PHOTOGRAPHS THAT HAVE CHANGED THE WORLD

Starving Boy and Missionary by Mike Wells, 1980

World Press Photo of the Year: 1980 Mike Wells, United Kingdom. Karamoja district, Uganda, April 1980. Starving boy and a missionary. About the image Wells felt indignant that the same publication that sat on his picture for five months without publishing it, while people were dying, entered it into a competition. He was embarrassed to win as he never entered the competition himself, and was against winning prizes with pictures of people starving to death.

Biafra By Don McCullin, 1969

When the Igbos of eastern Nigeria declared themselves independent in 1967, Nigeria blockaded their fledgling country-Biafra. In three years of war, more than one million people died, mainly of hunger. In famine, children who lack protein often get the disease kwashiorkor, which causes their muscles to waste away and their bellies to protrude. War photographer Don McCullin drew attention to the tragedy. "I was devastated by the sight of 900 children living in one camp in utter squalor at the point of death," he said. "I lost all interest in photographing soldiers in action." The world community intervened to help Biafra, and learned key lessons about dealing with massive hunger exacerbated by war-a problem that still defies simple solutions.

Lynching by Bettman/Corbis, 1930

A mob of 10,000 whites took sledgehammers to the county jailhouse doors to get at these two young blacks accused of raping a white girl; the girl’s uncle saved the life of a third by proclaiming the man’s innocence. Although this was Marion, Ind., most of the nearly 5,000 lynchings documented between Reconstruction and the late 1960s were perpetrated in the South. (Hangings, beatings and mutilations were called the sentence of “Judge Lynch.”) Some lynching photos were made into postcards designed to boost white supremacy, but the tortured bodies and grotesquely happy crowds ended up revolting as many as they scared. Today the images remind us that we have not come as far from barbarity as we’d like to think.

The first day of Dorothy Counts at the Harry Harding High School in the United States . Counts was one of the first black students admitted in the school, and she was no longer able to stand the harassments after 4 days, 1957.

Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963

Martin Luther King, Jr. raised his arms as he addressed the crowd in his “I Have a Dream” speech in August 1963. His performance there, and the subsequent photos of the crowds and his address, were a turning point in the blossoming civil rights movement.

Sudanese Child With a Vulture by Kevin Carter, 1994

This Pulitzer Prize-winning picture of a vulture waiting to feed on a dying toddler in Sudan summed up the cruelty of the famine in Sudan. It also, famously, highlighted the plight of the photographer; within three months of gaining recognition for this photograph, Kevin Carter committed suicide.

Kids who are shocked by the civil war in Angola, 1996.

A man who was tortured by the soldiers since he was suspected to have spoken with the Tutsi rebels, 1994.

A mother in Somalia holds the body of her child who died of hunger, 1992.

Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Massery by Will Counts, 1957

Elizabeth Eckford was one of the first black students admitted to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. This photo shows her grueling walk to class while being shouted at by white student Hazel Massery. Although Massery would later express regret for her actions, the photo showed the nation and the world the heated strife in the Southern United States.

DOCUMENTARY: RETURN TO AFRICA'S WITCH CHILDREN

I wanted to broaden the type of studying and research that I've been doing lately; I basically want to, in a sense, stop playing it safe and just journey out to places, topics and issues that I've never really heard or know much about. I came across a documentary that really struck my attention, a documentary about witchcraft and the African traditions behind such issues. This documentary discusses the results of children being accused of being witches, how they are tortured because of this and how they are supposed to overcome this by turning to religion. As seen in this documentary, the children who are accused of witchery are beaten, tortured and shunned by their family because of these accusations. This again is hitting a soft spot for me, especially when seeing the aftermath of these children getting tortured; their scars, both emotional and physical, which will be with them forever. Return to Africa's Witch Children can be viewed here, a documentary which dares to explore the fragile issue of child abuse while exposing the deepest and oldest traditions of the African culture.

