Avert.org

There is an organization that is helping with the genocide of so many Africans that is the HIV/AIDS crisis. I found this organization while doing research for my final projects and one of my blogs. I have been interested in HIV/AIDS since I was forced to take an AIDS test a few years back that was the scariest thing in my life. It started to have me wonder how many people are living with this disease. This organization helps world wide and here is a little information about them

-There website is www.avert.org
-It is an international HIV/AIDS charity based in the UK
-Has projects in countries where there is a particularly high rate of infection such as Sub Saharan Africa
has number of projects in South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, and Uganda
-2 main source of funding donations, and through a private donation
-there contact info is info@avert.org
-There are many quizzes and educational material that can be downloaded for free.

This website is so nice. You can click on any country and learn about the HIV/AIDS rate and the prevention methods that are in effect for that country.

Envrionmental Issue in Africa

I went to a site called www.panda.org and I type in Uganda and found some interested information on the environmental crisis that is going on there. It an organization called WWF that goes around to different countries and continents trying to solve the environmental issues. Here is what I found for Uganda:

-A majority of Uganda's resources are reliant on natural resources to survive
-Forest provide firewood and cleared land frees soil for agriculture
-the availability of water is also a problem
endangered species such as the mountain gorilla are suffering
Lake Victoria has suffered a serious decline in water quality because of soil run off from the land

I know that the information was small but it was intresting. They also have on the website ways that people can help with their organization.

The Bleeding of the Stone

The Bleeding of the Stone, is a tale of the choices that we have to make in life. We all have crossed a bridge where we had to make choices that compromise so kind belief, moral, or religious conviction that we have. What choice do we make so we don't find our self in a struggle with our inner self.

One time I made difficult choice was concerning abortion. I got pregnant 6 years ago, and before I was pregnant I always knew that i would never get an abortion. I swore on it. Once I found out I was pregnant it seemed like everything I believed in went out the window. The only thing that I could think of being a single mother and struggling to make it through school, struggling with paying bills, just the everyday struggle. I just knew n my heart and soul that I could not have the baby. I don't know why the abortion rule just applied to everyone else except for me.

Once I sat and thought about I knew I couldn't do it. Of course I made the choice to keep my baby. At one point in time I put aside my religious convictions and my moral convictions to make a choice. I would never know how that choice will affect me in the long run, but it is a choice that many women struggle with.

Making the right choice in life i something that everyone struggles with. Whatever choice we do make in life we will always benefit from. It will makes us stronger and better in the long run.

I feel that was what The Bleeding of the Stone was about to a point. It gives us insight of how people will make the choices that they do.

Waiting for an Angel

Waiting for an Angel, was a good book. I like the way it started off in the prison scene. As a reader I assume everyone that goes to prison has did some violent crime. My mind doesn't even react to someone going to prison for being a journalist. All they are doing is writing about what is going on in their community, village. It is amazing to me that people take the risk to do something that they feel passionate about. I decided to look into the prisons in Africa. If a fictional book could display the horrors of the jail it makes you think how is it really in there for the prisoners. I got this information from www.iht.com

Lilonge, Malwai
-A man named Lackson Sikayenera has been in jail since 11-10-1999. He is accused of killing his brother.
-In the prison there are a dozen of iron roof barracks set on yellow dirt and hemmed wire
-eats one meal a day of porridge. He spends 14 hours a day in a cell with 160 other men. The water is dirty and the toilets are foul.
-The charges that are against him have not yet reached the court and probably will never reached the courts

Equatorial Guinea, Black Beach prison
-food is scarce

Congo Prison
-have housed children as young as 8 years old

Uganda's prison
-2/3 of the prisoners have not been tried yet.
-many inmates sit in cells for a lack of bail that can be less than $10 or $20

Xala

Xala was very different. It plays on the magic of some African cultures. This book was published in French in 1973. It is about a man name El Hadji who is a wealthy Muslim business man and he believes he was cursed so he couldn't perform for his wife in bed. Then it reveals the beggar put the curse on the man and to remove the curse everyone had to spit on the man twice while he stood there naked.

This book was hard for me to get into because I don't get into curses and people getting spells on them. As Muslim we don't believe in anything else but the oneness of God. To put a Muslim man as the main charchter puts culture and religion head to head.

Something I found on Western Michigan's website was a dialogue created where it was said this man was the victim of western influences this was a result of Europe coming over to Africa and made people change the way they think and to forget about their culture. I thought that was quite intresting. Overall the book was alright.

Healthy Children-Why are children still going hungry

Hungry families around the world is upsetting. We see images on tv of children that have not had enough to eat while we sit on our couches and stuff our faces. When we think about most of this society is one pay check away from being homeless. Why now is it a privilege just to feed our families? Especially in Africa and the United States. These two countries have the resources to make a difference in families lives and they don't. There are many organizations that aid in the fighting of hunger in many under developed countries. One organization is Care and Care has reached 65 million people in 71 countries. Another organization is mongabay and on their website mongabay.com there was some facts concerning the hunger rate in many poor countries:

-hunger and mal nutrition kill nearly 6 million children a year and more people are mal nourish in sub Saharan Africa this decade than in 1990.
-many children die form treatable infections diseases like diarrhea, pneumonia,malaria, and measles.
-hunger and mal nutrition root causes of poverty
-In 2004, estimated 852 million people worldwide were under nourished
-Around 75 percent of the world's hungry and poor people live in a rural areas in poor countries.

