Unit On Africa

From taking this class I have found out that many people are uneducated about the harsh realities that are going on Africa. The only way we can stop the misunderstandings and stop being a people so involved in things that only concern us directly is to become an educated people. Although educating someone at the college level is good, why does it have to wait until the college level? Many people say that the most impressionable students are the students in a K-12 classroom because they want so much to be accepted and find out who they are. My Africa unit plan is not only designed to help students learn something about Africa but it is also an attempt to get students to think outside themselves and see a world bigger than the one they know. It is an attempt to get students to hopefully gain a small perspective on the issues they might face and the issues that a child their own age faces everyday in Africa. This unit is not just about Africa, although the students will be educated on events and issues in Africa, but this unit is about me possibly being a naïve upcoming teacher and hoping that even if what I am trying to get across to the students affects only one student, that maybe that one student may affect another person, and that I made a difference.

The Virtue Foundation

I found this organization while doing my last blog so I thought I would stick with it. The Virtue Foundation is a "public charitable and nongovernmental organization with special consultive status to the United Nations. The Foundation's mission is to increase awarenes of prevalent global issues, to inspire people to action, and to render humanitarian assistance through healthcare, education, an empowerment initiatives."
They do programs and charities all over the world. A few of their most recent projects and efforts in Africa are The Burundi Healthcare Initiative, and The Child Soldiers Project. As searching through their website I noticed that they rely on a lot of celebrities to help get the word out and campaign for their cause. One video found on youtube is shown below.

Child Soldiers

We have been talking throughout this semester about the heartbreaking things that have been happening in Africa. A few times we have addressed the issue of what can we do? How can we make things in Africa better? And should we help? I think at this point everyone has a pretty good idea what a child soldier is, and some facts about child soldiers. So instead of researching about child soldiers I thought it would be better to take a look at ways people can help, how people can make a difference, and what is being done to put hope into Africa.

Invisible Children
Website: www.invisiblechildren.com
Who are they? "We are storytellers. We are visionaries, humanitarians, artists, and entrepreneurs. We are individuals part of a generation eager for change and willing to pursue it. As a non-profit we work to transform apathy into activism. By documenting the lives of those living in regions of conflict and injustice, we hope to education and inspire individuals in the Western world to use their unique voice for change."

Virtue Foundation
Website: www.virtuefoundation.org
Who are they? "Virtue Foundation is a public charitable and nongovernmental organization with special consultive status to the United Nations. The Foundation's mission is to increase awarenes of prevalent global issues, to inspire people to action, and to render humanitarian assistance through healthcare, education, an empowerment initiatives."
You can find out more about their attempts to stop the growth of child soldiers by clicking on Initiatives and then on Other Projects.

Amnesty International
Website: www.amnesty.org
Who are they? "Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights for all."
You can find information on child soldiers by typing child soldiers in the search bar on the website.

Although we feel as though we are so far away, and feel as though there is nothing we can do, there are many organizations that can use our help. Recently my church collected pencils, erasers, pencil holders, and other simple school supplies to send to a part of Africa. To the children who used them these items were like diamonds to them, whereas to us, we may take them for granted. So although these websites may ask for money to help, there are many other things you can do that are very inexpensive that will make a huge difference in Africa.

Desertification in Africa

Africa is facing a large problem called desertification. Desertification is an increase in the desert like conditions in arid or semi-arid lands, or more easily said, the spreading of the deserts. It can be caused by the climate, humans, and animals.

Climate causes desertification because Africa goes through droughts which makes it pretty much impossible for vegetation to survive, thus, creating desert like conditions. Humans continue to expand their area, cutting down trees and building buildings which is again killing of vegetation but also ruining the environment of the animals that may live in that area pushing them farther out and leaving them with less to eat. Which brings in the problem of overgrazing. Because there isn't a whole lot of vegetation it is causing animals to continue to eat over and over the vegetation that is available which is not giving the vegetation enough time to grow back.

The Sahara desert which is located in Africa is the largest desert in the world. Currently it is increasing in size by 1 km per year and has not slowed down any. With this increasing problem of desertification will Africa end up being a complete desert one day?

