Having the Patience...

I like fast things. Do you? This has not been as quick a transition as I had hoped.

I have been working on migrating my blog and allowing myself to focus on all things African and African American. In spite of the conversation carried on last week about whether African Americans should in fact call themselves that, we are one people. There are Africans all over the World, yearning for the connection to Africa and other Africans and there are Africans yearning for the connections to their brothers and sisters who live abroad.

image credit: Earls37a

The interesting part of this journey has been finding African groups on small islands in the Pacific. Almost like a half-way group between the Aboriginal groups of Australia and New Zealand and Africa and I'm scratching the place where my beard should be (if I were a man) and thinking about the continued migration of African people around the World.  Since the first group of people left, we know we've been sending people out of the homeland since.

So, to cater to the needs of those who are yearning for the connection back to the Motherland - the glorious, rich and lush continent of Africa - whether it was severed in generations past or you just moved to the West(or east) for school, I present you with the first two in a series of papers for your computers, tablets and mobile phones. 

The Connected African - connects you to news articles and personal views coming out of Africa and Black America, in the major languages of our groups, English, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Swahili and Amharic. If you download Google Chrome you can modify your settings so that the pages will always be translated for you into the language you are most comfortable with. 

Connected Africans - brings you to the news articles and blogs of the decendants of Africans around the World. Right now they are mostly in English.

Subscribe for updates or include us on your blogs and websites!

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4 Africans Punishing Children

There is no doubt that Africans have continued the migration believed to have been started approximately 160,000 years ago. In almost every country you visit in the World, there are pockets of recent descendants of African people either taken there by slavery or migrated there themselves.

image credit: McMarkLouwes

Much of the time Africans prefer to teach their traditions and cultures to their children so that it is not lost, but many children now being born on foreign soil have no connection to these traditions and cultures and sometimes view them as outdated and useless in this advanced technological age.

Part of being a teenager in the Westernized World is going through the very well sculptured "rebellious stage" which usually involves getting in with some gang of hooligans, incessant partying and general disrespect for any form of authority ~ usually parents and teachers. However, because the same kind of support is not available for African families in the West, parents are forced to get creative in order to curb their wayward children.

Many parents punish their children by sending them back to Africa to live with a relative and there is a movie out that tackles this issue.

An intimate look at the complex issues that shapes the lives of the children of black immigrants the World over, this movie takes you on a journey that challenges what you may think about African parenting and allows you to experience the World of a child, growing into a young man, allowing a punishment to become a lesson to find his roots.

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6 Slavery is funny?

Is it possible that levity can be found in a movie about slavery?

Can the plot remain true to history and yet juxtapose comedic situations alongside the painful history?

Even more importantly, can you draw African Americans, who according to recent "studies" are the greatest consumers of entertainment, to the theater to watch the movie?

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A movie that is going to be released in France in July attempts to do that. Case Départ tells the stories of two brothers, half brothers who have the same father. They hardly know him. One feels that France, the country in which they live, is ultimately racist and it makes him despondent and disillusioned. His brother harbors a lot of self hate, wishing to shed the heavy slave heritage. At their father's deathbed, they receive an ancient document that they mistakenly destroy and are sent back in time by an old mysterious woman, specifically to the height of the Trans-Atlantic slave period. As they work together to return to the present day they are caught in  a series of hilarious situations.

Case Départ Trailer:

The intentions of the movie makers Thomas Ngijol and Fabrice Eboué (who are also the stars of the movie) may not be evident and until we see the movie. At first they seem innocent enough, full of lessons to teach us valuable lessons about owning our heritage, understanding it and remembering that people smiled with each other some of the time, but we will have to wait and see.

Do you think that a movie about slavery can be funny? If it airs in the US (or wherever you are) do you think you will go to see it?

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8 Breaking Free from Language

It is possible to think that everyone in the US understands each other when they speak. Those who live in the US or have visited know that the accents vary and slang varies too, according to the particular heritage of the person being spoken to. English has morphed to a unique form for American speakers and writers where words are spelled differently than they would be in the rest of the English speaking World. Although some like misunderestimate take the cake.

