Here comes BENIN

This week, I will be shifting my attention from Nigeria to Benin, next to Nigeria. Just to clarify, there is a state in Nigeria called Benin (same spelling, pronounced differently) state. However, I cam referring to Benin, the country.
   
Since Benin is the country on the right of Nigeria, I thought it wise to talk about Benin this week. Please check out this cool video I found about Benin right here. You will love the immense serenity that emerges from Benin.
Yes!!. Africa is wonderful.
Thank for watching in Advance.

Also, I would like to shout out Davida Woodard for speaking extensively about injustice through her Your Voice Matters: Injustice Being Unsilenced. Here, Davida talks about many of the other injustices besides the one that is being done to Africa, which I address.

Why Nigeria? Why Not?

One may be wondering why I have spent about three weeks talking about Nigeria. Well, why not? Nigeria has in recent times been labeled as a country of violence since many negative item have in recent times, made headlines. This is because of the constant religious unrest between the two predominant religious group in the country, the Christians and the Muslims.

Also, the Nigerian government has recently passed a law for anyone who comes out or is identified as being gay to

be imprisoned for about ten years, I believe, which highlights Nigeria's stands on gay rights.

However, something else people need to know about Nigeria besides the headlines is that Nigeria has on of the fastest growing economies in Africa today. Nigerians has many beautiful natural landmarks that are far more greater than what is seen in the headlines.

Please, do not get me wrong. I am not saying that these things are not going and are not important (plus, they are entitled to make whichever laws they choose to make). I am saying that what you see is the least of Nigeria.

My purpose for talking about Nigeria is to draw your attention from the violent Nigeria you see on CNN to the beautiful Nigeria in Nigeria.

Back to Nigeria- Places to Visit

    This week, I continue with Nigeria.  I am not very familiar with Nigeria as I am with my own country, Ghana. However I must say Nigeria is the only country I am very familiar with besides Ghana. I have had to some digging and research to find the places worth visiting in Nigeria.With the movies and the music videos I have watched, Nigeria indeed has many wonderful sights worthy of the eye. You will be giving your eyes great pleasure if you are able to get them to see these beautiful sights. And so in my search, I found two videos that give a view of some places in some of the Nigerian States. The second video is even more breath-taking.  I hope you enjoy the Nigeria they do not show you on TV.

Are There Cars in Africa???

        This week, I planned on bringing you yet another interesting item from Nigeria. However, minds changed. Actually, I remembered something that happened a few months back. About five months about five months ago, a friend of mine who was fascinated by my accent and about the fact that I am a Ghanaian, told me that she had a lot of questions to ask me. Well, when she said that my mind went blank about the kind of questions she would ask me, but when she asked me the first question, I just closed my eyes, shook my head, and gave a faint giggle. 

        Her question was this: "Patience, are there cars where you come from?" "Well yes there are." I answered. "Oh really? My mom says you guys walk everywhere." She continued in disbelief. Like I said, I closed my eyes, shook my head and slightly giggled. I giggled not because of her ignorance but because of how serious she was when she asked. I explained to her gently, that indeed just as people in the United States get around here in buses,cars, and trucks, we do same in Africa. Ride in buses, mini vans, cars, trucks, motor cycles, canoes, and many other means of transportation. We do walk, but not to everywhere. 

        I understood why someone would think that because Africans walk a lot, there are no cars in African countries. In Africa, our general way of life require us to do a lot of walking. In Ghana for instance, people who are farmers, walk to their farms. These farms are usually located miles away from their homes or the main village, on paths that are not capable of accommodating any type of vehicle but human less. 

        Also, because roads in some villages are not always tared, many vehicles do not like to ply them. This makes the amount of vehicle that come to those particular places very limited. With that in mind, the people use the option of walking to their destination if it is within a walking distance of about 45 minutes to many be an hour; at most two or three hours of walking distance. The thing is, if ones body is used to doing something, doing it at a time when is it extremely necessary is not at all a problem. Even in the city, where cars, mini vans and buses literally beg you to use their services, my friend and I sometimes chose to walk about an hour to her house from school, and then I would continue to walk an extra thirty minutes to my house. We loved it. 