The Bleeding of the Stone

For some reason The Bleeding of the Stone just didn't do it for me. I couldn't really tell you why I wasn't a big fan of it but I wasn't. However, the character Cain was someone that I had strong feelings towards. I can tell you that I REALLY didn't like him.

Although Cain's curse of his need for meat was a curse, his selfishness and pure evil that came out of him was disturbing and disgusting. It was said that he was born with this curse, and it was a curse that caused his father and mother to die and later his foster parents to die and later for him to crucify an innocent bedouin in the desert. Like I said before his representation of evil was disturbing and disgusting and could leave no one with any passion for pity for him.

Corruption in the African Government

As we have been discussing in class, Africa is facing a large amount of government corruption. This corruption has been leading to increased poverty all over in Africa. In many of the articles I read online about the corruption of Africa, many of them spoke specifically of Nigeria and the corruption caused mainly by the greed of those wanting a part of the oil money.


What specifically caught my eye is the corruption in education. One website in particular focused a bit on this topic, www.globalpolicy.org. It said that the problem with those in poverty is mostly that they have no mobility in the social classes. This is because education is one thing that can bring them out of their poverty, but that many teachers take bribery for grades, therefore, many who are in poverty cannot pay the bribery in order to receive passing grades. Therefore, they are stuck in the same place they were. When reading this I thought of two things. One is, for someone who is becoming an educator I do not understand how you could become an educator for something other than wanting to help and impact your students in the most positive way possible. But the other led me to remember that Dr. Ogbomo had talked about when a new goverment takes office those in charge find their friends to become things, such as, the Minister of Education. So they are not necessarily in it to help the students, but rather to help themselves. Instead of the benefits of the wealthy trickling down to help all in Africa the only thing that seems to be trickling down is corruption, everyone is looking out for themselves and a piece of the pie.


The picture to the left represents the peoples confidence in their government fighting corruption in the country. Although this a little older, many articles I read online did say that Kenya has been making great strides in the past years to eliminate corruption. But notice how the people of Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Mozambique feel.

Waiting for an Angel

After reading Waiting for an Angel by Helon Habila it really got me thinking about the title of the book and its relation to the story. Africa's political unrest, poverty and disease has left the African people's hope for peace and a rescue in an angel. With so many problems happening in this country and literally not being able to trust anyone in power because of the fear of what they may do with that power the African people are left to walk in the shadows in silence or face death.


It seems that everything we've read so far has brought me into a situation to make me stop and think about my own freedoms and how I, and many others like me, take for granted the fact that I live in a free country. A country where I can practice whatever religion I feel necessecary, a country where I have the right to free speech, a country where I can elect government officials and a country where I have choices and options. I don't have to be a silenced shadow if I don't choose it, I have the right, the choice, and the ability to be and do whatever it is I want to, unlike those in Africa.

Oil

How upsetting is it to realize that you are completely oblivious to what is going on around you? Well for me, when reading these articles, I realized that I really have no idea what is going on around me. Day after day Americans complain of the gas prices and how we can't afford them, but when you look at the bigger picture and realize that although we may be cheated out of money at the pump, those in Africa are getting cheated out of land, fresh water, food and a way of life. These articles brought me a new view of how big businesses operate, and exactly how oil companies that are home based here in the U.S. can make billions of dollars a year drilling oil overseas.





Above: Offshore Oil Rig in Africa
Right: Gas Flare in Africa

Medical Care in Africa

As I was looking up information on the health care in Africa many of the sites made me think about how Hawa's mother, Tenkamu, had to travel three days in order to see a doctor. Also how Hawa had to travel to the city to try and find a doctor who could reverse her tubes being tied.


A lot of the sites that I looked at talked about the medical care in Africa for U.S. citizens. In Senegal there are many hospitals and clinics in the capital of Dakar, however, the states of the hospitals do not meet the U.S. standards for hospitals. Also, they require you to pay your bills in cash and they will not allow you to leave the hospital until your bill has been paid in full and even sometimes will refuse you treatment unless you pay upfront. On the U.S. Embassy site for Senegal they have a list of doctors available for people to go to in order to get treatment, but just above it they have a disclaimer about the ability of the doctors! If this is how they treat U.S. citizens, meaning those who have money, I can only imagine how those who live in Africa are treated.


