Africa

Africa

Do you hold a ‘single story’ on Africa?

I used to think that Africa was a continent full of poverty and people who have to walk a long way for water. I thought that everyone in Africa was poor and walked miles every day for water that wasn’t even healthy to drink. I thought that there was a lot of sickness in Africa too. What stories are you missing?

What stories are you missing?

At school we watched a TED Talk about single stories. I learned a lot from that video and also from the books we read to research for our African countries research paper. I learned that there are many cities and countries in Africa with no poverty, clean water, and healthy people. There are also families with expensive things, maid, and big houses.

What is the danger of a ‘single story’?

There are many dangers of a single story. In the TED Talk, the speaker told a story of her and her roommate. Her roommate figured that she didn’t know how to use a stove because she was African, but she was actually from a well off family with a big house and servants. She said that her roommate thought this because she had a ‘single story’ of Africa. This is an example. People may think that Africa is a country with poverty and no water, but that isn’t the case everywhere. Those stories are lies, they are true, but not everywhere is full of poverty.

One thought on “Africa

  1. I remember thinking that too when I was your age. We had a lady from our church who was not married, was a nurse, and who became a missionary in Nigeria – in Africa. She told us about the big hospital she worked in, delivering babies and taking care of sick people. But, she also went out into the bush to help sick people who were poor and had nothing. So, there are both kinds of people in Africa, just like there are in America, in Europe and in Asia. We kinda have the “same” story.

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