[NiteFenix]

Here is something interesting for you guys to contemplate.

I just watched a program on television titled So where do we come from?

To give you an idea of what it's about, here is an excerpt from the article about it on the television station's web site on which it was broadcasted:

Do you know who your great, great, great grandmother or father was? Do you know where they came from? Or when your ancestors set foot in this country? And would you be shocked to hear that the stranger standing behind you in the shopping mall queue could be a relative of yours from the not-so-distant past?

For the full article, click on the link below:

http://www.mnet.co.za/CarteBlanche/D...ay.asp?Id=2618

[Penny]

I have the coolest family tree ever. My grandad did it, If i am clever i'll take a picture of it for ya. It only has my Mums side on it, he was going to research my fathers side, but he was adopted, and I couldn't decide whether I wanted his Adopted family, or his birth family, as we know his birth family too so they are both important.

It goes back to around about the year 1200, with more gaps coming in the older you get, theres a whole folder that my grandad put together with pictures, news clippings and any information that he knew about the people, he updates it as he finds more people. I know thats not exactly what the article was about, but its still relevant. Its really neat.

The tv program would have been really interesting!

[Loriena]

Sounds interesting. I would love to sit with my folk and get to know more of my family tree. I know some. But I would love more.

I think too that while now we have adopted family members and with them their families, we also in the not so distant past have cultures that allowed/believed in polygamy. Even now some communities do, due to religion or just part of the culture. It is very hard to get a good picture with that very extended family. It gets too big. Too many brothers or sisters, uncles, aunts and every other kind of relative. Sure complicates the tree. But it can be lots of fun and plain great around all those pple. I do believe we are all akin in some way. Isn't that an odd thing with all the differences we see?

[NiteFenix]

Well they have a theory which they say is proven by science that skin color is nothing but a relation to the area you 'evolved' in. In other words, the people who were in the equator areas for thousands of years had their skins became darker. The same goes for people near the poles, with lighter skin.

It's all a kind of defense mechanism the human body adopts to protect itself from the sun. If a skin is dark it naturally is more resistant to the sun. If a skin is light, it is naturally less resistant to the sun because it is not as heavy in the polar regions.

What it all boils down to is this whole thing with race is a bunch of hogwash.

Quite interesting in my opinion.

[Sparklechick]

The family tree has been done on my Mum's side but not sure about my Dad's side.

My Great Grandfather was a photographer (he has one of the first cameras in NZ) so we've got a lot of photos that he's taken. Recently they had an exhibition of his photographer in the Albertland Museum (Wellsford) ... the photos were amazing, you would never have guessed they were taken over a 100 years ago.

It's all so interesting. My Mum has old letters and my Great Grandad's diary from when they came over on the boat from England ... it's really interesting stuff. I think the old love letters that my Great Aunty Daisy (now 99 years old) are the funniest. She was pretty wicked in her time!