Our youth group from church is in Orlando this week doing mission work. We'll end our week at Walt Disney World touring the World Showcase at Epcot and learning a bit of "missions & outreach" information about each country. This is what we'll be learning:
Morocco
·
History
of country In 788,
about a century after the Arab conquest of North Africa, a series of Moroccan
Muslim dynasties began to rule in Morocco. In the 16th century, the Sa'adi
monarchy, particularly under Ahmad AL-MANSUR (1578-1603), repelled foreign
invaders and inaugurated a golden age. The Alaouite dynasty, to which the
current Moroccan royal family belongs, dates from the 17th century. In 1860,
Spain occupied northern Morocco and ushered in a half century of trade rivalry
among European powers that saw Morocco's sovereignty steadily erode; in 1912, the
French imposed a protectorate over the country. A protracted independence
struggle with France ended successfully in 1956. The internationalized city of
Tangier and most Spanish possessions were turned over to the new country that
same year. Sultan MOHAMMED V, the current monarch's grandfather, organized the
new state as a constitutional monarchy and in 1957 assumed the title of king.
Morocco annexed Western Sahara during the late 1970s, but final resolution on
the status of the territory remains unresolved. Gradual political reforms in
the 1990s resulted in the establishment of a bicameral legislature, which first
met in 1997. Under King MOHAMMED VI - who in 1999 succeeded his father to the
throne - human rights have improved. Morocco enjoys a moderately free press,
but the government has taken action against journalists who they perceive to be
challenging the monarchy, Islam, and the status of Western Sahara. Influenced
by protests elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa, in February 2011
thousands of Moroccans began weekly rallies in multiple cities across the
country to demand greater democracy and a crackdown on government corruption.
Police response to most of the protests was subdued compared to the violence
elsewhere in the region. A commission set up in March 2011 presented a draft
constitution that was passed by popular referendum in July 2011. Under the new
constitution, some new powers were extended to parliament and the prime
minister, but ultimate authority remained in the hands of the monarch. That
same month, the king urged swift implementation of the new constitution,
starting with the holding of parliamentary elections in 2011 instead of in
2012. A prominent moderate Islamist party, the Justice and Development Party,
subsequently won the largest number of seats on 25 November 2011, becoming the
first Islamist party to lead the Moroccan Government. In January 2012, Morocco
assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2012-13 term.
·
Population
in 2011 32,309,239
·
Population
age 0-14 in 2010
28.0%
·
Life
expectancy (females and males, years) 79.32/ 73.04
·
Infant
mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) 26.49
·
Unemployment 9.4% of labor force
·
Homelessness
rates more than
30,000 Moroccan children are homeless
·
Population
Below Poverty Line 15% Living standards in Morocco are low by
international standards and have declined continually since the early 1990s. As
a result, the number of Moroccans living below the poverty line has risen
sharply in the last decade.
·
People
living with HIV/ AIDS 26,000
France
·
History
of country France
today is one of the most modern countries in the world and is a leader among
European nations. It plays an influential global role as a permanent member of
the United Nations Security Council, NATO, the G-8, the G-20, the EU and other
multilateral organizations. France rejoined NATO's integrated military command structure
in 2009, reversing de Gaulle's 1966 decision to take French forces out of NATO.
Since 1958, it has constructed a hybrid presidential-parliamentary governing
system resistant to the instabilities experienced in earlier more purely
parliamentary administrations. In recent decades, its reconciliation and
cooperation with Germany have proved central to the economic integration of
Europe, including the introduction of a common exchange currency, the euro, in
January 1999. In the early 21st century, five French overseas entities - French
Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, and Reunion - became French regions
and were made part of France proper.
·
Population
in 2011 65,630,692
·
Population
age 0-14 in 2010
18.4%
·
Life
expectancy (females and males, years) 85.1/ 78.6
·
Infant
mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) 3.8
·
Unemployment 9.3%
·
Homelessness
rates An estimated
1 million people are homeless in France
An estimated 100,000 people live on the streets in France
Source: http://www.emmaus-france.org.uk, 2007
An estimated 100,000 people live on the streets in France
Source: http://www.emmaus-france.org.uk, 2007
·
Population
Below Poverty Line 6.2%
·
People
living with HIV/ AIDS 150,000
·
Religion Roman Catholic 83%-88%, Protestant
2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5%-10%, unaffiliated 4% overseas departments: Roman
Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, pagan
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