As we look around in America and how the welfare lines are getting longer and the benefits are not there for the families. The only people that are in the middle of this are the children. The can't go out and work to get food they only depend on their families. It is a sad site to see. Many images that we have seen in Africa are of the children with the big stomachs.

Africa- rich soil poor land

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa was a eye opener when looking into Africa. Before studying about the continent the only image a person see is poor, Mal nourished people, living in a village. As a reader from another part of the world, you wouldn't think that Africa was rich in oil and that it wa such a profitable business. This business that makes so much money, but yet it leaves people so poor and leaves a country at war. I found some quotes from the Boston Globe newspaper www.boston.com it talks about how the oil has damaged the Africa continent.

30% of the world's newly discovered oil reserves come from Africa's West Coast. But in the serpentine creeks and boggy coast lie daunting obstacles to the promise of oil revenue, corruption, violent youth militias, and environmental catastrophes.

Resource riches could help West Africa climb out of poverty by funding better education, health care, roads, and other essential services.

Because of wars, dictatorships, and thieves Angola and other oil rich African nations have failed so far tot urn their natural wealth into better lives for their citizens.

These quotes just is an eye opener for the world that Africa does have the resources to get their people out of poverty and get them the medical attention they need. There are so many people dying of HIV/AIDS but many of these countries are sitting on a gold mine and will not share the wealth. Greed will kill thousands of people and that is sad.

King Leopold's Ghost

King Leopold's Ghost was an intresting history story of King Leopold and the mistreatment of the Africans in the Congo. There was one man that stood up to the King sort of speak and made it known that Congo was a free state. His name was George Washington Williams I found some intersted facts from Wikipedia about this man.

George washington Williams
Born October 16, 1849 and died August 2, 1891
American Civil War Veteran
He was known for the saying of King Leopold treatment "crimes against humanity"
Born in Bedfrod Springs, PA
went to Mexico to joined the Republican army
attended Howard University
1st African American to graduate from Newton
Founded the Commoner
1889 granted an informal audience a look into the actions of the King

Just knowing the actions of King Leopold was sicken. This was genocide against people that did not deserve to die. After reading so many stories that have lost their lives to greed it seems as if it will numb the soul after reading so many stories, but it doens't. Each new case is like a new family member getting killed.

Johnny Mad Dog Victim or Monster?

After reading Johnny Mad Dog, it crossed my mind whether he is a victim or just a cold blooded monster. I know that people are responsible for their actions, but after studying child soldiers can someone put the blame totally on these kids. These kids are taken from wherever they are and put into situations where they are trained to kill and do crazy acts of violence. It is like a child they grow up in a house where the parents are racist and the children are trained to behave the same way do we blame the child or the parent.

I am not taking up for Johnny I am just looking at it from a different view I am trying to see all angels of this. It is sickens me that their government does not protect the children, but instead almost promotes this and no one is held accountable. The scene I just keep replaying in my mind is the scene from Blood Diamonds where the boy is blindfolded and is told to shoot and when takes off his blindfold he has killed a man. Then when he meets up with his father his mind is so far gone that he doesn't distinguish from right or wrong.

Are these children responsible for their actions or is it the adults who take the children from their natural surroundings and turn them into monsters. I almost feel kind of sorry for him, because he was probably young got recruited and starting his life of torturing these people. What if he was never a child soldier would he be this heartless?

Final Project-Aids in Africa

My final project was to take a trip to Uganda and study AIDS in Africa. I began to become interested in AIDS when I was forced to take an AIDS test. While I was in the room with the nurse I fell apart while waiting for the result. When my test came back negative I was relieved, but I almost felt sorry for people that are too scared to get an AIDS test. It is a scary thing, and there should be a way to help people overcome their fears also provide opportunities for people to take an AIDS test.

I picked Uganda because they have had success in their AIDS prevention campaign. My trip will consist of starting her at the local high schools taking a survey and hold an assembly to talk to the students about AIDS. Then my trip will start with me getting my passport, documentations, and vaccines.

While I am in Uganda I am going to visit the hospitals and talk to some patients and hear their stories. I didn't want to come back with a bunch of numbers because they are human and they should be heard instead of being represented by a number. During my 2nd week I want to go to the organizations that help with prevention of AIDS. We are going to sit around a come up with plans that I can take back to America and ways to make Uganda's programs better.

Once I leave Uganda my plan is to start rapid AIDS testing site in high schools and at local religious organizations. These sites need to be accessible to people. Most people that do not get AIDS test is the poor. We need to take the stigma away for AIDS it is a horrible disease but it is manageable like diabetes, cancer. It is okay to take the test it is not a death sentence.

My trip will be financed by my dad. I know that sounds strange, but it is true. My dad will be willing to finance my trip. He has been to Africa and once I express interest in going he will be ready to send me there in a heartbeat.

