Questioning others

After being rather unsuccessful with gathering answers to some questions from well known charities, I decided to ask those questions to people who either were born and grew up in Africa or are now working in Africa. Some of the people I asked are friends of mine, some are people that I don't know but are family/friends of people that I have contact to. Many of them don't know the whole of my project, so I feel that their responses are based on what they possibly think I want them to say.

This is an email response from an American missionary teacher in Kampala, Uganda.

  The bits that stuck out to me from her answers were:

- '..African children are typically portrayed to the Western world as beautiful and sweet but poverty-stricken, starving, naked or sick children that have many tremendous needs.'

- '..they are content and happy just living the way they are used to.'

- '..we also have to be careful as the stereotype might cause a child to "realize" that he is "poor" and "third-world".'


This is a conversation that I had with a male, aged 20, who was born and grew up in Harare, Zimbabwe and now lives in the UK.

 

The parts that stuck out to me from this conversation were:

- '..the way it is now perceived worldwide... is that most African children are malnourished and sick, which is not true.'

- '.. growing up in Africa, we were never showed the Western view..'

- '.. it might make a difference, even to one child, on the other hand there's the negative perception which is generated.'

 This is a response from a male, aged 23, who grew up in Zimbabwe and now lives in the UK.

The words from this response that stood out to me are:

- '..it twists the way first world people see and treat anyone from Africa.'

- '.. they get treated like people who are helpless and require hand outs or they may die. .. people should be encouraged to go and make a difference personally.'

This responses is from a female, aged 57, who grew up in Kitwe, Zambia and now lives in the UK.

 The text that struck me from this response were:

- ' The images .. show African children as ragged urchins playing barefoot in the dirt, or living in squalid squatter camps unable to attend school..'

- ' Africa is so often seen as a 'basket case' - almost so hopelessly broken that it is not even worth helping.'

- 'Africa has many problems, but it also produces vibrant, vigorous communities...'

- ' It should change to .. show children in school, playing team games, ... helping with household chores, ... expecting to become teachers, doctors, engineers etc when they grow up.'