In Zimbabwe, the country's two largest hospitals are closed because the nurses and doctors are on strike or have just stopped working because the conditions they have been working in are horrible. A quote from the article said "They (the doctors) believe the conditions are unbearable for them to come to work and watch patients die" (allAfrica.com) Patients have been turned away and left to die at home because they are not being treated. This article was released on October 25, 2008.


In Mozambique there are only 7 ear, nose and throat specialists. Seven! In the whole country! There are also only 800 medical doctors for more than 20 million people. "That means there is one doctor for about 26,000 people. This figure compares with one doctor for 1,000 inhabitants in Europe and other developed countries" (allAfrica.com).






This link is to a website of current news articles about health in Africa:
http://allafrica.com/health/

Ancestor Stones Blog 3

Well I'm all finished with the book now, and I have to say I did like it. However, it did bother me a little. I didn't like the fact that so much is left unanswered or untold. We are learning about so many different people in such a short amount of time that there are huge gaps in what has happened. That is the one thing that is frustrating about the book, I feel as though there should be so much more to read. I may be contradicting myself in saying that is what is good about the book because I kept waiting to read hoping that in the next chapter something would be clarified or be told a little more in depth but that never really happened.

My favorite part of the novel was the very end when Abie's daughter is playing with the stones. These stones are the ancestor stones that belonged to Mariama's mother Sakie.

"'This is my favourite,' she said, holding up a stone roughly in the shape of a
hexagon, smooth to the touch, but with a pattern of ripples. Then she gathered up all the
stones, bent her head down over her cupped hands.
She remained that way for a long time until I asked: 'what are you doing?'
'Listen,' she beckoned me down.
I lowered my head to join her. 'What is it?'
'Listen to the noise they make,' she replied. 'It sounds like they are talking.'"

I honestly can't really tell you why this part catches my attention, or why I like it so much, but I do!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11615790

Ancestor Stones Blog 2

It was a little harder to keep track of who was who, and keep track of the experiences that the girls talked about in the previous section of readings and how they matched up. Throughout this reading it made me think a lot about how a woman's worth was measured. She must marry, the wealthier the man the better. A woman was looked down upon if she married below her. She was looked down upon if she did not remarry after her husband's death if she was still of an appropriate age. The woman had a specific purpose, and although the times and the beliefs were gradually changing, those purposes seemed to hold on in some sort to measure their worth.

As I looked at how the woman's worth was measured it made me think a little of how we measure a woman's worth here in America. Apparently we are supposed to be a superior, more knowing country. But here in America we measure a woman's worth by her looks, by her size, by her possessions and sometimes by her education. Which is comparable to how those in Africa measured a woman's worth. So what makes oh so much more "civilized", knowing, and what not?

We discussed in last class how we were to solve this problem that has been created in Africa of disease, poverty, and corruption. One student made the comment of how are we to go over there and try to make things right, who is to say what we implement and do over there to create their lives better (like ours) is really what is best for them? It just made me think while reading this book that many times people are too quick to judge. Before we say who's wrong or right we need to think about the backgrounds and history of those other people. Things we've probably never experienced influence a persons everyday move. If we are so different and "civilized" than those in Africa than why do we treat our women in similar ways?

Ancestor Stones

When I first went to read Ancestor Stones I was a little afraid because Allen had said we would want to keep our finger in the family tree pages of the book. When he said that I thought he meant that the book would just introduce character after character and I would be completely lost. I was afraid that I was going to once again be lost completely! However, the book really didn't end up the way I had anticipated. Although at first I was confused about the fact that the narrator of each chapter was a different person I quickly grasped what was going on.

From what I've grasped thus far the book is laying the foundation for how different each families lives are and also, how differently each of the narrators view the lives of themselves, their family, and the other wives' families. This book is definitely one that I have been able to read and actually enjoy, rather than put my effort into understand what is going on, which is a plus!! I can't wait to read more!