I just asked that if anyone has not gotten an AIDS test please do and encourage others to get tested. Especially minorities. It is the number cause of death for black women. Right now black women are becoming extinct. If you go to a rapid AIDS testing site it takes 20 minutes to get your result. Be aware the nurse doing the test will ask you a lot of questions like What if you do have AIDS? How will you tell your family? It is worth it.

Johnny Mad Dog

still dream about the boy from my village who I killed. I see him in my dreams, and he is talking to me, saying I killed him for nothing, and I am crying." — Mary, a 16-year-old demobilized child soldier forced to join an armed rebel group in Central Africa


Johnny Mad Dog,
I am having a hard time reading this book and let alone the facts of a child soldier. I still can't understand why? I know the speaker touched on it because children are easy to manipulate. People do so much to children it is breaking my heart.

I was reading some information on child soldiers. One article I read on the Internet it said that they will make the young girls marry and or perform sexual acts on the men. Then while reading the book the graphic description of sexual acts makes me sick.

I can't take the heartless acts of violence that these children are faced to do. I remember in class on Tuesday someone made a comment almost like a gang. It made me think of these gangs in America let alone Michigan that are recruiting these Young boys to do some heartless acts of violence.

The gang as and he child soldiers have alot in common. These soldiers make these young men that they are family and the gangs the same way. They terrorized individuals for their own gains. Both are selfish.

This book is gut wrenching and having a daughter and nephews the same age as the young men on the book it is hard for me to read the book.

An Image of Africa

The piece Achebe wrote in response to the racism in Conrad's piece was interested. After reading the book then reading the article a reader can definitely see where the racism does exist in the novel. The question is Conrad racist?

I guess we wouldn't know that since none of us was around during his time. A person can argue that Conrad was racist, he constantly referred to the Africans a niggers and other names except by their tribe name or by their god given name. Can a person argue that this was the time that Conrad was born and raised in. It was time that Africans and African American wasn't even consider human so giving them a humane name was out of the question. If Conrad was living today in 2008, would he write a book that called Africans or African Americans nigger. Different time and different attitudes.

Let's take a child for instance. If a child from birth all they knew was violence and did not value education, working, and being upstanding citizen. They though the only way they could get things was by stealing. Do you fault the child or the environment they were raised in?

Conrad lived in a racist society and he wrote on his experiences. I am sort of neutral on this article. I can clearly see where Achebe is coming from and see all the points in the article. Is Conrad racist or is it the world he was living in?

Heart of Darkness

The Heart of Darkness Themes

I struggle so hard with this book even after reading a twice. I decided to pick out some themes that can be taught in The Heart of Darkness. As a future teacher I knew I will teach books that I do not like or just don't quite understand, but if I find something out the book that I can relate to the students I think it will help. These themes can be used in writing projects of all kinds. Here are some themes that I came up with and got some from the Internet from teachers that have taught the book.

Alienation and Loneliness
The book begins and ends with silence
The question of how silence and loneliness are seen to damaged the characters

Deception
In the book, they claim to educate the people to bring them to a new way of life, but they end up starving and murdering the people for profit.
Marlow lies to Kurtz fiancee, he told her that Kurtz died with her name on his lips.

Order and Disorder
How the characters in the book still carrying on with their lives while chaos was around them

Race and Racism
The constant reference to calling Africans "niggers", "cannibals" and "criminals"

Violence and Cruelty
The acts of inhumane violence committed on the people

One writing project I was thinking of for students is have students write a forgiveness letter to someone that maybe deceived them or was cruel to them. Or they can write a letter to someone and explain to them how they may of felt lonely or alienated. This will help students connect with a book that is difficult to read.

Women's Rights-Privelge or Right?

Nov.4 the one of the most important days in American History. I listen to my daughter talk about the candidates in her five year old world. I hear her tell my mother that Obama is the man and she can't wait to vote. She is tellign everyone that she is voting for Obama on Tuesday.
It is a day when the country will pick their new leader. All these months of advertising, billboards, phone calls and debates comes down to the people casting their ballot. When was the right instilled as we look back.

As I read Ancestor Stone and thought of the women in the book, I realized these women don't have the basic rights that we have in this country. And it wasn't that not long ago that African Americans, women did not have those rights as well. It was not that long agao that my daughter's converstaion would have been totally different I would have quietd her down for speaking about voting. Now she is our future. African women can not own property, their children that they have given birth to are the men's, their religion is that of their husband, they are subject to abuse that the can't fight back against. They can not get the proper medical treatment to fight againsr HIV.

1848The world's first women's rights convention is held in Seneca Falls, NY, July 19-20. A Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions is debated and signed by 68 women and 32 men, setting the agenda for the women's rights movement that followed.
1849 Elizabeth Smith Miller appears on the streets of Seneca Falls, NY, in "turkish trousers," soon to be known as "bloomers."

1849 Amelia Jenks Bloomer publishes and edits Lily the first prominent women's rights newspaper.

1850 Quaker physicians establish the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, PA to give women a chance to learn medicine. The first women graduated under police guard.

1855 Lucy Stone becomes first woman on record to keep her own name after marriage, setting a trend among women who are consequently known as "Lucy Stoners."

