Final Project- "My Plan For FGM in Africa"

For my final project I decided to create a plan to further my study of Africa. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), is one issue in Africa that I am concerned about. Learning about the harmful consequences that occur with this practice is ridiculous. I think that it is a horrible practice that shouldn't be done, because I feel it violates the human rights of women. Though my plan I hope to take part is gettting rid of this horrible practice.

Part of my plan is to take a trip to Africa. It would be very expensive to visit all the counties, so I chosen just to visit Senegal and Gambia. FGM is banned in Senegal and not in Gambia. So I am very interested in learning how it is banned in one country and not the other with them being neighbouring countries. While there I plan to visit various villages in each country and conduct interviews with key community leaders, religious leaders, chiefs and others. I also want to interview women who have had the procedure done and those who have not. I think it would help my study alot to hear how they feel about it and how it affected their lives.

Besides interviewing I will also conduct surveys. Prior to taking my trip I want to survey various people here in American and find out what they think about the practice and what they think should be done. Through these surveys I will get an idea of how many people in America actually know about FGM. I know that there will be people who are not well educated on the issue, so I will use that as an opportunity to educate them.

I'm planning to take my trip on March 7-22 of next year. The total cost of my trip will be approximatly $6,000. That is a pretty high expense but I've thought of some ways to help pay for the trip. Of course having fundrasier is one way, I'll also call/write letter to different corporations, family and friends. I know that some corporations have special programs to help individuals or groups with special missions. I may seem like alot but I think it is possible to raise a nice about to help with my expenses.

After I complete my study and trip I plan on starting a organization to help fight against FGM. The mission of my organization will be to fight against FGM until a change comes. I will develop ways to educate US families as well as those in Africa on the harmful consequences of FGM. With the information that I learned, I will organize community presentations to help generate interest. One way to help my organization prosper will be to work with other organizations/programs with the same objectives. I want to do what ever I can to end this practice.

Equality Now

Female genital mutilation is one topic and issue in Africa that I am very interesting in. This is an practice that I believe should be outlawed. My reason for saying this is because I believe it violates the human rights of women. Equality Now one of many organizations addressing the issue of FGM. The organization was founded in 1992 to work for the protection and promotion of the human rights of women around the world.

Equality now has participated in many women actions to fight against FGM. They have taken part in the enactment of a law against FGM in Mali, protested the failure to enforce the law against FGM in Tanzania, and participated in ending government censorship of the campaign to stop FGM in The Gambia just to name a few.

So other positive things that the organization has done to help address the issue of FGM, is in 1997 the created Awaken. Awaken is an forum designed to facilitate communication among activists campaigning against FGM and the exchange of information, ideas, and strategies to stop the practice. In 2000, they established the Fund for Grassroots Activism to End FGM. This basically provides funds to grassroots orgainzations working to fight FGM in their communities. I think that Equality Now is a wonderful organization making a positive impact on fighting against FGM.

Johnny Mad Dog

I can actually say that this book kept my attention the whole way through. I really enjoyed reading it, I couln't put it down. One thing that I really like about it is the way the it switches between the two characters. To me that made it alittle more easier to read. I really credit Emmanuel Dongala for that. To me this book really gave me a good picture of child soldiers. As I was reading I just couldn't believe some of the things that was going on.

First let me talk about Johnny. Maybe it was just me, but from the beginning I felt he was alittle arrogant. He had sort of a confidence like he knew everything and whatever he said was right. So that's why I really didn't like him much. Laokole's story really kept my attention. When I read about how her father was killed and what happened to her mother's legs I couldn't believe it. It was crazy to read how these people were running for their lives. One thing that I like about Laokole is that she did whatever she could to take care of her mother. I could only imagine that trauma that family along with others went through.

It's like those soldiers had know heart, they wanted to prove a point. One scene that I will not forget, is the one were the soldiers shoot that little boy while he was on his knees. I thought that was so cold blooded an innocent little boy lost his life for nothing. That was the scence that I knew that they were some cold hearted people. Overall I think this was a really good book.