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Lets Talk Nigeria- Ogene Dance

        Still in mood for some music and entertainment? I would like to take you to the land of the Ibos the Yorubas, and the Hausa people.This week we are taking a stroll into Nigeria, the land enrich with overflowing oil and beauty.  Located a little above the equator and two countries away from Ghana, Nigeria is over 356, 669 square miles. This is about three times the size of Germany and six times the size of New York. From the Ibo people of Nigeria comes the Ogene dance, which i will be focusing on.

         The Ogene is a dance named after a metallic musical instrument, Ogene, that comes in a pair.Traditionally, the Ogene instrument is known to be an instrument for calling assembly and the ancestors, but clearly that is not its only use. Combined with other instrument, the Ogene instrument creats rhythms breath taking enough to shake some rigid legs.  Dancers of the Ogene dance move their legs according to the 4 step rhythm of the Ogene instrument.
       
        In the vedio is a group of students dancing the Ogene dance just to give you a peep at it. You will notice that the dancers have furry sticks in their hands. Their waists, legs, necks, and wrists are adorned with large red beads. If you are wondering why, please, do not wonder any further. It is all part of the culture. I told you. It is beautiful. So, Like I always say, as you watch this vedio, please, enjoy the Ogene coming to you from the great continent of Africa.

Some Limbs Moving Music

 Not to surprise my readers too much but this week, I have something special and very different for you. Just to give my readers a tinny taste and glimpse of some of  African music, I have selected a few of my favorite songs from some favorite artists in some countries in Africa. Even though these songs may not be entirely in English, music as they say is Universal language. I do not expect everyone to understand the language or even know the song, but I guarantee that you will love and enjoy it. It is totally fine if you cannot figure out how to dance to them. Just do whatever you can. So, as you enjoy, remember that this beautiful music is by African Artists made in Africa.  Please, do let me know if you enjoy them through your comments.

       

Success is From Within

              Once again, this week, I will be talking about something different from the normal, yet very relevant to this "campaign". During the first semester of my first year of college (it is still my first year), I watched a video in INST 150 which was a Faith, Reason and Justice class. The video was about Camden; the poverty and violence that has taken over the city. In the beginning of the video, the presenter, Diane Sawyer, said something that touched my heart so much. She said that success is measured from within.

              This touched my heart so much because what she was implying in this case was that, in order for a country to get a correct measure of how successful it is and how achieving it has been, it must first look within it self. It must asses the lives of its people- whether mostly good or mostly bad, the nature of its law systems- whether it is beneficial enough to it people, prevents the oppression of the poor, and most of all, if it brings justice. It must also asses the medical system, the educational system, and many others in order to feel accomplished.
       
               However, what I have observed in this country is the opposite.The United States rather measures its success based what other nations have and do not have. Some people in the United States look at the entire African continent and assume that because the African continent lacks certain things, the United States is way way way way better.  They then assume that we all (Africans) are poor because some parts of a few some countries in the Africa do not have schools that are conducive enough or water that is portable, and that the government is not doing anything about it. Because of this, the United States, which is one country, is better than an entire continent made up of over 50 countries.
       
              It is these same few people with this idea who forget that not all schools in the United States have environments conducive enough to support education for all student. These same people forget that there are so many things lacking in the United States as much as they are lacking in countries in Ghana, Nigeria, Congo, Niger, Tanzania, Madagascar, and all the other countries. Similarly, all countries lack something valuable and necessary. Therefore technically, no one who compares African to America or any other developed country in the world, is morally right.

From Ghana, Akwaaba.

