In the week of 24th September, (shew, is it that long since we have posted - sorry, to all my valued readers....), it was my turn to suggest a themw and since SA celebrates "Heritage Day" on that day, I suggested Heritage as my theme... I also thought it would be interesting to see what Heritage meant to three girls in different parts of the world (remember Claire was taking a bit of a sabbatical).
What I did not think about, was that although Mariette and Pam have relocated to new countries, they are still born and bred South Africans, so is their "heritage" South African or their new country's.... I think that since their formative years were spent in South Africa, South Africa will always be part of them ...there is a saying "You can take me out of Africa, but you can't take Africa out of me"...but I think slowly over time as they adapt to their "new" countries, part of that heritage will rub off on them.
Mariette, showed, very clearly that SA is still a big part of her, and particularly "Pap and Wors"
Pam, showed the second part of my theory and that is that the "new" heritage will rub off in some way...Her picture and one word "Thanksgiving" say it all, I don't think you can get more American then that...Clever picture Pam - and your comment made me laugh
I chose a picture of a rhino, not actually taken for this theme, but our wildlife is a huge part of our heritage and rhino's are currently a threatened species due to the high demand for rhino horn in Eastern countries and the poaching of rhino has reached drastic levels...Rhino horn currently has a higher price then gold. I always thought that the main reason for the demand was that rhino horn is an aphridisiac, but I read an article this morning which claims that this is not the most common use, it is however believed in certain areas that rhino horn is a cure for cancer (this believe apparently has no medical basis) and numerous other ailments (headaches/fevers etc).
Rhino poaching seems to be a very lucrative business, there have been over 200 rhinos poached this year - many of them bleeding to death after having their horns hacked off.
Is there a solution to the problem - I don't know, the fact that trade in rhino horn is illegal, has not made an iota of difference, all it has done is drivin the price up on the black market, so that it becomes viable to take the risks, to poach these poor animals, which the banning has tried to save. Some people (game rangers and game park owners) are suggesting legalising the sale of rhino horn which would enable, the authorities of the various parks and ranches to dehorn their rhinos (humanely), (which would deny the poachers the prize that they require) and, then the owners could legally sell the horn, thus bringing the black market price down, so poachers would not have a market, and then the money made from that could be channelled back into fighting the poaching problem...Great idea in theory, but would it work in practise. What about trying to stop the demand???
So many possible solutions....
Anyway, here is my picture: -
I will be updating again a bit later - hopefully today, our next theme is "contrast", so check back ok...
