Flash

The semester is ending, and I thought it would be okay to do something I’m personally not a fan of: posting a blog without a link to the article.

So this week’s post does not come from the internet, and so I don’t have a link. I found it today in a Vogue magazine, and I thought it was interesting enough to share. The month is November, but it’s only the third (or fourth…fifth?) of December, so it’s ok.

Andrea Tese is a photographer who teaches photography in Malawi, as a kind of job-training for people who do not have the option of going to professional school. She goes with an organization called Goods for Good, which donates surplus materials from American companies to children in Africa. During her stay, she lives in a village called Mchezi, where there is no street lights, no telephone, and a few wells. She had to dress in a way that “respectfully covered her legs” , and boil the water for her shower. Each day after the morning ritual, she grabbed her camera and walked to the community-based organization where the Tailor-in-Training program is taught.

There are people creating uniforms for orphan girls from fabric that would have otherwise gone unused by fashion houses in the U.S. Waste there is transformed into opportunity. While the girls have the opportunity to attend school with the uniform, the people who make them learn a new way to earn a living. Andrea teaches photography to HIV positives. By the end of the class, she distributes 100 disposable cameras donated by a NY company. This was the first time her “students” had ever held a camera. They had three days to shoot 35 pictures, and came up with some pretty amazing frames: because they had so little opportunity, they chose carefully the things they wanted to portray. She hopes that capturing life will give them life, and open new windows.

South Africa Goes Blue

Article:

South Africa recently joined over 160 countries to mark the World Diabetes Day. Diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol screenings were done at a hospital in Bloemfontein. This year, Table Mountain in South Africa lit up in blue to fight diabetes, as did numerous monumental buildings in other countries. They’re bringing diabetes to light.

I remember back when diabetes in Africa was still a joke… that was before Jamie’s post on how it’s growing in modernized nations. Now it seems like they’re aware of the problem, and actually doing something to prevent/stop it. It’s only one day, but every long journey begins with a single step (or something like that…). It’s an official UN day, and seems to be doing a great good in South Africa. The blue circle is the global symbol of diabetes. More than doing check-ups, the day is important because it brings awareness of the problem, and keeps it “in the public spotlight”.

Nile at Night

Article:

I was looking around for this week’s post, when this picture from the NASA website caught my attention. The article was even more interesting, and it’s so relevant to what we usually discuss in class that I had to post it. I’m not sure this qualifies for an article, but since this is a blog about pretty much anything related to Africa, I’m going to give it a shot.
The shiny area in the picture is the Nile River. The picture was taken by NASA at night, to show (through night lights) where population was concentrated in the region. I thought it was incredible to see how people are found mostly around the Nile, even though we’ve discussed this so many times in class. This is still because most of Egypt’s population depends on the Nile to grow their crops (even though they have irrigation systems) and so life away from it would be much harder. Remember that the Nile spreads farther south into other countries as well, and that the same thing happens there. Cairo (Egypt) is the brightest part of the “long-stemmed flower”. Seeing a picture of it makes it a little more real.

Sahel Music and Technology Addicts

Article

Villagers in the Sahara are swapping songs via bluetooth and archiving them in their cellphones. Do they have those? Of course! even in villages that don't have reception ;). "They're not just phones, they're all purpose media devices". According to the article, people in WestAfrica use their phones in much the same way we use our computers. This, if you recall, takes place in the "sahel", the desert we saw on the video in class. Somehow the image of boys crossing the sahel with their cattle, surviving on milk because they don't have enough food, and listening to music on their phones seems funny to me.

Phones are being used as a way of exchanging culture; the guy in the article uploaded some of his western music into the phones, and copied some of the African music for himself, then put the songs together as a cassette, to show the world what the sahel people listen to. There is a link where you can listen to the songs. This is proof that no matter how poor, hungry, or destroyed by war a place is, there is always a little extra space for Art. =]

Wilderness

I found this picture taken by an amateur photographer in Africa, and just thought it was cool enough to share. =]

Signs of Globalization in Africa? (couldn't help myself...)

p.s. Check today's first post, too!