Air Pollution in Africa

Air pollution in Africa is increasing and causing problems. Such problems include killing vegetations, corroding buildings, health threats, and it is a leading contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. It is a major issue for the industrial cities. Three major sources of air pollution in Africa is energy generation, industry, and transportation. The chemical emissions from these sources pollutes the air.

Indoor pollution is becoming a major concern, because of the health impact it can have on women and children. Some of the health concerns for women and children are lower respiratory infections in young children, and chronic bronchitis and emphsema in women. Lung cancer can also develop from coal smoke. These are just a few of the health concerns there are others. Many of the households in Africa rely on woody biomasses for energy, so this is were the concern for indoor pollution comes from. These biomass fuels are being burned on open stoves in poorly ventilated conditions which causes indoor pollution. More than 200 different chemicals can be found in the smoke from the open stoves. 1.6 million people are killed yearly from indoor pollution.

The way that transportation is affecting the air is due to the use of older used vehicles and the improper maintenance of vehicles. Leaded fuel is another contributor because alot the the vehicles run off of leaded gasoline. Public transportation in Sub-Saharan Africa not affordable to many residents. Walking is a major transportation source which causes them to inhale that polluted air for hours at a time. Switching to unleaded gasoline would eliminate part of the affect transporation has on the air pollution in the Continent.

The Bleeding of the Stone

I must admit, this book wasn't one of my favorites to read. Not saying it wasn't a good book, but I just didn't like it. I guess because I was expecting it to follow the flow of the other books we've read so far this semester. After class Tuesday I guess there was some what of a connection with this book to the class. One being from a religious aspect, with the Muslims and the Islamic traditions. I have taken a Religion class and we learned about the Islam religion. So some of the things that were happening weren't as difficult for me to understand.
After reading this book, one word that I will likely remember is Waddan. Half way through the book I was really interested to learn what a Waddan was. I could have read over it the first time, but I couldn't figure out why they wanted the Waddan so bad. I later found out it was because they were suppose to have magical powers. So that made alot more since as to why cain was after it. Overall it was interesting to read about apart of Africa from a different aspect.

Waiting for an Angel

This was a good book written by Helon Habila. It was cool to read book about the way things were for the african generation in the 90's. At first it was kind of difficult to keep track of what was going on because there were different narraraters. Once I put it all together the book made alot more sense. It was interesting to read how far the African generation had come from the colonial times. From reading the book I realized that times were still hard for them, but it was some what of a progress from where they were.

One character that I will not forget is Bola. Reading about his story was really touching. I could only imagine how it feels to lose your mother, father, and sister in a terrible accident. That was enough to make anyone go insane. A tragedy like that can really take a tole on the psychologically, that a hard blow all at once. You knew something was wrong when he was arrested, because the police beat him until they realized he wasn't all there. In a way I think Bola's situation took a tole on Lomba.

I also thought that Lomba and Alice had a very intersting relationship. In the beginning I thought they really had something, but once I read the part were Lomba went to her home and was introduced to her boyfriend I thought that was kind of crazy. I kind of wonder if what happen between them could have had something to do with him dropping out of school. It's hard for me to put into words the kind of person Alice was judging the reading. I kind of wished it could have worked out for them, but everything does happen for a reason. Overall I enjoyed this book and think that Helon Habila is a wonderful writer.

Oil....In Africa

This was a very interesting article to read. You would think that oil would be a natural resouce tha would help Africa, instead it turned out to be everything but good for the country. It was crazy to read how Nigeria has been corrupted by oil. The oil industrys came in and took over, not even taking into consideration of the living conditions of the people. The oil industry took a devastaing toll over the people, because before they came atleast they could survive. Now its hard for them to even get food. When I read that the government documented 6,817 oil spills between 1976-2001, I couldn't believe it that is alot of oil spills. It seems that Africa has never been in control of their natural resources. First the Europeans now the oil boom has corrupted the country.

When I read about how oil has corrupted the country, all I can think about is Selfishness. It's like no one cares about the people suffering from the oil industry all they care about is attaining wealth. In Nigeria, I believe the people had no choice if they wanted to survive they had to turn to the corruption of the oil industry to live. Life has they knew it was taken away other ways of survival had to kick into play. My hope is that one day Africa's natural resouces will work in their favor and help the country to become prosperous.