1855 The University of Iowa becomes the first state school to admit women.

1855 In Missouri v. Celia, a Black slave is declared property without right to defense against a master's act of rape.

1859 American Medical Association announces opposition to abortion. In 1860, Connecticut is the first state to prohibit all abortions, both before and after quickening.

1859 The birth rate continues its downward spiral as reliable condoms become available. By the late 1900s, women will raise an average of only two or three children.

1860 Of 2,225,086 Black women, 1,971,135 are held in slavery. In San Francisco, about 85% of Chinese women are essentially enslaved as prostitutes.

1866 14th Amendment is passed by Congress (ratified by the states in 1868), the first time "citizens" and "voters" are defined as "male" in the Constitution.

1866 The American Equal Rights Association is founded, the first organization in the US to advocate women's suffrage.

1868 The National Labor Union supports equal pay for equal work.

1868 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan Anthony begin publishing The Revolution, an important women's movement periodical.

1870 For the first time in the history of jurisprudence, women serve on juries in the Wyoming Territory.

1870 Iowa is the first state to admit a woman to the bar: Arabella Mansfield.

1870 The 15th Amendment receives final ratification. By its text, women are not specifically excluded from the vote. During the next two years, approximately 150 women will attempt to vote in almost a dozen different jurisdictions from Delaware to California.

1872 Through the efforts of lawyer Belva Lockwood, Congress passes a law to give women federal employees equal pay for equal work.

1872 Charlotte E. Ray, Howard University law school graduate, becomes first African-American woman admitted to the US bar.

1873 Bradwell v. Illinois: Supreme Court affirms that states can restrict women from the practice of any profession to uphold the law of the Creator.

1873 Congress passes the Comstock Law, defining contraceptive information as "obscene material."

1877 Helen Magill is the first woman to receive a Ph.D. at a US school, a doctorate in Greek from Boston University.

1878 The Susan B. Anthony Amendment, to grant women the vote, is first introduced in the US Congress.

1884 Belva Lockwood, presidential candidate of the National Equal Rights Party, is the first woman to receive votes in a presidential election (appx. 4,000 in six states).

1887 For the first and only time in this century, the US Senate votes on woman suffrage. It loses, 34 to 16. Twenty-five Senators do not bother to participate.

1899 National Consumers League is formed with Florence Kelley as its president. The League organizes women to use their power as consumers to push for better working conditions and protective laws for women workers.

1900 Two-thirds of divorce cases are initiated by the wife; a century earlier, most women lacked the right to sue and were hopelessly locked into bad marriages.

1909 Women garment workers strike in New York for better wages and working conditions in the Uprising of the 20,000. Over 300 shops eventually sign union contracts.

1912 Juliette Gordon Low founds first American group of Girl Guides, in Atlanta, Georgia. Later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA, the organization brings girls into the outdoors, encourages their self-reliance and resourcefulness, and prepares them for varied roles as adult women.

1913 Alice Paul and Lucy Burns organize the Congressional Union, which later becomes the National Women's Party. Members picket the White House and engage in other forms of civil disobedience, drawing public attention to the suffrage cause.

1914 Margaret Sanger calls for legalization of contraceptives in her new, feminist publication, The Woman Rebel, which the Post Office bans from the mails.

1917 During WWI women move into many jobs working in heavy industry in mining, chemical manufacturing, automobile and railway plants. They also run street cars, conduct trains, direct traffic, and deliver mail.

1917 Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first woman elected to the US Congress.

1919 The House of Representatives passes the women's suffrage amendment, 304 to 89; the Senate passes it with just two votes to spare, 56 to 25.

1921 Margaret Sanger organizes the American Birth Control League, which becomes Federation of Planned Parenthood in 1942.

1923 Supreme Court strikes down a 1918 minimum-wage law for District of Columbia women because, with the vote, women are considered equal to men. This ruling cancels all state minimum wage laws.

1933 Frances Perkins, the first woman in a Presidential cabinet, serves as Secretary of Labor during the entire Roosevelt presidency.

1941 A massive government and industry media campaign persuades women to take jobs during the war. Almost 7 million women respond, 2 million as industrial "Rosie the Riveters" and 400,000 join the military.

1945 Women industrial workers begin to lose their jobs in large numbers to returning service men, although surveys show 80% want to continue working.

1957 The number of women and men voting is approximately equal for the first time.

1960 The Food and Drug Administration approves birth control pills.

1960 Women now earn only 60 cents for every dollar earned by men, a decline since 1955. Women of color earn only 42 cents.

1963 The Equal Pay Act, proposed twenty years earlier, establishes equal pay for men and women performing the same job duties. It does not cover domestics, agricultural workers, executives, administrators or professionals.

1963 Betty Friedan's best-seller, The Feminine Mystique, detailed the "problem that has no name." Five million copies are sold by 1970, laying the groundwork for the modern feminist movement.

1964 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act bars employment discrimination by private employers, employment agencies, and unions based on race, sex, and other grounds. To investigate complaints and enforce penalties, it establishes the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which receives 50,000 complaints of gender discrimination in its first five years.

1966 In response to EEOC inaction on employment discrimination complaints, twenty-eight women found the National Organization for Women to function as a civil rights organization for women.

1968 New York Radical Women garner media attention to the women's movement when they protest the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City.