It takes a Woman to save a country? A Lovely Dream.

It seems like hope for Africa is along the way, at least for Liberia. And the hope, of course, comes in the hands of a woman =]. I found this article about Ellen Sirleaf, the first female president in Africa (with an incredible background), and the changes she has made to her country: apparently the woman represents hope to many Africans (and westerners!). It looks like she has been fighting corruption pretty accurately, stating that women have less reasons to be corrupt and therefore make better presidents. Statements aside, it seems to be working: she just got $4.6 billion worth of debt relief through the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Plus, of course, women work harder (her words, not mine…). She also got an enormous loan for Liberian businesses, which should improve the overall economy of the country.

The writer of the article seems highly skeptical about it, but I believe the woman has come for the good of the country. She seems highly motivated, or maybe I’m just in the mood for hope. Either way, it’s a good investment of time to read the entire article (5 pages) to see things that can be done to help corrupt nations. The writer seems to believe her efforts to be silly in a country that has been destroyed by war, but change comes in the small things, right? Her people seem to mostly like her. Coming from an extremely violent marriage, she seems to understand what it is like to be tied-up to circumstances, and the need for change.

p.s. There is also some cool info on Liberia's history.

The Wonders of...Facebook.

For those of you who think Facebook is a waste of time, think again. This article shows that we can put to use things we (I) never thought could be useful.

Graduate student Ailie Tam recently moved to Madagascar to volunteer for an HIV prevention program there. She then entered a program that pays for the winners to work on charitable project abroad, and thanks to her 4000 votes on (surprise!) Facebook, she won $45,000 for her project in Madagascar.

Of course her motivations weren't so pure... she's doing it all to build her resume and apply for a job in international social work (and trying to get her PhD). According to the article, she was rejected by some graduate schools, and went to battle to make her experiences on fundraising matter. And it worked! her past projects won her much respect from "people that matter", and all thanks to her networking skills, such as... yeah, Facebook.

Considering the benefit that her study will bring to Madagascar (the lady will, after all, help fight the spread of AIDS), her motivations don't really matter. What matters is that she's out there, making good use of everyday commodities for us, and planting a little hope for this internet generation to use their addiction for something else =P. The projcet's goal is to "inspire multitudes to volunteer". Facebook rehab, anyone?

A Festival of Colors and a World to be Discovered

The African Cultural Festival (ACF) was founded by Uche Ozoh, Nigerian born Film Producer and Director, and Shabbir Jiwa, Kenyan born President and CEO TFLSafari.Com, to “create an unprecedented experience that will promote our various cultural heritages and to bring all of us together from our different diasporas as one voice”. They also promote international business trade. Space is given to local businesses, crafts, restaurants, and African tourism. They provide charity services, give away scholarships, and promote classes to teach children African languages, such as Yoruba and Swahili.

The festival provides a way for people of all parts of Africa (and outside of Africa, too) to discuss and come up with possible solutions to the biggest issues being faced by African countries today. Some of the issues they discuss are economic development, education, technology, politics, and cultural matters. The festival is put together by Africans or people who have lived in Africa for a long time. Most of all, they promote the unification of the peoples of Africa, and their theme song is “Africa Unite”.

Archeology in times of War

Article:

“Striking prehistoric rock art created up to 5,000 years ago has been discovered at almost 100 sites in Somaliland on the Gulf of Aden in eastern Africa.”

The paintings include one of the earliest depictions of a mounted hunter. It is believed that at least 10 of these sites will be given World Heritage status. Even though the history of Somalia is rich, it is still unexplored in a country that has dealt with too many wars to appreciate their archeology. Paintings in Dhambalin suggest farming or ritual traditions 5,000 years ago!

“The pictures also depict animals, such as giraffes, no longer found in Somaliland.” This could be a sign of the migration of animals together with the people of Africa. Or maybe giraffes in that particular environment died out.

