Chimamanda Adichie: The Danger of a Single Story

Chimamanda Adichie says, “I am a story teller.”  She is a entertaining and intelligent speaker. The proof that she is a superb story teller is the way she will grab your attention and your heart.

Adichie was born in Enugu, Nigeria, in 1977 and grew up in the town of Nsukka. She graduated from Eastern Connecticut State University and went on to receive her Masters in Creative Wiring from Johns Hopkins and, in 2008, her Masters in African Studies from Yale.

I am presenting Adichie as the second in a series of six outstanding African speakers.  Click on the photo below to view the video.  If you cannot view the video, click here to view the written transcript of the speech.

In this speech Chimamanda Adichie said:

• She wrote about her experiences in reading.  She had read European books with white characters, so her first writing from the age of seven were about white characters.
• We are vulnerable in the face of stories, especially children.
• When she discovered African books, things changed.
• She discovered that she and the things around her in Nigeria also had a place in literature.
• It saved her from having a single story.
• The single story of Africa that most believe, that of hunger, war, and corruption, comes from Western Literature.
• Show people as one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.
• A single story outlook robs people of dignity.

What do you think about what she said?  Post comments below.

New Book

Half of a Yellow Sun

A masterly, haunting new novel from a writer heralded by The Washington Post Book World as “the 21st-century daughter of Chinua Achebe,” Half of a Yellow Sun recreates a seminal moment in modern African history: Biafra’s impassioned struggle to establish an independent republic in Nigeria, and the chilling violence that followed.

During the second period of the last match of the World Cup fans were cheering on their favorite, but in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, things were tragically different. Friends and relatives were sorting though the broken, bloody remains of the 76 people who died as the result of Al-Shabab terrorist bombs. Had this attack taken place in Europe or the United States, it would still be very much in the news. Yet, sorry to say that the major news outlets here in the USA covered the story for just a couple of days.

Despite USA military and FBI personnel being sent to Kampala, the average American does not even remember the event. I am afraid that has been the situation with most terrorist attacks around the world. We Americans forget quickly, that is expect for our own 9/11 terrorist attack in New York.

The rest of the world, and Africa in particular, suffers from such attack much more frequently. I hope we can do our own part here to bring these alive.

Here are some photos of the scene of one of the attack. Caution, they are not for the squeamish. Photos

An American was also killed and several other wounded.  Here is their story.

Our fellow reader, Tofa Isiko, was at the Lugogo Limbia Rugby field when the bomb went off. He says that many of the dead were from the same families.  What a heavy burden for those families.

Please comment here concerning the attacks and the lack of long term USA and European news coverage.

….unknown author from among the Kipsigis people of Kenya, circa 1978
Translated by Richard Chowning

There was a father who would often return from a hunting expedition with a live animal as a present for his children. One day he brought them an elephant. The children loved riding him. Another day he brought them a lion. The children loved getting warm by snuggling up against him at night.
Then one day, the father brought home a large python.

The children stood back from the slithering snake. “Why have you brought home this terrible animal,” cried his wife. It is too dangerous for the children. “They will be alright. This snake is different from others.” As if on cue, the snake open his mouth wide and said, “Come. Climb inside me and I will take you for a ride.”

The children backed up, in fear. “Go ahead,” the father said. Soon, the oldest son slowly laid down in front of the snake and allowed the animal to swallow him feet first.

The python slithered out into the pasture, up a tree, back down again, and finally came to a stop in front of the family vomited the boy out. “It was great fun. It was so warm inside. Try it,” the eldest son said.

Soon the children were begging to be the next to take a ride in the snake.

The mother was no longer alarmed. She was convinced that the snake would always vomit up the children.

The next afternoon, the father looked out the door of the hut and said, “Wife, where have all the children gone?”


She came to the door for a look. “That python has a full stomach under the shade of the far tree. He’ll soon come vomit them up.”

They waited the rest of the afternoon and evening, yet the children remained within the snake. By the time the sun went down, snake’s stomach was back to normal. The children were gone, forever.

……………………
Sin and Satan will not always spit us out to try again. There will come a day when it swallows us up. Do not play with the serpent he is a deceiver.

A True Victory Story…..

By Richard Chowning

When Paulo Arap Lang’at, a tall, muscular African, stands before an audience and proclaims, “Jesus is the Savior of my soul and he can save you too,” you would assume he had preached the gospel most of his life. Actually, for many years Paulo terrorized neighbors and embarrassed relatives. The Savior made the difference - all the difference in the world.

Thirty-two year-old Paulo has converted many of his Kipsigis tribesmen to Christ. Villagers crave his mixture of joy and conviction.

Paulo knows that his fellow Kipsigis search for answers to a life in fear of ancestors and the inability to cast the fear out. Paulo preaches the blood-stained Christ on a white horse and his own changed life.