This film shows a part of an African tradition, of culture and how much it differs from my own beliefs and culture. The narrator said something that really stuck with me after watching it, she said, "Traditional African belief has it that nothing happens for natural reasons in life, any ill fortunes is the work of witches." For some reason, I couldn't get this sentence out of my head, mainly because I believe that things happen for a reason, that in the end of everything, there are certain reasons why something has happened to you. However, I never thought this to be the works of witches or a higher power, I just never really thought why or how this happens but that it is just something I believe because of evidence from my own life.

"2008 Emmy Award-winning Dispatches story of an estimated 15,000 children in Africa’s Niger Delta being denounced by Christian pastors as witches and wizards and then killed, tortured or abandoned by their own families. Two-and-a-half-year-old Ellin is one such child. Found at the side of the road, her body having been severely burnt with boiling water. Nwanakwo, eight years old, had acid poured over him after being labeled a wizard, and later died. Return to Africa’s Witch Children is a documentary that follows the work of Gary Foxcroft, an Englishman whose charity, Stepping Stones, raises funds to help care for more than 150 children accused of witchcraft, and blamed for catastrophes, death and famine. Narrated by Sophie Okonedo."

SEX TRAFFICKING IN AFRICA

I found some interesting websites that have information/articles on sex trafficking in Africa.

In Africa, Sex Trafficking is a River:
http://humantrafficking.change.org/blog/view/in_west_africa_sex_trafficking_is_a_river

South Africa's Child Sex Trafficking Nightmare:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1037215.stm

Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery:
http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/SouthAfrica.htm

Vital Voices:
http://www.vitalvoices.org/

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

I never really thought more of Martin Luther King, Jr. than him being the Black activist who gave a famous speech with the words "I have a dream" in it. I watched his full "I Have a Dream" speech given on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. just recently and I began to think how his words can relate to the things I have been studying and researching. His speech, for me, meant equality not just among races, but for all. He represents such a powerful message and meaning to people who have struggled with their identity, with learning to accept who they are and not being concerned with other people's ideas and thoughts. Here are some excerpts from his speech that really spoke to me:

"But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land."
__________________________________________________________

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
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"Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children."
___________________________________________________________

"It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges."
____________________________________________________________

"And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

These quotes remind me of what I have been studying; a peace among people, a voice for people who have been treated unjustly because of their skin colour and a comfort in knowing that you are not alone. I feel like this relates a lot to what K'Naan preaches in his songs; the true meaning of the 'African way', of what these people have gone through, how they are living through it today and the effects of their history. Like I have said before, I have become so obsessed with K'Naan so I obviously had to work him into this post somehow. Here's his website to check out.

"I Have a Dream"
Martin Luther King, Jr.
August 28, 1963

*This website here has the full speech, along with a video of it as well.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

A mother in Somalia holds the body of her child who died of hunger, 1992.

• WORLD HUNGER/POVERTY FACTS AND STATISTICS

• AFRICA HUNGER

• IMAGES OF WORLD HUNGER

MODERN SLAVERY

Here's an interesting clip from part of a documentary that my West African class watched. This is about slavery in the cocoa industry (discussed in a previous post) and really shows how much people are still involved in slavery, even though people may think that it doesn't exist in society today as much as in the past.

AFRICAN CINEMA

I began learning about African Cinema last year in one of my Film classes, so you can't imagine the excitement I felt when I saw that we would be learning about Africa in my Film class. Combing my one passion, Film, with another, Africa, equals a lot of fun for me. What some people may confuse with this term (that I learned last year) is that African Cinema is completely different than just a film being ABOUT Africa. There are characteristics of an African film which make it part of African Cinema. The films which stem from African Cinema are those which dig deep into African tradition, so the viewers have a deeper understanding of the values and culture of the African way. You can see a list of African films by clicking here.

Ousmane Sembene, one of the most famous directors coming from Senegal, known as the 'Father of African Film, was praised for his film La noire de... (Black Girl in English) and was the first African Cinema film to be recognized internationally. Although a short film (about sixty minutes), it contains a very powerful message about women in Africa, the pride in one's own country and the struggles that occurred within these people. The ending of the film has its most value to me, where it seems that everything comes together and the viewer is left with feeling a bit of uneasiness but also some kind of satisfaction in knowing that Diouana's life will not be forgotten (this is shown when the little boy is following the French man who employed her). The ending of the film can be seen here and also a summary of the film's plot can be found here.