Xala

Xala was definitely an interesting book. The polygamy in the book stood out to me. I noticed that although some stood firmly against polygamy, such as the daughter Rama, many could care less about it. Meaning that although polygamy was accepted and was still seen as a way of gaining status many did not practice it, however, they did not look down upon it. The interaction between the families was one that left me a bit stunned. I did not expect them to be best friends but from reading Things Fall Apart, although the wives may not have been good friends they still had interactions with eachother. It also seemed to me that when El Hadji remarried there was a given amount of time in between his marriages. It almost seemed that he remarried when his most recent wife started becoming "old" or a "bore". If you looked at how he saw his first wife he noted her as one who was deeply religious and who kept her place as the wife. He seemed to think she really no longer needed him other than for financial support and the status of being married but when we met with her alone she spent her time weeping because she felt alone. I would have to say that for a 100 page story Xala had a lot packed into it!

Links:
http://www.bartleby.com/65/se/Sembene.html

Cheikh Anta Diop

Born in 1923 in Diourbel, Senegel Cheikh Anta Diop is known as one of the greatest African historians of all time. While originally studying physics, he is known as a linguist, anthropologist, and politician. Cheikh Anta Diop is most famous for he research and claim that Egypt's beginnings were that of African descent.

As Cheikh Anta Diop continued to study the history of Africa he stated that, "The history of Africa will remain suspended in air and cannot be written correctly until African historians connect it with the history of Egypt." Cheikh Anta Diop has published many books regarding his research. He died in 1986.

A New Way of Reading

"An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness" gives a whole new image of the novel Heart of Darkness. After reading Conrad's novel once, and having a hard time understanding it Achebe sheds a new light on how to read it the second time.  

While we spoke in class on Tuesday of the fact that we felt Conrad did not fu

lly agree with how the African natives were being treated Achebe points out that his racism still shone through in his book.  In Achebe's essay he says that Conrad is as "careful as ever with his words" which can be seen when Conrad explains his kinship to the native as a "distant kinship".  

Chinua Achebe's essay gives Conrad's Heart of Darkness a whole new meaning that I may have missed the first time.  When reading it a second time it is almost as if I'm reading a whole new book.

Interesting Article.....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/feb/22/classics.chinuaachebe

Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness was definitely a little hard to follow. It helped significantly to read King Leopold's Ghost first in order to understand what took place in the Congo, and the extreme circumstances that Europeans put African natives in.  Because Heart of Darkness was a bit more difficult to read I don't really feel that I got the full effect of the book.

In this particular case it kind of struck me as odd that Marlow was almost shocked at what was going on in Africa when he arrived

there.  I know that it was not widely believed that King Leopold was treating natives the way he was and doing the things that he was doing, but I thought that people were at least aware of that accusations.  Marlow didn't seem to be in complete disbelief but he seemed to be trying to take in what he was seeing and experiencing with a bit of caution.  It also almost seemed to me that every one else in the story seemed to get very much caught up in the disturbing history of the Congo; meaning, they partook in the cruel acts.  Whereas, Marlow seemed to almost just do enough (which is always to much), in order to at le

ast be partly accepted and live through his experience.  

Joseph Conrad, the author of Heart of Darkness

King Leopold's Ghost....Blog 2

Although at times King Leopold's Ghost was a hard read it never failed to get across the horrid things that were done in the Congo by King Leopold II. It's hard to imagine that something so wrong that was done at such a large scale was forgotten. It's unimaginable that for even us Americans, where we are so far away, and always seem to be caught only in things that directly concern our own benefits don't know about the holocaust that took place in Africa; but also that Jules Marchal, a Belgian ambassador to countries in West Africa, did not even know about what his own country did to the Congo ending only 70 years prior to him being ambassador.

King Leopold's Ghost was an eye opener not only to what happened in the Congo, the place the book focused on, but it also said that these events took place where other countries were colonizing in Africa. It's hard to believe that history can seem to be so easily forgotten and changed.