1968 The first national women's liberation conference is held in Chicago.

1968 The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) is founded.

1968 National Welfare Rights Organization is formed by activists such as Johnnie Tillmon and Etta Horm. They have 22,000 members by 1969, but are unable to survive as an organization past 1975.

1968 Shirley Chisholm (D-NY) is first Black woman elected to the US Congress.

1970 Women's wages fall to 59 cents for every dollar earned by men. Although nonwhite women earn even less, the gap is closing between white women and women of color.

1970 The Equal Rights Amendment is reintroduced into Congress.

1973 Billie Jean King scores an enormous victory for female athletes when she beats Bobby Riggs in "The tennis tournament watched by nearly 48,000,000 people."

1973 The first battered women's shelters open in the US, in Tucson, Arizona and St. Paul, Minnesota.

1973 In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court establishes a woman's right to abortion, effectively canceling the anti-abortion laws of 46 states.

1974 MANA, the Mexican-American Women's National Association, organizes as feminist activist organization. By 1990, MANA chapters operate in 16 states; members in 36.

1974 Hundreds of colleges are offering women's studies courses. Additionally, 230 women's centers on college campuses provide support services for women students.

1975 The first women's bank opens, in New York City.

1978 For the first time in history, more women than men enter college.

1981 At the request of women's organizations, President Carter proclaims the first "National Women's History Week," incorporating March 8, International Women's Day.

1981 Sandra Day O'Connor is the first woman ever appointed to the US Supreme Court. In 1993, she is joined by Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

1984 Geraldine Ferraro is the first woman vice-presidential candidate of a major political party (Democratic Party).

1990 The number of Black women in elective office has increased from 131 in 1970 to 1,950 in 1990.

1992 Women are now paid 71 cents for every dollar paid to men. The range is from 64 cents for working-class women to 77 cents for professional women with doctorates. Black women earned 65 cents, Latinas 54 cents.

1993 Take Our Daughters to Work Day debuts, designed to build girls self-esteem and open their eyes to a variety of careers.

1996 US women's spectacular success in the Summer Olympics (19 gold medals, 10 silver, 9 bronze) is the result of large numbers of girls and women active in sports since the passage of Title IX.

Genocide among African Women-The face of HIV

Genocide among African women is growing at such a rapid pace. As I read, Ancestors Stone my heart went to these various women that have endured so much over the years. While reading the book my mind couldn't help to think about the silent killer among African women.

Three quarters of African women between the ages of 15-24 are infected with HIV. Here is one story:

There are days when Mary Mwasi does not know where she will find the strength to get out of bed. But sickness, exhaustion and despair will not feed the children or fetch the water, and so, somehow, she wills herself erect and steps into the sunlight of another Kenyan morning. "I have to look for food for the children day by day," she told a counselor for the US charity World Vision. "Life is difficult. Unless I get help from well-wishers, we cannot afford to eat."

Like many other residents of Ghaza, a village near the port city of Mombasa, Mrs. Mwasi is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. At least one of her three children is also HIV-positive and the others are often ill -- whether from the disease or malnutrition, she cannot be sure. Her husband left in search of work two years ago and never came back, so she lives on sufferance on her in-laws' land -- fearful that they will learn of her condition and expel her from the community. Her only financial assets are a few chickens, held in reserve to buy medicine for the kids.

She knows there is no hope for her. Her concern is for her children. "We say, 'When you pour water on the ground, you cannot pick it up again,'" Mary told the counselor. "I did not think of so many things before, so many worries. I am trying to leave everything to God."

As HIV/AIDS enters its third calamitous decade, Mary Mwasi's plight has become tragically common in East and Southern Africa, the regions hit hardest by the global epidemic. With 10 per cent of the world's population, impoverished sub-Saharan Africa is home to two-thirds of its HIV-positive population. But it is only recently that doctors, governments and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)* have realized that not only does the global struggle against AIDS have an African face, it is increasingly the face of an African woman. As infection rates mount, scientists and researchers are scrambling to understand the causes and to fashion new policies and programmes in response.

That is one Mary out of thousands. Each day many women have to make a decision to get medication, food or go without nothing. Why in a country so people died to get to we have women that are dying of HIV? Why do we have people fighting a war in Iraq, but not the war against HIV in Africa? Why can we go over take their land, people, customs, and traditions but we can't get over there to give them medicine?

www.un.org
www.avert.org

Resources for women living with HIV:

CDC-Info
Phone: 1-800-CDC-INFO
TTY: 188-232-6348
24hours/Day
Email: cdcinfo@cdc.gov

International Women's Health Coalition
333 Seventh Avenue,6th floor
New York, NY 10001

Women Alive
1566 Burnside Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90019
Phone: 323-965-1564
Hot line: 1-800-554-4876

Am I woman

Female circumcision, the partial or total cutting away of the external female genitalia, has been practiced for centuries in parts of Africa, generally as one element of a rite of passage preparing young girls for womanhood and marriage. Often performed without anesthetic under septic conditions by lay practitioners with little or no knowledge of human anatomy or medicine, female circumcision can cause death or permanent health problems as well as severe pain. Despite these grave risks, its practitioners look on it as an integral part of their cultural and ethnic identity, and some perceive it as a religious obligation.