Another one of Sembene's films is Moolaade made in 2004, a more modern film in comparison to Black Girl which was filmed in 1966. This film deals with the issues and struggles of women within an African community, mainly with female genital mutilation and the power of the women who disagreed with this happening to their daughters and other people's daughters. Moolaade stays true to the characteristics of African Cinema; it deals with showing major issues of women in African tribes and also gives the background and culture of African people. The trailer for this film can be seen by clicking here and a more detailed summary of the film can be found here.

What I find most intriguing about African Cinema is that it is something that is completely on its own, it is something that shows to the rest of the world what is actually going on in Africa because these films come from a point of view of directors who live or have lived in this continent. Africa Cinema IS Africa; it is everything that people are too ignorant to discover more about, it is something that shows the true meaning of what it means to be African, what the struggles and issues are, what the traditions are and most importantly, who these people are.

JACKIE KAY

Looking at more works from Jackie Kay, a Scottish poet with a Nigerian background, I understand more now about her motivation to share her history and who she is with the world. I feel like that speaks a lot for someone to be able to discover who they are, what their background is, where they have come from and then express their feelings and thoughts by writing literature. I found a video of her reading some of her poems and that can be found by clicking here.

Kay has won many awards for her works and I was rattled to see that she did not win an award for her dramatized poem, The Lamplighter, which I found to be very moving and eye-opening. This poem was completely worth the two hours it took to listen to and I highly recommend listening to it and not reading it. The emotion, pain, suffering and darkness from the characters (the women) make the poem what it is and it would be hard to experience how incredible and moving this poem truly is without the audio behind it. This poem cannot be found anywhere online (or so I believe) and if you wish to listen to it, I recommend spending the money to purchase this item online.

I found a poem by Kay that I really enjoy and feel like it ties in with what she preaches most about:

That Distance Apart

I am only nineteen
My whole life is changing

Tonight I see her
Shuttered eyes in my dreams

I cannot pretend she's never been
My stitches pull and threaten to snap

My own body a witness
Leaking blood to sheets milk to shirts

My stretch marks
Record that birth

Though I feel like somebody is dying

I stand up in my bed
And wail like a banshee

II
On the second night
I shall suffocate her with a feather pillow

Bury her under a weeping willow
Or take her far out to sea

And watch her tiny six pound body
Sink to shells and re shape herself

So much better than her body
Encased in glass like a museum piece

Or I shall stab myself
Cut my wrists steal some sleeping pills

Better than this-mummified
Preserved as a warning

III
On the third night I toss
I did not go through those months

For you to die on me now
On the third night I lie

Willing life into her
Breathing air all the way down through the corridor

To the glass cot
I push my nipples through

Feel the ferocity of her lips

IV
Here
Landed in a place I recognize

My eyes in the mirror
Hard marbles glinting

Murderous light
My breasts sag my stomach

Still soft as a baby's
My voice deep and old as ammonite

I am a stranger visiting
Myself occasionally

An empty ruinous house
Cobwebs dust and broken stairs

Inside woodworm
Outside the weeds grow tall

As she must be now

V
She, my little foreigner
No longer familiar with my womb

Kicking her language of living
Somewhere past stalking her first words

She is six years old today
I am twenty-five; we are only

That distance apart yet
Time has fossilised

Prehistoric time is easier
I can imagine dinosaurs

More vivid than my daughter
Dinosaurs do not hurt my eyes

Nor make me old so terribly old
We are land sliced and torn

There's an interesting website here where you can listen to recordings of her poems and then also just find out some more information about this extraordinary woman.

"A poem is a little moment of belief." - Jackie Kay

IN THE BEGINNING

About a month or so ago I was introduced to sing/songwriter K'Naan, a man who is a voice for people in Africa. I was really taken back by his songs, more specifically, his lyrics and ever since I started listening to him, I can't stop. I have never in my life experienced music in this type of way; his songs have put the emotional experience of music on a whole new level for me. I feel like it's something that I can't really explain, something that someone has to be able to experience for themselves.

