our Central African Republic Unit.

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Central African Republic Unit Resources

Okay, let me dig around and see what I can find for cool facts. Let’s see… It’s early in the alphabet, so there should be a lot of stuff on the country.

• Central African Republic from BBC– It’s from Britain so it must be impressive
• 7 Interesting Facts about Central African Republic– hmmm, you don’t tend to think rainforest and Africa, but I guess that makes sense with the picture I found for the country
• Central African Republic from CIA– it just amuses me

Okay, so while it may be early in the alphabet, and you would think more places would write about it, since so many websites work on country reports alphabetically, I thought I would have stuff. Nope, I was incorrect. It’s mainly like places connected to charities doing relief work.

You know, let me link to those, in case you are interested in helping them.

• World Vision
• World Food Programme
• European Civilian Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations

Ummm….. I do not know about how good any of those are. I recognize their names and have a passing familiarity with World Vision, but honestly, I don’t know the last one at all.

And I just found a new video to try out:

Okay continuing on to….

Central African Republic Unit recipe: Kanda

I forgot to keep the recipe, so I had to look it up again, and I think this kanda recipe is the original recipe I found.

These are a very unique meatballs because of the ingredients. It’s got a bit more of a gritty texture.

Kanda ingredients

• 1.5 pounds ground beef
• 3 cups pumpkin seeds
• 2 onions, 1 minced for the meatloaf, one diced for the sauce
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tomatoes
• 2 chili peppers
• 1 small bunch parsley or 1/4 cup dried
• 1/2 cup cold water (for meatballs, optional)
• 1/2 cup water (for sauce)
• 1/2 cup oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Let’s make this Kanda (Central African Republic meatballs)

1. In a large skillet toast the pumpkin seeds, then grind to a powder in the food processor.
2. Combine the meat, pumpkin seed powder, parsley, minced garlic, and minced onion. Season with salt and pepper.
3. In a hot pan with heated oil, saute the onions until soft and starting to carmelize. Add the tomatoes and chili peppers, stir together, cover, and allow to cook for 5 minutes covered.
4. Pour in 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil then reduce to simmer.
5. While this is happening, form meatballs.
6. Increase the heat, and place each meatball in the sauce, and cook over high for 10 minutes.
7. Then reduce heat to medium, and cook for another 20 minutes with the lid on, stirring occasionally.
8. Check to see if the meatballs are done, and if not cover and continue cooking some more. Then uncover and cook for a few more minutes to allow the sauce to reduce some more.
9. Serve with rice.

Yield: 30 meatballs

Kanda, Central African Republic meatballs

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These Kanda are a different take on meatballs and a fun way to learn more about the Central African Republic

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Ingredients

• 1.5 pounds ground beef
• 3 cups pumpkin seeds
• 2 onions, 1 minced for the meatloaf, one diced for the sauce
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tomatoes
• 2 chili peppers
• 1 small bunch parsley or 1/4 cup dried
• 1/2 cup cold water (for meatballs, optional)
• 1/2 cup water (for sauce)
• 1/2 cup oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a large skillet toast the pumpkin seeds, then grind to a powder in the food processor.
2. Combine the meat, pumpkin seed powder, parsley, minced garlic, and minced onion. Season with salt and pepper.
3. In a hot pan with heated oil, saute the onions until soft and starting to carmelize. Add the tomatoes and chili peppers, stir together, cover, and allow to cook for 5 minutes covered.
4. Pour in 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil then reduce to simmer.
5. While this is happening, form meatballs.
6. Increase the heat, and place each meatball in the sauce, and cook over high for 10 minutes.
7. Then reduce heat to medium, and cook for another 20 minutes with the lid on, stirring occasionally.
8. Check to see if the meatballs are done, and if not cover and continue cooking some more. Then uncover and cook for a few more minutes to allow the sauce to reduce some more.
9. Serve with rice.

Animals of Central African Republic

I need to remember to do this more often, since I have that animal lapbook that the kids used so much when they were little. With a large rainforest, not too surprisingly there were a lot of animals listed, many of which are not specific to Central African Republic

• Western lowland gorilla
• African forest elephant
• Hyrax
• Giant eland
• Olive babboon

Central African Republic unit: notebooking pages

I used the Africa notebooking pages, and we all filled out the pages.

Let’s see, my facts I wrote down:

• It has the most coups of any country in Africa, not really something to brag about
• Compasses don’t work here
• Their motto is “All people are people”
• They have a creole language based off of African languages, I think that is the first country to do that, it’s called Sangho
• There are 3600 plant species!!!!!!

And that is our Central African Republic Unit. Nice and straightforward.

Some more fun learning ideas

• Animal Observation Form
• Nebraska Unit
• 5 Beginning Chapter Book Series
• Elephant lesson
• Dental Health lesson

Philippe JIMENEZ, FAL, via Wikimedia Commons