Ancestors Stones focused on the African women sometimes the forgotten people. It's hard to think about the women when men are such the fore front of every story. When you think about it African women and African American women have struggle within their family and outside their family. women have to go through the traumatic even of getting their female sex organ cut off as a right of passage. Here in America, African American women still head many of the single family homes and yet we have the leading cause of Aids. African women are sold to the highest bidder to be someone bride without any suggestions for them. Once they are with their husband they are subjected to beatings, humiliation, taking care of the kids and her husband. Many of these women are one in many wives. So their place in subjective to a number not your name. The women will always be known as the third or fourth wife.

When does tradition turn into abuse? It is easy to write off what these women have gone through has part of their culture but isn't some of it inhumane? Does any one deserves to get beat because of their culture? Does anyone deserves to not make a decision because it is part of their culture?

Free Mandela

Free Mandela! That was the slogan we heard throughout the late 80's. Shouting the slogan as a young African American I didn't know what I was shouting. I just saw many Africans, African Americans local and country wide shouting the slogans day in day out. So I thought it was the thing to do. Not knowing exactly what it stood for or meant it just sounding cool as people walked through the streets and pumped their fist in the air. Who was the person that people wanted free?

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in Transkei, South Africa on July 18, 1918. His father was Chief Henry Mandela of the Tembu Tribe. Mandela himself was educated at University College of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand and qualified in law in 1942. He joined the African National Congress in 1944 and was engaged in resistance against the ruling National Party's apartheid policies after 1948. He went on trial for treason in 1956-1961 and was acquitted in 1961.After the banning of the ANC in 1960, Nelson Mandela argued for the setting up of a military wing within the ANC. In June 1961, the ANC executive considered his proposal on the use of violent tactics and agreed that those members who wished to involve themselves in Mandela's campaign would not be stopped from doing so by the ANC. This led to the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe. Mandela was arrested in 1962 and sentenced to five years' imprisonment with hard labour. In 1963, when many fellow leaders of the ANC and the Umkhonto we Sizwe were arrested, Mandela was brought to stand trial with them for plotting to overthrow the government by violence. His statement from the dock received considerable international publicity. On June 12, 1964, eight of the accused, including Mandela, were sentenced to life imprisonment. From 1964 to 1982, he was incarcerated at Robben Island Prison, off Cape Town; thereafter, he was at Pollsmoor Prison, nearby on the mainland.During his years in prison, Nelson Mandela's reputation grew steadily. He was widely accepted as the most significant black leader in South Africa and became a potent symbol of resistance as the anti-apartheid movement gathered strength. He consistently refused to compromise his political position to obtain his freedom.Nelson Mandela was released on February 11, 1990. After his release, he plunged himself wholeheartedly into his life's work, striving to attain the goals he and others had set out almost four decades earlier. In 1991, at the first national conference of the ANC held inside South Africa after the organization had been banned in 1960, Mandela was elected President of the ANC while his lifelong friend and colleague, Oliver Tambo, became the organisation's National Chairperson.

Mandela a household name like Martin Luther King was influential leader in the African community. It was imprison for speaking against injustice. Just like our leaders in the African American community injustice was their platform and they were willing to go to the extreme to fight against it. Mandela was such a strong figure that I don't think people realized when there were shouting the Free Mandela what it stood for.

Life After Leopold

(mother at the spot where her son was found hanging from a tree)

Reading the book was gut wrenching and sad. The disregard for human life is sicken. Slavery is not over. Yes in the legal sense we can't just go after another culture and take them and make them do things against their will. It is 2008, we have domestic violence where women are held captive by their mate mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Sometimes rape and torture by someone that they knew and loved. What about all the gang violence and black on black crime just killing one another over a pair of sneakers or a dollar trying to get to the American Dream, what about human trafficking? Women and girls taking from the home under false pretenses that will become a model or actress and sold in the sex game. What is the hot commodity in all of these, the human being, the human soul. What price does one have to pay to get to the top? Or to be in control?

Approximately 33 million1 or 15% of all U.S. adults, admit that they were a victim of domestic violence. Furthermore, 6 in 10 adults claim that they know someone personally who has experienced domestic violence.

Among all adults, 39% say that they have experienced at least one of the following, with 54% saying that they haven’t experienced any:
Called bad names (31%)
Pushing, slapping, choking or hitting (21%)
Public humiliation (19%)
Keeping away from friends or family (13%)
Threatening your family (10%)
Forcing you to have sexual intercourse without consent (9%)

On the average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every day.1
92% of women say that reducing domestic violence and sexual assault should be at the top of any formal efforts taken on behalf of women today.2
1 out of 3 women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime.3
1 in 5 female high school students reports being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner. Abused girls are significantly more likely to get involved in other risky behaviors. They are 4 to 6 times more likely to get pregnant and 8 to 9 times more likely to have tried to commit suicide.3
1 in 3 teens report knowing a friend or peer who has been hit, punched, slapped, choked or physically hurt by his/her partner.4
As many as 324,000 women each year experience intimate partner violence during their pregnancy. 5
Violence against women costs companies $72.8 million annually due to lost productivity.6
Ninety-four percent of the offenders in murder-suicides were male.7
Seventy-four percent of all murder-suicides involved an intimate partner(spouse, common-law spouse, ex-spouse, or boyfriend/girlfriend). Of these, 96 percent were females killed by their intimate partners.7
Most murder-suicides with three or more victims involved a "family annihilator" -- a subcategory of intimate partner murder-suicide.Family annihilators are murderers who kill not only their wives/girlfriends and children, but often other family members as well,before killing themselves.7
Seventy-five percent of murder-suicides occurred in the home.7

Life after the Congo: we are still losing more women to domestic violence than we did during the slave trade. It seems as if we are going backwards not forwards.