No matter where you go on our beautiful blue globe, English changes according to the culture and native tongue of the particular area. Sometimes understanding what the other person is saying proves to be slightly difficult, but with patience and a little creativity communication can be relatively pain free and enjoyable.

Literature has also come to reflect the differences in expression and slang in the English language. In my youth reading a copy of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart for my literature class was as foreign as reading Ngugi wa Thiong'o's The River Between. There were things I learned about the Nigerian and Kenyan culture that opened my eyes to things I may have not otherwise known.

This kind of exposure has not only been by African authors, but by American authors and screenplays as well. A popular phrase heard around Qalil.com is one taken from something Madea, a character played by Tyler Perry. 

Google Translate via Chrome has allowed me to follow some passionate blogs by various people around the World. I can follow Basketball in a blog written in Portuguese from Angola, understand the issues that may lead up to another bout of civil unrest in Morocco or enjoy the beautiful descriptions of Tanzania written in Swahili  The World has fewer and fewer boundaries.

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The of course, I had to happen upon the one book I am curious to read that will take a little longer for me to have access to. Masimba Musodza has written a sci-fi novel in Shona. Shona is an African language spoken by a group of people who can be found in Botswana and Zimbabwe. Musodza's book, MunaHacha Maive Nei? presents another challenge for the language challenged curious George. I want to know what is in the book. Exerpts can be found here, all written in Shona and a puzzle for those of us that do not speak it.

The novel tackles issues ranging from greed and corruption to sustainable development and corporate intrigue. Harmful checmicals are released into the ecosystem by a research station operating in secret and the animals and plants begin to mutate. After a child has been attacked, the locals believe it to be one of the custodians of their folk lore and attempt to appease it, but they soon realize the reality which is wilder and more horrifying than their minds could have imagined.

See what I'm saying? Now how am I supposed to read this one? I want to know. I'll probably phone my own Zimbabwean friend and talk her into reading it to me over the phone.

Needless to say, the World is getting smaller as language barriers continue to fall to the ground. I'm off to go rent a wrecking ball!

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0 Happy Father's Day!

image credit: commanderjaygold

Yep!

I am one of those annoying women who grew up with a two parent home (both mine and still together) whose father was loving and openly affectionate with my mother and doted on his children.

He taught us to pray, gave us the courage to jump from buildings and trees, birthed a curiosity for African history, shielded us from those who wished us ill, fostered our creativity, filled in the gaps when our information was incomplete, and chats with us still when he can be online.

Once, when a gentleman with less than honorable intentions towards me came to the house, my father pulled himself to his greatest height and with his loudest evangelist preacher voice cast out all kinds of demons "in the name of Jesus!" I was mortified. Needless to say, the man and his intentions removed themselves from my sphere soon after that and were taken to a few other homes with fathers less discerning.

I am grateful that my time on Earth has not been plagued with the ills that come with a deceased father, a deadbeat dad or one that abused me. I know I did not do anything to deserve the father I have and understand that I am no better than anyone else. I'm just lucky. That is why I celebrate.

For my brothers, who now have daughters of their own, Happy Father's Day!

To my own special Dad, Happy Father's Day!

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0 Obsessed with Someone Else's Sex Life

image credit: Dushan & Miae

Weinergate, Clintongate, whatever.

Why are we so obsessed with other people's sex life? Why is it important to us? Why do their morals come into question when we find that they have had sex with multiple partners?

Enter the man who clearly wants out of his marriage so he can have dalliances with girls who have been marketed to him, he is considered more virile by his peers if he is known to have had sex with many young women. And yet if he is supposed to act "his age"  he has to marry someone closer to his age and have sex with her and only her for the rest of his life.

What kind of twisted World do we live in where we expect men (and lately women too) to have sex with multiple partners in their youth, consume pornographic material and then suddenly they have to marry "the one" (which we all know to be a false premise) and if they stray, then they are unreliable and must resign.

Sigh.

