South Africa HIV

The country of South Africa has gained notoriety mostly due to its racially segregated past that defined the country for a century. Today, we give recognition to this country for overcoming apartheid in a place dramatically overwhelmed by racism and hatred. We commend South Africa for taking the right steps on the path of humanity, justice, and other aspects of the modern world. Yet, South Africa is unable to dissociate itself from the primitive behavior that is eroding its stability slowly but surely. In 2005, it was found that 31 % of all pregnant women were infected with HIV, while another 20 % of adults contracted the same disease. Meanwhile, South Africa's leaders only inflamed the issue by denying the presence of HIV in order to avoid addressing such a viral problem. The disease is rooted in South Africa's most prominent social issues, mainly poverty and urban development. HIV has caused the displacement of roughly 1.2 million children, while wiping out many families' main source for economic stability in the household, thus providing a deeper hole of poverty. It also boasts the world's second highest murder rate, mostly on account of rampant poverty in the urban townships that surround South Africa's largest cities. The crime has caused a trend of suburban migration from the cities, abandoning central business districts and industrial jobs. However, what is most frightening is that South Africa is considered Africa's most progressive country.

Middle Eastern and African Books

Iqbal is the fictional account of a young boy who was sold into slavery at a carpet factory. His determination to strive for a free future changes the lives of all the other children working with him.

http://www.sonderbooks.com/ChildrensFiction/iqbal.html
http://www.powells.com/biblio/1416903291

The Storyteller's Beads by Jane Kurtz is the story of two Ethiopian refugees in the 1980's from different religions who must overcome prejudice so that both of them can reach the safety of the Red Cross.

http://books.google.com/books?id=OaTYhkvelNUC

Nigeria: Rural Life

In 2005, 52% of Nigerian citizens lived in rural areas. In 2002, 49% of rural citizens had access to improved water sources, and 30% had obtained improved sanitation. This leaves 51% of rural citizens without the substantial amount of drinkable water us Americans take advantage of each day. 70% of rural citizens are forced to use some other makeshift form of sanitation. This statistic however, is less alarming to me than the water statistic. It is one thing to say a group of people are without clean water, but proper sanitation to me goes under the category of lifestyle. Sanitation to dehydrated rural citizens of Nigeria is probably not one of the top concerns, considering the small percentage of diseases correlated with poor sanitation in Nigeria. As Americans we tend to form opinions about the economy and general well-being of other countries in relation that of our own. In the book, we read that by definition, a rural citizen of Nigeria lives in a traditional manner, which was passed down from generations ago. Are these people necessarily poor? As modern Americans we have never had to truly "fend" for ourselves. We see hunting for food and living in huts as the quintessential barbaric lifestyle. This is the lifestyle that is in place, and if we look at the second statistic, we should be comfortable to focus all help on access to fresh water rather than building infrastructure -- we would only be enforcing our accustomed lifestyle upon a group of people who have lived according to tradition for centuries. 

Post-Colonialism and Culture

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini:

This novel takes place in Afghanistan during the last 33 years of war within Afghanistan. This book is written and told  through the lives of two woman named Mariam and Laila that never had a chance to experience happiness living in  environment where there danger stood on every corner.  I don't want to give away too much, but this novel was definitely a page-turner. 

http://www.khaledhosseini.com/hosseini-books-splendidsuns.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/29/books/29kaku.html

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20038949,00.html

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe:

Just recently, I finished reading Things Fall Apart. The novel was set in Nigeria in a village called Umofia. The main character was named Okonkwo. He was very manly and feared showing any emotion. He always tried to be perfect and tried to maintain his great reputation, but in the end, he lost control of his thoughts and actions when European missionaries invaded Nigeria. 

http://www.amazon.com/Things-Fall-Apart-Chinua-Achebe/dp/0385474547

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCic_RoPhoM&feature=related

Post-Colonization Literature

1) The Kite Runner by, Khaled Hosseini
The story of a young boy Amir growing up in Afghanistan and his friendship with a boy named Hassan. They live in to completely different worlds, but fight the odds and become best friends. Then one day after Amir betrays Hassan they no longer can stay friends and Hassan and his father move to California. I loved this story and hated putting it down. It is a greatly written story while at the same time describing the history of Kabul. It also describes the fearful journey in immigrating to America from Afghanistan.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Kite-Runner/Khaled-Hosseini/e/9781594480003
http://www.curledup.com/kiterun.htm

2) Things Fall Apart by, Chinua Achebe
The tragic story of a man living in Nigeria named Okonkwo. Achebe portrays a traditional African village that is corrupted by European influence. The main conflict the reader follows is Okonkwo vs. the Europeans. In the end the Europeans drive Okonkwo to kill himself. I didn't like reading this story just because the language was so simple and everything was said so literally. There was little room for debate because everything was literally written. The story however is quite informative because it puts a name and face to European colonization in Africa.
http://wsu.edu/~brians/anglophone/achebe.html
http://www.africaspeaks.com/leslie/2808.html

3) Blood Diamond directed by, Edward Zwick
The Internet Movie Database describes it as: "A story following Archer, a man tortured by his roots. With a strong survival instinct, he has made himself a key player in the business of conflict diamonds. Political unrest is rampant in Sierra Leone as people fight tooth for tooth. Upon meeting Solomon, and the beautiful Maddy, Archer's life changes forever as he is given a chance to make peace with the war around him." This compelling story moves me and truly shows us the results of colonization in Sierra Leone.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450259/
http://movies.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/movies/08diam.html

Employment vs Population in Kenya

I investigated Kenya’s rural versus urban life. According to the CIA World Factbook about 80% of the population lives in rural areas as of 2008. However, from WHO I was able to obtain that only 58% live in rural areas. Even though these statistics are off, the numbers are still both very large. We can say that less than half of the population live in cities, while the rest live elsewhere. Of the 30 million people in Kenya about 23% are below the poverty line of earning one dollar a day as mentioned in WHO. From the textbook I was able to see that there is a 45% unemployment rate. From all of these facts I was able to derive that less than half lived in the cities, meaning that they were a bit well off in their lifestyles, while the other plus 50% were not doing so well and living in rural areas. Also from the 23% below poverty border percentage I was able to conclude that even the people that are employed (55%) a bit less than half is not earning enough money to maintain themselves. Over all I conclude that there is a little bit of people that are fine in Kenya, but over one half of the population are squalors.

Education in Kenya

Kenya has had a variety of results from the colonialism of European settlers. There is a 45% unemployment rate and 20% of the population is living below the poverty line. Kenya has one of the highest rate of population growth rates in the world. The problems are only worsened by fighting between ethnic groups and fragile political stability. So I was quite surprised when I found the following statistics. The adult literacy rate is 73.6 % compared with the 60.1 of the rest of Africa. And there is a 66% enrollment ration for primary school. Not only was this surprising because both young boys and girls have an equal enrollment rate in school, but how the education seems so prominent in a country with so much poverty and unemployment. However, unlike many other African countries, Kenya welcomed the Europeans, who brought over foreign investment and profit incentives. While many are unemployed and six of the thirty million people are squatters, the strong presence of the West provides a good explanation for the impressive educational statistics in Africa.