Every so often, I read something or encounter a situation of
supreme ignorance about the continent of Africa that boggles my mind. When I was
younger, I used let the folks wallow in their ignorance or sometimes add to it
with extremely bad and funny information (I did not think they would take it
seriously but they did). Nowadays, as an educator, I feel I must try and truly
educate the individual(s) because I realize it is not their fault.
We do not teach a true and rich curriculum about the continent,
in fact, you will be surprised how many people know nothing about the continent
beyond the latest Ebola fear story in the news. Case in point: “Teacher Told to Stay Away on Return From Africa”
“A
teacher in a Roman Catholic school was told to take a leave of absence for 21
days when she returned from a mission trip to Kenya, even though the country is
thousands of miles from the center of the Ebola outbreak.”
“The
school, St. Margaret Mary in Louisville, Ky., told religion teacher Susan
Sherman to take mandatory leave when she returned Oct. 26 because several
parents were worried about the Ebola outbreak, according to her husband, Paul
Sherman. She resigned. Louisville Archbishop Joseph Kurtz last week
acknowledged that was "not the right judgment."”
“The
Shermans spent nine days in Kenya, working with a relief organization that
provides health care, food, and water and builds churches and distributes
Bibles.”
The
distance between the Ebola area in West Africa and Kenya is more than 3000 miles!
There
is no such language as African, all Africans are not brothers, and if you know
someone from a country do not expect someone else you meet from that country to
know them (especially if it is Nigeria which has a lot of people).
Learn,
teach, and do not be ignorant about the second largest continent in the world.
Dr Flavius A B
Akerele III
The ETeam
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