Frankly speaking I don't care who has sex with whom. If you can make good decisions about my tax dollars, stand up for the issues I think are important, support legislation that furthers the prosperity of my community. When you enter your house, do what you need to do to get back to the issues that concern me.

However, this is not Utopia.

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0 Female or Male, Can you Tell?

image credit: Willy_ochayaus

VS Naipaul, a winner of the Nobel prize in literature, stated last week that there was no woman he would consider his literary equal. Needless to say his comments did not go down very well with female writers the World over. He had some inflammatory remarks about the role of women in homes and their narrow and very emotional view of the World. Anyway, this post is not about him, but rather about a very interesting test that came out of it.

You will need to follow this link to test your ability to figure out whether a particular author is male or female and see how you score! Post your scores!!!

I got a dismal 4 out of 10.

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0 Learning Something New

Image Credit: M.Leo_M

Learning a new language is always a little daunting. Picking up that first book, trying to say the words without understanding their significance or even the proper pronunciation, having people from a country you visit scrunching up their faces wondering what the hell you just said, and you thought you said it beautifully!

I have been trying my oh-so-feeble-hand at Arabic, mainly because I am fascinated by characters that are different from the traditional english alphabet, but also because I want to be able to delve into some of these libraries. Every faltering word I tentatively speak or sound out, and every joyful celebration at reading the signs and symbols is borne out of hard work.

Increasing the number of languages I speak has become one of my passions so imagine what happened when I came across this video below,

It is the language of some South African history greats like Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, not that we imagine we would ever be able to be fluent enough to conduct an interview in Xhosa or even have the chance to interview these great people, but it sure is nice to dream.

Are there any languages you wish you could learn with someone online?

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0 Jewels of African Film from MTV Awards

Have you ever wondered what a book written in another language reads like? Have you been curious about the perspective of a particular culture without the veil of prejudice from an onlooker, whatever their prejudice may be?

I have often been plagued with the knowledge that there may not be enough years in a human lifetime to learn enough languages to enjoy the stories from Africa and indeed the World. To gain sufficient proficiency to understand the complexity and subtle nuances of the language in order to relish the beauty of a people from a first person perspective. Much of it is lost in translation to one of the major languages of the UN, but unfortunately for us, in order to enjoy the stories, we get the pale xerox of it.

We may, however, be able to find a way to enjoy stories without the barrier. Through the medium of movies.

MTV introduced a new category this year that honored African films and African film makers, a surprising move for awards that have taken a backseat in the global honor, glitz, glam and media whoring that have surrounded the Oscars.

At Qalil.com, we have scoured the internet to bring you trailers and brief summaries of the movies that were nominated for this award so that when they become available to you through the Netflix or your local video store you would be able to see them.



Viva Riva
Riva is an operator, a man with charm and ambition in equal measure. Kinshasa is an inviting place. With petrol in short supply in DRC's capital, he and his sidekick pursue a plot to get hold of a secret cache - barrels of fuel they can sell for a huge profit. Of course they're not the only ones who want the stuff. Cesar is a ruthless, sharply dressed foreigner thriving in Kinshasa's lawless streets. A female military officer joins the fray. Even the church will betray its tenets for a piece of the action. But Riva's main nemesis is Azor, a crime boss in the classic style: big, decadent and brutal. He's not a man to mess with, but his girlfriend, Nora, may just be the most seductive woman in all of DRC. Riva catches sight of her dancing at a nightclub and it's not long before Nora matches the fuel cache as a coveted object of his lust. (imdb.com)

A Screaming Man
Present-day Chad. Adam, sixty something, a former swimming champion, is pool attendant at a smart N'Djamena hotel. When the hotel gets taken over by new Chinese owners, he is forced to give up his job to his son Abdel. Terribly resentful, he feels socially humiliated. The country is in the throes of a civil war. Rebel forces are attacking the government. The authorities demand that the population contribute to the "war effort", giving money or volunteers old enough to fight off the assailants. The District Chief constantly harasses Adam for his contribution. But Adam is penniless; he only has his son... (imdb.com)