Something to think about

I don’t have an article for this post. I’ll post a proper one later, but for now I just had to share my thoughts here, and let you guys in on a secret: I think I know what’s wrong with Africa.

My grandfather discovered he had cancer 40 days ago, and last week, he passed away. He lived in Brazil, and the only person there with him was my aunt. He stayed in the best hospital there is, and had all the privileges money and good friendships can buy, and yet… my aunt stayed in the hospital with him for 33 days, and every day she would call and let us know what was going on. The hospital was living hell. The hallways were filled with old, sick people, lying on the floor, dying, from the lack care, space, doctors, and what not. One of the patients that did get in had been there for four years, weighted 20 kg (that’s about 50 pounds) and didn’t have proper care, being left there to die. We could hear the screams of people in extreme pain over the phone. Again, that’s one of the best hospitals. Then my mom said something that made me realize what was so wrong with Brazil, and I believe, Africa: it’s all about the value these nations place on human life. In a world where human life should be the most preserved gift from God, we focus on material things, on power, success, and so on, often forgetting that humans are so fragile and in so much need of help. I guess that’s why African countries like Nigeria haven’t found out how to use their money yet. And maybe poverty, hunger, and death are all part of the price we have to pay for valuing the wrong things.

Just something to think about.

Capoeira is African

One of the most “Brazilian” arts is really African. Created by the Africans brought to Brazil as slaves beginning in 1500, capoeira is a martial art that was forbidden by law but survived underground. It was used by slaves to protect themselves in the hostile environment. There is much dispute surrounding the origin of this art: there are many who disagree on whether it arrived with enslaved Africans or whether Africans created it once they reached Brazil. The article states there is a continued effort to “disfranchise African people of their contributions to world civilization” (assatashakur.org), but truth is, no one disputes that it is an African creation. The word "capoeira" is probably a derivation of the Ki-Kongo word "kipura" which means "to flit from place to place; to struggle, to fight, to flog". N'dongo warriors, using their capoeira skills, would literally catapult themselves across rivers to avoid being captured by the Portuguese slavers. It is an amazing spectacle of agility, acrobatics and physical prowess. It can be a dangerous, even murderous style of combat that gives the trained fighter the ability to beat back an attack by eight men simultaneously, tossing them in all directions and crippling them one by one until all are incapacitated if not dead. In one of the novellas I posted earlier (Little Missy), there is a scene where a slave kills his master with capoeira.

Capoeira is practiced in Brazil today as a form of art, not as a murderous skill. During the carnival, bands of capoeira attract large crowds on the streets. It has become a dance with music provided by singing and percussion instruments, using the berimbau (originated in Tunga, Africa), which has a low-strung wire that is beaten with a stick. Practitioners of Capoeira gather in a circle, called a roda, and those who surround the contestants sing, clap and play the berimbau and drums. History and philosophy are passed through the songs. Then the contestants perform a movement called the Ginga, where they move around each other, almost like a dance, in order to disorient their opponent. It has a unique beat that continues to touch my heart. It is almost impossible to imagine how many years of culture and skill have been put into the capoeira practiced today, but like many of Brazil’s most loved bits of culture, it’s come from Africa.

http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/guerrilla-warfare-tactic-technique-survival/1496-africa-brazil-beyond-capoeira.html

Brazilian Soap Operas and what they have to offer

As I mentioned in class, there are many Brazilian novellas about Africa and African slaves. Since a good percentage of the country’s population has a very low level of education, researchers and directors usually use the novellas to educate the people about the history of our own country and of the people who helped us build it. Although I could not find a lot of material in English, I did find some descriptions that should be helpful. I will include the links below.