I would like to take a slight shift from the usual. Therefore instead of addressing questions I have been approached with and issues worth of attention, this week, I would like to begin talking about the beautiful features of some African countries (Africa is a really big continent, so not all of them).

Since I am from Ghana, one of the most popular countries in Africa, known mostly of its peacefulness, I will begin with Ghana. Ghana is a country filled with many different people with different cultures and languages. Yes, within one country, there are many languages, different tribes, yet same people. Pretty cool right? This is the same for many other African countries.  

As English being its official language, Ghana has a great history and most importantly, a wonderful landscape and infrastructure, which I wish to shed more light on. To begin, in this link is a video of ex-president Kufour, showing a guest around some of the most popular landscapes and cultures in the beautiful country of Ghana.

Caves and Cavemen? Uhmm No.

In high school, I sat in class with about 19 other students. It was a very small school. Little did I know that not only one but at least half of the class did not know people in Africa do not live in caves nor on trees. During my third week in the school, one of my mates gathered enough courage and said " Patience, back home in Africa where did you live? Did you live in caves?" No I said. "Then did you must have lived on trees?", he continued. At this point more than half of the class were eagerly waiting to hear a response from me. I could not believe my ears neither could I believe my eyes.

The buildings in this image are located in
 East Legon in Accra, Ghana.

I calmed down, recovered from my shock, and calmly answered that we do not live in caves, neither do we live on tress. "We live in houses just like everyone else. Some people live in huts others live n regular houses, but neither of use live in trees nor caves." I went ahead to say. Now, they were more surprised than I had been when the question was asked earlier. They were indeed very surprised, but someone had to tell them, and I am glad they finally knew. The weirdest thing however was that I understood their ignorance and did not take too much offense to it. 

To anyone who did not know that all people on the African continent do not live in cave or in trees, it is okay. Well, not really. You should probably not make judgments or create ideas about a place, people, or a culture based on one thing the media tells you. The joy is that you now know that we live in houses so, a toast to that.

The Africa They Show

            This video is of an example of  how Africa has been reprieved to be for a very long time. Just like how advertisements have silently impacted people's ideas about what beauty is, this video has impacted people's understanding of what an African looks like. Believe me there are many many many many other videos like this. There are some that are even worse than than this. Yes, that is how bad it gets. I feel  extremely insulted just looking at the cover of this video; an obese Caucasian on one side and a sad starving African child on the other. Seriously?!!! If  you have seen this video or any other that looks like this and you are wondering if all African children are suffering from starvation, I am sorry, but you have been deceived.

             No!!! Glory be to God, this is not true. There are many people in my country in Africa, who are FAT! Yes!!! Even children. I am not kidding you, there are chubby children in Africa too. It might sound crazy if you did not know, but it really is not.  It is very heartbreaking that this is all that some people see of Africa. However, it is no fault of theirs. This is all what the media shows them about Africans and the continent itself. It therefore doesn't surprise me too much when somebody asks "is it poor where you grew up?"  

A Continent NOT a Country

 I have been approached by many different surprising and sometimes appalling images and ideas some people have about Africa. Perhaps the most surprising of them all was when someone had mentioned to me that they never knew Africa was a continent not a country. I was so surprised; no, shocked rather. I almost walked into a bar. This is what happened: a friend asked me about the language I spoke and if it was called "African". I giggled slightly and told her that there are many languages in the countries in Africa, and out of those languages I spoke only one. She turned her head sharply in disbelief. Confused, she argued that Africa was a country.

I honestly could not believe what I was hearing; "Africa, a country?" I said to myself. Unfortunately she wasn't the only one who thought Africa was not a continent. After that incident, I have come across many other people who thought Africa was a country, and I believe there are still many people out there. So just to clear the confusion, AFRICA IS NOT A COUNTRY, IT IS A CONTINENT(A RICH ONE) WITH MANY COUNTRIES IN IT!!!
On this note, I would like to welcome you to My Dear Africa. Akwaaba oo!!