Roger Casement

King Leopold's Ghost

  I've found this book a little harder to grasp than the other book we've read so far.  I've had to follow the book very closely to completely understand what is going on and I've caught myself having to go back and reread paragraphs and sentences just to make sure I understand something.  One of the things that I find to be interesting is the way the different countries gained control over Africa.  Although this is not new information to me, the book brought it back to my attention, the countries basically tricked villages and kingdoms to hand over their territory.  They made them sign treaties that rulers couldn't even understand offering them clothe for their entire kingdom.  I find it so interesting that colonizers went in and just expected the Africans to take up their customs and their ways just because.  I'm just waiting for the story to continue to unfold and for European countries to continue doing what is best for themselves and not a country who has just as much right to govern itself as Europe to govern it's original countries.

Boer War

The Boer Flag

It was a war of greed. An already rich and powerful nation wanted more and was willing to sacrifice anything to get it. The Boer War was actually two wars, but since the name is most related with the second of the two wars I will focus on the second. The war took place between 1899 and 1902.

In 1886 gold was discovered in the Transvaal in South Africa. The idea of finding gold and striking it rich brought many outsiders into the Boer territory and brought great attention to South Africa. The Boers were farmers and merchants of European descent that had colonized in South Africa. They wanted to become independent of British control but the discovery of gold did anything but help them become independent. In October of 1899 Britain decided to start war on the Boers to gain control over the gold. Feeling powerful they thought the war would be finished by Christmas of that year, however, the Boers surprised Britain.

Around May or June of 1890 Britain had control over two of Boers main territories and thought the war was over. However, the Boers were not going to give up that easily. The Boers waged Guerrilla warfare, and Britain did not know how to fight this. Eventually, Britain decided the best way to defeat the Boers was with their own tactics. Britain burned farms, took over food supplies, and kidnapped women and children to be put into concentration camps. In 1902 the Boers surrender after everything they had was completely devastated, and sign The Treaty of Vereeniging.



Over the course of the war over 25,000 Boer people were killed and over 14,000 natives died. While reading up on the Boer War one of the websites said that in most accounts of history the natives of Africa, whom were very much affected by the war, are forgotten, which I found to be very true.


Websites I used.....
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/8141/boerwar.html
http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v18/v18n3p14_Weber.html
http://www.victorianweb.org/history/hist1.html

egwugwu

This picture in the virtual world was found in the elder meeting link.  Immediately when I looked at it I thought of a part in the novel Things Fall Apart.  As described in the book, Enoch, a tribal member that converted to Christianity, tore of the mask of an egwugwu.  This was extremely unheard of for anyone to do such a thing because an egwugwu was someone who impersonated one of the ancestral spirits of the tribe.  By unmasking one of these impersonators Enoch took away the immortal meaning behind the spirit; thus, the spirit was then dead forever.

This picture also reminded me of the court scene where there were nine stools set up, and these stools were where the egwugwu sat to hear the case.  Though there are not nine stools set up the masked men sitting there look as though they might be hearing something.  Also, being masked makes them seem like they hold some importance just like an egwugwu does.

                 

The mask to the left is a close up to something that might have been worn by an egwugwu.  If you go to the link below it has some cool pics on another african tribe and they compare it to the Umuofia tribe in Chinua Achebe's novel. 

 http://www.aug.edu/~artpxh/Class%20files/HUMN2002/IgboArt/IgboArt10.html

Things Fall Apart

This was my first time reading Things Fall Apart and I can't really describe how it left me feeling. From my research on the previous blog topic many people felt that although colonization was brutal it served Africa well because it gave them new technology and an updated way of living. However, I do not agree with that, especially after reading this book.  Okonkwo's tribe had a its long ancestral history and rituals and although they seem strange to us they are one's way of life. 

Europeans took what was good for them and what worked for them and thought it meant that it was good for everyone. The tribes in Chinua Achebe's novel had a long history within their own tribes and with their surrounding tribes. When the Europeans came they tried to change everything that a tribe had ever known, their way of living, their beliefs.  The thing that really gets me is that the missionaries came in and asked for land and hoped that they would get it and at least be remotely accepted.  But once they had the land they decided that it was their way that was right and just even if the tribal members did not understand it completely or even at all.