Xica da Silva
A novella about Chica da Silva (Francisca da Silva de Oliveira, 1732-1796), an 18th Century African-Brazilian slave, daughter of a slave woman and a white Portuguese man. Chica was sold to slavery by her white sister, and had many masters (and sons) before being sold to Joao Fernandes de Oliveira, a rich diamond mine owner. They start a romance and Chica is freed by him. They live together (sine they aren’t allowed to be officially married) and have 13 children. The plot of the novella is the fact that Chica will do just about anything to achieve a higher status and be considered white. She paints her face white (as a way of escaping her slave past), exchanges sexual favors for prestige, and even order her slaves (yes, the slave had her own slaves) to pull out a servant’s teeth so she won’t be able to smile at Chica’s husband anymore. The novella has a lot of graphic material, and lots of nudity, but is a great example of how things worked in Colonial Brazil. When banned from the local church, Chica built her own church and palace a few miles away from the city, and paid people to go to mass with her and her servants. I have attached a picture of the couple. This one is a must in the history of slavery in Brazil. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chica_da_Silva


Sinha Moca (Little Missy)
Much different from Xica da Silva, Sinha Moca was a novella about romance and freedom just before the abolition of slaves by Princess Isabel of Portugal. First released in 1986, the second version came out in 2006 (see picture) and had a major impact on how people saw slavery. In Araruna, a small town in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, circa 1886, Sinhá Moça and republican Dr. Rodolfo are engaged in a forbidden love affair. Rodolfo is fighting slavery, and Sinhá Moça, besides being an abolitionist herself, is the daughter of Coronel Ferreira, the Baron of Araruna, a man who is thoroughly pro-slavery. To complicate things further, there appears Rafael, a former slave who earned his freedom, and is, in fact, the result of an obscure relationship between the Baron and his slave. Sinha Moca invades the “senzalas” (place where slaves were kept) at night and lets the slaves escape. The slaves who run away are the firsts to form the Quilombo dos Palmares, a colony of runaway slaves that started a major slave revolution in Brazil. The novella ends with the abolition of slavery in Brazil and the arrival of the Italian immigrants to take care of the coffee production in the country. It also shows how slaves brought capoeira to Brazil, and how they used it. Here is an awesome website that has some great videos of the novella with the soundtrack, and gives you subtitles so you can have an idea of what was going on at the time. Must see! http://www.mysubtitles.com/movie/sinha-moa-a_724756.html

Map Quiz!

Here's a quick link to help you with our coming map quiz. It should be useful after that, too. =] Cool game.

http://www.purposegames.com/game/countries-of-africa-quiz

Getting a hold of it... and food for the soul.

It's sunny outside, and for my first post I thought I'd find something fun, at least until I get a hold of this and find out exactly what I want to focus on. There is only one thing I'm sure of: I won't focus on the bad stuff. The African cultures have an enormous influence on that of my own country (Brazil), and I find it amazing that you see such a rich culture in a continent that has just recently been added to history courses. Their music, their dances, their costumes, their souls; these will hopefully be my themes. I'll try to bring to your view a side of Africa that we, Brazilians, have had the pleasure of knowing, and that some places in the world have chosen to ignore. One problem I did encounter (and probably will again) is the lack of information about my topics on "trusted" sites. But I am insatiable, and my journey has only begun.

Concluding my thought, don't consider my first post as essential information, but rather, see it as food for the soul (or food for thought, as you Americans like to say). This post will be about art. More precisely, about the Segou Music Festival. Segou is the second city of Mali, and they apparently have a wonderful, 3-days-long music festival, where world-famous singers as well as local drummers and fishermen can be seen. The website says it takes place beside the Niger river (you'll remember today's class discussion on it). During the festival, racial differences seem unimportant as albino dancers dance for black singers (being born an albino in west Africa can be a traumatic experience, according to the website's report.) The article offers tips about the Bobo Bwa culture, an ethnic group indigenous to central Mali, known for their masks (which were used by artists in the festival). Follows the link to the article, originally puclished in the Guardian. http://http//www.allwestafrica.com/170620105116.html

Also on that topic, if you have a little extra time, check out africancolours.com . It promotes contemporary African artists and has links to their portfolios, giving them "adequate exposion". It has info about film festivals, art and antiques that are for sale, etc. The picture I posted is of one of the paintings (wasn't successful at placing it in the right place). Hope you enjoy.