Life Above All
A child tries to hold her family together against prejudice, disease, and ignorance in this drama from South Africa. Chanda (Khomotso Manyaka) is only 12 years old, but she's already been forced to take on many of the responsibilities of an adult in her household. Chanda's father is gone, her stepfather, Jonah (Aubrey Poolo), is an irresponsible alcoholic, and her mother, Lillian (Lerato Mvelase), has been physically and emotionally devastated by AIDS and the death of her youngest child. (imdb.com)

Restless City
Tells the story of an African immigrant surviving on the fringes of New York City where music is his passion, life is a hustle and falling in love is his greatest risk. (imdb.com)

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0 The Nollywood Phenomenon

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Nollywood, Nigeria's film industry, grew quickly in the late 90's to become the World's second largest film industry with regards to the number of movies it produces and releases. Surpassed only by Bollywood, India's film industry, Nollywood produces about 200 movies per month and is a $250 million dollar industry. (According to the wiki page)

The reason for Bollywood and Nollywood success in India, the Arab World and Africa, is that the stories produced are stories that the general population can relate to. The struggles of poverty that they experience daily, the complex relationships that children living in a globalized World have with their parents who may still be deeply entrenched in traditional cultural values, the effects of a corrupt government on the lives of the everyday person and the sheer talent that is discovered as a result.

Because of their success, their distribution has spread past their borders which means that producers have had to use official language subtitles (English, Arabic, French, German) for some of the movies using local languages. This, however, has not deterred the success and proliferation of the movies and they continue to be watched and enjoyed by millions of people around the World who can identify with the stories being told.

As Hollywood fades into the global background with poor dialogue, misogynistic music and flat comedy, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for Nollywood and African Cinema.

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0 The End of Marriage

No matter how far back one looks into history, the story of the "Strong Black Woman" is enduring. She gathers her children as well as other disenfranchised children into her large bosom, feeding them with good food and giving them comfort. She holds a gun to ward off predators, sows clothing and in the 21st century, she does all this while holding a briefcase.

Is it possible that this image could be wrong?

Many people have argued that the "Strong Black Woman" phenomenon is the main reason for divorce numbers in black marriages. She doesn't need a man and will not work hard enough on her marriage to make it what it needs to be.

Other arguments on the interwebs claim that the lessons of hard work towards a strong marriage are not being passed on to children.

Can the black woman be blamed for the end of black marriages because she is too strong?

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0 Narcissists Cheating?!

by Shay

A new study done by Ohio State University, as reported on the Huffington Post, shows that "Narcissistic college students are more likely to cheat on tests".  I fail to see where the news is in this particular study.  Narcissists will eat their off-spring, mow down their grannies and carry on that path with undisguised zeal. Just because they happen to be in college shouldn't make them worthy of this study.

In this captivating study, assistant Psychology Professor Amy Brunell adds "Narcissists feel the need to maintain a positive self-image and they will sometimes set aside ethical concerns to get what they want." 

I mean, really, you spent all this time coming to this very minuscule conclusion.  I'm glad academia is proving to be one of the least innovative and thought provoking establishments around as they collect more navel-gazers without much to contribute to the world of research and development.

On to more pressing things! Eating with left hand and surfing the net with the right one.

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0 Narcissists Cheating?!

by Shay

A new study done by Ohio State University, as reported on the Huffington Post, shows that "Narcissistic college students are more likely to cheat on tests".  I fail to see where the news is in this particular study.  Narcissists will eat their off-spring, mow down their grannies and carry on that path with undisguised zeal. Just because they happen to be in college shouldn't make them worthy of this study.

In this captivating study, assistant Psychology Professor Amy Brunell adds "Narcissists feel the need to maintain a positive self-image and they will sometimes set aside ethical concerns to get what they want." 

I mean, really, you spent all this time coming to this very minuscule conclusion.  I'm glad academia is proving to be one of the least innovative and thought provoking establishments around as they collect more navel-gazers without much to contribute to the world of research and development.

On to more pressing things! Eating with left hand and surfing the net with the right one.

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