National Domestic Violence Hot line: 1-800-879-SAFE

BLACK ON BLACK CRIME STATISTICS

While African Americans comprise 12% of the U.S. population, 45% of all murder victims in 2002 were African American, 91% of whom were killed by African Americans. Nationally, homicide is the leading cause of death for black men and second leading cause of death for black women ages 15-24. There have been over 250 homicides reported over the last 5-6 years in Pulaski County. United States spends an average of over $4.5 billion on emergency and physical/occupational therapy associated with crime-related injuries/deaths.

No matter how we slice it someone is still making money off the black man's death or destruction. Think about what 4.5 billion dollars could of did for the schools?

Life after the Congo is a little scary we took away the slave ships and replaced it with guns, verbal and physical abuse just to get to where we think we need to be.

http://www.pauljusticepage.com/ Geonicide of the black male

Congo

Reading the book, was an emotional journey. It always takes me back to why? Why did the Europeans come over and take these people from their home and forced them to live in such a inhumane way? Why was Africa the target out of all countries and cities in this world why target them? Even before the Europeans came over the Africa Kings were trading slaves as well. No matter how many times you read and study books on slavery and the conditions it still brings up some k emotions. Millions of Africans lost their lives on this journey and for what? It was all because of greed and power in the end. People found a new way to make some money and unfortunately people were the commodity and they risk alot for others to make some money.

Today what is so different? Nothing, people are driven by the same evil monster to make a quick dollar. They are willing to exploit belittle and killed sometimes to make money. Everyone is waiting for the new get rich quick scheme or plan. They are willing to kill their wife for the insurance money, make young people a slave to drugs to make money, or sell their own soul to the devil for the money. Just as long as they are comfortable people have little regard for human life.

Much hasn't change yeah we are not bound physical by shackles and chains, but we are mentally. That is what is worst the physical chains we can remove how can change are way of thinking?

Kola Nuts

Kola Nut
Kola nuts (or cola nuts) are the seed pods of various evergreen trees that are native to Africa; Sterculiaceae cola vera is the scientific name of the most common species. The kola nut trees, which grow as tall as 60 feet (18 meters), are most common in Western Africa.

Kola nuts are important in many African societies, particularly in Western Africa. Besides the fact that Kola nuts contain caffeine and act as a stimulant and anti-depressant, they are also thought to reduce fatigue and hunger, aid digestion, and work as an aphrodisiac. Kola nuts can be found in soft drinks such as Coca Cola. In some parts of Africa, kola nuts are given as gifts to visitors entering a home, usually with some formal ceremony. Offering the kola nut is a gesture of friendship and hospitality.

Breaking the Kola nut with friends and family is like passing the peace pipe in Native American cultural or breaking bread in other cultures. It is ritual of bringing people together. Sounds familiar? Many family and cultural tradition involved food and a gathering of people. Food does bring people together. If we think about our heritage and different cultural we can think of many ways of people coming together, solving problems, celebrating, grieving all over food.

In the book, the Kola Nut was the meeting ground for the different tribes. Everything was centered around the Kola Nut. In the book, major decisions wasn't made until the kola nut was broken. It is like the Kola Nut was a center of piece for the moment. If we think back after we have had a good meal or drink we are a little calm down and able to make more rational decisions then on an empty stomach.

Things fall Apart

I am so intrigued by the book. I love learning about other cultures. This is my first time reading anything from Achebe and did a good job depicted the African villages. One thing that pulled at my heart was the constant of mention of babies dying and killing kids. As a mother I couldn't grasp my mind around losing a child or even sacrificing a child for a purpose. Not by any means downing their culture, but I couldn't understand why. It kind of made me think with many African Americans calling to go back to their motherland and their roots could they honestly make it in their culture?

I was also intrigued by the way the wives and other women all knew their role and what position they played. It is interested to read about a man having many wives. I wonder how the women felt about being part of a triad or a quad of women. I guess you only know what you are raised with. One thing that did seem cruel was the beating of the women. I know that may be protocol, but that is a little inhumane to constantly beat on your wife, and their are certain times when you couldn't. It goes back to every society or clan is different.

The missionaries that came into the village. Why? Why disrupt the village by trying to convert them to a religion that they wanted. I was disturb with that. Why did he feel it was necessary to come into the village and tell them there way of believing was wrong and they were going to hell. It frustrates me so bad when people try to put their beliefs onto someone else. The people were in the village not bothering anyone and he comes disrupting their natural order of things. If someone wanted to worship a tree and their foot why is that people's business. They found something that works for them. When it comes to religion if you are not following the mainstream religion then you are destine to go to hell. Just leave people alone

Another topic that was introduced in the novel was the idea of polygamy. Many religions and cultures have embraced polygamy and it is not a foreign concept. One of the most popular and followed religion, Islam, has permitted polygamy among their believers.