The novel made me think that even after all of these years, and with people becoming highly educated, that we would have solved the problems in society today.  After all this time and reading these books and being able to use history as our guide book we would know what way is the right way, and many would think that our way (the white man way) is the best way, but in this book that is not true.  Many will read this book and think that the way the Europeans colonized Africa was not right, but yet the fear of diversity, and the fear of others who are different will continue to rule our society and people's actions. Chinua Achebe's novel will continue to cause people to stop and think and hopefully make a change.

Check out these sites.....

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/achebe.htm

THE LARGEST EMPIRE EVER

The Songhai Empire, also known as the Songhay Empire, was considered one of the greatest dynasties of all time. It dates back to as early as the 9th century and lasted up through the 16th century. Over hundreds of years many rulers ruled over the Songhai Empire, but two are seen as the great rulers who brought Songhai to its greatest power and to be known as the largest empire ever. These rulers were Sunni Ali Ber and his successor, also his son, Abu Bakr Dao who later became known as King Askia Mohammed.

Ruling from 1464 to 1492, Sunni Ali Ber began the expansion of the Songhai Empire. During the beginning of Sunni Ali's rule the Mali Empire had begun to break up into small states which led Sunni Ali to take advantage of the situation and begin to conquer these weak areas. His empire continued to grow so he began to divide it into provinces.  He then chose his greatest war chiefs to govern over these areas.  Sunni Ali's reign came to an end in 1492 due to his strange drowning on the way back from an expedition.

Following Sunni Ali's rule was his son Abu Bakr Dao who ruled from 1493 to 1528.  Early in his reign he took a pilgrimage to Mecca where the Sharif of Mecca gave him the name Askia Mohammed.  He then was no longer known as Abu Bakr Dao but as King Askia.  During King Askia's name he followed in his father's footsteps and continued to conquer the rest of the Mali Empire's territories and more.  He also added a system of schooling where students were taught on the basis of the Islamic religion.  Also during this time trade became an active role in Songhai's economy.  With an expanding empire Songhai needed to continue to have a strong army, thus, the trade continued to grow.  

In 1528 King Askia was removed from office and exiled by his successor and own son.  The kings who ruled after 1528 were either assasinated or exiled.  In 1595 the Songhai Empire was completely destroyed and under the reign of Morrocco.  To this day the empire is known as one of the largest empires in history.

Check out these links:

http://www.mythinglinks.org/afr~subsahara~Songhay.htmlhttp://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/songhai.html

http://www.accessgambia.com/information/songhai-2.html

A Little About Me

My name is Elizabeth Dennis, but everyone calls me Betsey. I grew up in a small town in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula called Charlevoix. For those of you who have no idea where Charlevoix is it is about an hour south of the Mackinac Bridge and an hour north of Traverse City located right on Lake Michigan. Before attending Western Michigan University I attended KVCC where I played basketball for two years and then chose not to continue my athletic career. I am currently in my third semester at Western Michigan University and beginning my fourth year of college. After spending a year and a half majoring in Special Education and Elementary Education I decided teaching that age group was not for me. I have changed my major to Secondary Education: English and a minor in Math, which in turn has put me a year and a half behind. I am hoping everything goes my way and I will be able to graduate in the fall of 2010.

I like to dabble in a little bit of everything as you can probably tell my major and minor are two completely unrelated subjects. However, there is a lot more to me than just school. I'm a huge health nut. Most wonder why I don't look into a health related field but I think I like it as a hobby rather than work. I currently work at a fitness center and am constantly reading and researching about the body, food and exercise. A lot of my time is occupied by sports. I'm either watching a football game or out playing basketball somewhere. I've recently attempted to take up golf and tennis where I have come to find my hand eye coordination may not be as superb as I thought. Along with these things I am very into my religion and my God. I attend KVFC and try to live my life as an example to others and with purpose.

My focus right now is on finishing school in a more timely fashion than how I started it. I plan on earning my degree in Secondary Education and I might come back for graduate school or turn my minor into a major while I continue to look for a job.