One of my favourite songs on K'Naan's album, The Dusty Foot Philosopher is "In the Beginning". This is one of those songs that the music has just as much meaning as the lyrics; the music in no way takes away from the lyrics and their meaning, but heightens the overall effect of the song. The lyrics can be found here and the video here.I strongly urge you to listen to the song first, get a feel for it, make your own assumptions about it and then take a deeper look by looking at the lyrics. I will leave you with my favourite passage from this song:

They say it's better to light a candle than to curse the dark
In the eyes of the youth there are question marks
Like freedom
Freedom for the mind and soul
We don't see them
See them for their worth at all
That's why we lead them
Lead them to these wars and what is it we feed them
Feed them our impurities and who it is we treat them
Treat them like the enemy humanity will need them
Need them like the blood we spill and we're freedom
Freedom for the hearts we fill
Mislead them
They hunger for the love we give
But we cheat them
The cops beat them when all he wants is his freedom
So they defeat them
Whatever spirit he's got
Beat them
And they teach them that the rest of the world don't need him
And he believes it's a disease that he's heathen
Put up your fists if all you want is freedom

CHILD LABOUR

After watching the documentary, Child Slavery, which was stumbled upon after viewing another documentary concerning slavery within the cocoa industry, I found that this documentary really pulled at my heartstrings because of its content and because I have a soft spot for children. I wanted to get some background information on child slavery and what the status of this is today and upon doing so, I found this interesting fact chart:

The thing that strikes me the most, as I'm sure it will for other people is that number: 218 million, 218 million children in the world who are being exposed to this life every single day, 218 children who have not experienced childhood, 218 million children who have had their lives taken away from them, 218 million children who know nothing other than the life they are living. Along with this, 22, 000 children who die in work related accidents every year, 22, 000 children who die, 22, 000. It completely boggles my mind that things like this happen in our world, that children have to go through this for the rest of their lives.

In this documentary, it shows boys fishing in the ocean, risking their lives for their masters who have bought them. These boys dive in the ocean, get caught in the nets, are unaware of the dangers in the water and injure themselves on a regular basis. One of the boys says, "When I go underwater, it hurts my ears. They say there's an animal in the water which kills humans so I feel anxious getting into the water." This just shows how naive this children are to the water, to the danger, to the sharks or the 'animal in the water which kills humans'.

One of the websites that I found while looking for some more imforation was Free the Children, obviously extremely popular and not any new find for most people. However, this link will show some interesting facts about child labour and its issues.

THE FIRST

There seems to be a lot of things that I have been questioning lately - more so wondering than anything else. After I finally decided to take into action what I have been talking about for so long (my love for Africa), I was opened up into a whole new and complicated world. I never thought that learning more about Africa would be such an emotional process for me, especially because I don't see myself as being a very emotional person. Since doing more research, I have come to realize how fucked up and cruel this world actually is. I see things completely different now, appreciate my life so much more and feel more educated in things that I was too afraid to learn more about in the past.

The truth is, as I am realizing more and more, people seem to be so wrapped up in their own lifestyle; in having the latest technologies, the latest fashions, making sure that they have a good reputation and things like that to even take a second look at what is going on in the world. Now, I say this as I sit typing on my laptop and sitting in my warm, comfortable bed, even though I am aware that there are people living on the streets, people getting abused, people in the sex trade, children in slavery, and so much more that exists in society today. For awhile I hated the fact that I had a life like this, as if I didn't deserve to have such a life because of what other people in the world were struggling with. What I have learned from that is this: instead of rejecting this life, be grateful and do what you can to help those who are not as fortunate.

I never really took the time to do research and study on matters such as this and now I'm finally putting aside everything that I felt I couldn't do before and I'm giving this all I can. This is the beginning of something for me, something that I never thought I would have enough courage to try and experience. This is my journey, a journey to explore the world of Africa, to share my thoughts and feelings to whoever takes the time to read this blog and most of all, a journey of finding out who I am and what my place is in this world.