Polygamy in the Quran
The Muslim scripture, the Quran, is the only known world scripture to explicitly limit polygamy and place strict restrictions upon its practice:
“… marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with them, then only one.” (Quran 4:3)
The Quran limited the maximum number of wives to four. In the early days of Islam, those who had more than four wives at the time of embracing Islam were required to divorce the extra wives. Islam further reformed the institution of polygamy by requiring equal treatment to all wives. The Muslim is not permitted to differentiate between his wives in regards to sustenance and expenses, time, and other obligations of husbands. Islam does not allow a man to marry another woman if he will not be fair in his treatment. Prophet Muhammad did not tolerate discrimination between the wives or between their children.

Also, marriage and polygamy in Islam is a matter of mutual consent. No one can force a woman to marry a married man. Islam simply permits polygamy; it neither forces nor requires it. Besides, a woman may stipulate that her husband must not marry any other woman as a second wife in her prenuptial contract. The point that is often misunderstood in the West is that women in other cultures - especially African and Islamic - do not necessarily look at polygamy as a sign of women’s degradation.
Even though we see the clear permissibility of polygamy in Islam, its actual practice is quite rare in many Muslim societies. Most Muslim men feel they cannot afford the expense of maintaining more than one family. Even those who are financially capable of looking after additional families are often reluctant due to the psychological burdens of handling more than one wife.

Being a Muslim woman I will not enter into a relationship with a man and another woman. I feel as if I will not be able to handle the burden of my husband juggling two women. I know Muslims women that are in polygamist relationship I don't know if they are happier or not. I do know that is not for everyone and I do not condone nor condemn anyone that wants to practice polygamy.

www.islamicity.com/mosque/w_islam/poly.htm

Yoruba

The Yoruba (Yo•row•ba) are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. Many people speak the Yoruba language. The Yoruba found mostly in Nigera consist of 21 percent of the population.



Yoruba shares borders with other villages such as the Borgu, the Nupe and the Ebria, and the Igala and other related groups are found in the northeast.



The philosophy of Yorùbá (also known as Irunmole, Ifa, Orisha or Aborisha) is that all humans have Ayanmo (manifest destiny) to become one in spirit with Olódùmarè (Olòrún, the divine creator and source of all energy). Each person in Ayé (the physical realm) uses thought or action to impact the community of all other living things including the Earth, and so to move towards destiny. As such, one's destiny is in one's hands. To attain transcendence and destiny in Òrún-Réré (spiritual realm of those who do good and beneficial things), one's Orí-Inu (spiritual consciousness in the physical realm) must be elevated to unify with one's Iponri (Orí Òrún). Those who stop improving are destined for Òrún-Apadi (spiritual realm of the forsaken). Life and death are cycles of habitation in physical body and spiritual realms while one's spirit evolves toward transcendence. This evolution is most advanced in Irùnmolẹ (oní irun, of the unique hair that distinguishes humans from beasts; imo, enlightened of destiny, ilẹ on the land)



For most people, iwapẹlẹ (balanced culture), meditation strengthen one's Orí-Inu. One is able to gbadúra (pray) for support of the Egungun (one's elevated ancestors) or the Orí-Òrún for the tools of the Odu (knowledge of all ages) to one's benefit. Those with strong motivation to acheived a fulfilling destiny may consult Orunmila through Ifá (divination sciences) and ẹbò (offering). In invoking the Orunmila so directly, care is required to ensure alignment of thought and action. The Orunmila brings into motion either Oríṣà (benevolent or angelic forces) or Ajẹ (malevolent or demonic forces). All communication with the Òrún is energized by invoking Àṣẹ (the essence of Olódùmarè that gives life to all). Àṣẹ is delivered by Ẹlégbara (Eṣu, the divine messenger) who, without distortion or partiality for good or for bad, negotiates communication to the Òrún and navigates Òrún forces to the Ayé.n western Nigeria, there are also substantial indigenous Yoruba communities in the Republic of Benin, Ghana and Togo



Yoruba (native name èdè Yorùbá, 'the Yoruba language') is a dialect of West Africa with over 25 million speakers. The native tongue of the approximately 40 million Yoruba people, it is spoken, among other languages, in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. Apart from referring to the aggregate of dialects and their speakers, the term Yoruba is used for the standard, written form of the language. Yoruba is classified as a Niger-Congo language of the Yoruboid branch of Defoid, Benue-Congo. Yoruba is the third most spoken native African language.


The Yoruba are rich in heritage, cultural and spirit. This was a fascinating group to research on. It enlightens me to know the many groups that are in Africa and all are so different.



Source: Online Encyclopedia. www.en.wikipedia.org










Months in Yoruba calendar:
Months in Gregorian calendar:
Sere
January
Erele
February
Erena
March
Igbe
April
Ebibi
May
Okudu
June
Agemo
July
Ogun
August
Owere (Owewe)
September
Owara (Owawa)
October
Belu
November
Ope
December