The Kipsigis easily understand Paulo’s lessons. They are a fine weave of scripture, traditional culture and personal experience. He talks of the culture’s weaknesses and his own sinfulness. Then he reads scriptures that speak of fear turned to courage and weakness turned to strength.

The change is real to Paulo.

His History

He has always been in the public eye. His father died when Paulo was in his early twenties. His uncles and mother found him uncontrollable. He dropped out of school early and took to the back paths of the village. He hid in bushes and waited for school children. When they walked home in small groups Paulo would jump out of bushes and threaten them. “If you want to pass, give me money or some clothes.” Many of the children would take their shirts off and hand them to him.

He had been brought before the village elders on several occasions. Frequent fines were paid by his parents. When police were sent to catch him, he escaped.

Paulo’s Conversion

It was the gospel that finally caught and convicted Paulo. When the church of Christ evangelists first walked into his village Paulo heard that one of his relatives was converted. He determined to go to the next meeting and pour his ridicule on the “message of weakness, only fit women and children.” But as Paulo listened he soon found himself in the company of the Apostle Paul, and multitudes throughout the centuries, who were turned from scorn to salvation. Once he heard the gospel, his sinful life haunted him. He was only relieved when he told the preacher he wanted to have his sins washed away in baptism.

Villagers were fearful when he began to preached with power of voice and spirit. They expected him to violently persuade them to follow him into the Kingdom of God. As the months passed the villagers were convinced Paulo’s change was true. “If these words can change Paulo, they must be powerful.” Villagers listened and were converted.

Paulo, like all Kipsigis preachers, supports himself. He attempted many ways to gain income for his family. The family farm does well, but he wants his family to have better opportunities then his present finances permit them to enjoy. He has just opened a small restaurant. He spends long hours cooking and waiting on his customers. But he always finds time to preach.

Paulo’s influence for the Savior has gone beyond his own village. He preached often in the beginning of the Arokiyet congregation. His persuasiveness helped that congregation grow faster than any in the tribe. He has planted congregations in the villages of two of his relatives.

Paulo’s Most Rewarding Confrontation

One of Paulo’s most rewarding confrontations with the unsaved came two years ago. He and three other evangelists visited the Tugen tribal area eighty miles from home. One of the men they talked to about the Savior was a young government chief. The gospel penetrated his heart. He was won to the Lord. The baptism was set for later in the day.

Paulo and the other evangelists ate dinner in the chief’s home. While they ate the chief asked them questions about their village and past lives. Paulo recounted his changed life from steeling from children to speaking for the Lord. The chief was taken back. He smiled and said, “I used to work for the Central Intelligence Division near your village. I was sent to Kiptewit several times to look for this bully of children. Now you found me and changed my life.”

Of course this is not the beginning of stories of Africa. There have been multitudes of articles, stories and books written about Africa. I do welcome you to the beginning of Stories of Africa website and blog which is a home for we who reading and writing about Africa.

Reporters share the daily events from the continent: the challenges, disasters, victories and lessons. We will carry a daily RSS news feed from BBC’s Africa service, but our emphasis will be on the reporters themselves. We will highlight the stories behind the stories, the careers of those who write the new.  Jeff Koinange, Hilary Ng’weno, and Amin Mohamed are the first of many we will feature.  We encourage you to give your own observations and ratings of these reporters in the comment boxes. Suggest other reporters for us to feature.

The scholars of Africa help us remember the past and plan for the future. On the Stories of Africa we will be looking into the life work of some of these scholars and detailing much of their writing. The initial featured scholars (Kwame Appiah, Ali Mazrui, and John Mbiti) are only a toenail of an elephant compared to the entire wealth of scholars who have written of Africa, her people and land. We will be adding new scholars periodically, further we solicit you to give us the names of your favorite scholars, who might even be yourself.

Through fiction and poetry, the story tellers of Africa carry us into the heart and soul of what it is to be African or to live among Africans. The light of their insights has flashed a light on what others have ignorantly referred to as the Dark Continent. Some readers may be familiar with the story tellers we present this month (Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Wole Soyinka, Njabulo Ndebele, Nadine Gordimer, Leopold Senghor, and Mazisi Kunene), but most of Africa’s fiction writers are unknown to the rest of the world. Our task is to give their work exposure. No doubt, you have a favorite fiction writer or poet.  Tell us about him or her. If you are one who is blessed with a muse from Africa and wish to share your fiction here, we may feature you and your work.

I lived in Africa for more than twenty-five years. Sixteen of them were in Kenya among the Kipsigis people. Nine were among the Aja people of Benin. I researched and traveled in more than a dozen countries. I am an avid reader of reports, articles, and stories from Africa and have written over a hundred of myself.

Lets begin to share the stories of Africa.

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