Mad Dog....

I thought Johnny Mad Dog was one of the better books we read although it was very disturbing. I found it a little easier for me to get into and was excited to continue to read it. I liked the narrative stand point throughout the novel and how you switched between the two narrators who were at the same place and point in time so we could see what was going on with both sides of the story.

The thought of these children soldiers running around a country and waging war on their own people is very upsetting. I can't even think about what a child as young as 10 understands about war and what has led his countrymen up to this point. The militias like recruiting these young children because they are easy to brainwash and manipulate. Propaganda goes over particularly well with young people and they often don't second guess it like someone older would. The coups that continually take place have obviously left the areas affected in shambles and people are not able to go on with normal lives. The military dictatorships are unstable and are only transient rises to power and are extreme subject to political corruption.

I found the Mad Dog character to be disturbingly funny, as he was an "intellectual" and "respecter of women," yet he hadn't even finished grade school and obviously had no respect for women because he raped many of them. Then in the end the intellectual was killed by the bible, which is quite different from those stories you hear from people today being saved by the bible, but I thought this ending was better. Mad Dog was a child abused by the system and while I felt sorry for him a little, he was only a child after all, he committed many crimes that were horrendous and never tried to become the true intellectual he wanted to be. I believe that is what the whole child war scenario boils down to, a lack of education.

Lao was a very interesting and charming character she was smart, strong and brave. She struggled throughout the story to survive and yet time after time she came out on top. I don't think any of us could imagine the stuff she went through but it was definitely a lot and I give her much respect for not giving up. When she was captured by Mad Dog I thought for sure she was done for, but she stood up to him and came out on top. I think that speaks to what the people of Africa and these war torn areas can do, if they can all come together they con beat this monster ravaging their country.

I was first intrigued by the similarities between Lao and Mad Dog, they both wanted to be intellectuals after all and they placed a value on education. The characters consistently bumped into each other throughout the book so it was obvious they would have a more personal point in the book. I also find my self continuing to wonder what happened to Fofo?

We don't need no water..?

Well this is obviously an understatement, water is probably the most crucial element to the existence of man. In the United States many of us take this for granted, after all I don't know of anyone who has ever not been able to find water when they need it. Almost as important as the availability of water is the cleanliness of the water.

In many areas of the world including Africa there are many places where water contains many organisms that when consumed are very harmful to the body. It is estimated that 1 billion people do not have access to safe water which amounts to about 16% of the population. The most prominent cause of water contamination is believed to be the result of human sewage and the waterborne diseases causes 1.8 million deaths each year.

In Africa alone it is estimated that out of the 700 million people only 46% have access to safe drinking water. In many of these developing countries the cause of death for 90% of children under the age of five is diarrhea related from lack of sanitation in water supplies. In sub-Saharan Africa almost 2000 children's lives are lost a day due to the causes of insufficient sanitation.

Another result from the lack of water in many areas in Africa is poor agriculture and severe drought. This has left many self sustaining communities crippled as they are not able to plant or harvest crops, which are staples to their diet. Africa has experienced multiple droughts throughout the past and has resulted in the deaths of millions of people. Droughts also affect the ability of community to raise livestock, if the animals do not have plants and such to graze on.

Bleeding the stone

This was a very interesting story although I did have a difficult time understanding how this particular novel played in to our studies in African Literature. While I did see the connection it seemed to me that there is a lot more alarming events taking place in Africa that we could learn about.

I am not saying that there is not important events taking place in this novel, however. As an avid outdoorsman I was quite disturbed by the character of Cain. Nature is a precious resource that must be protected and people like Cain are disrespectful and merciless morons.

Africa is truly one of the worlds most beautiful places and the creatures that live there are unique and beautiful like the waddan and the gazelle. I found the character of Asouf to be very admirable in the way he respected the animal and the desert. I have always wanted to move away to a desolate area of the world and live off of the land so I was able to relate to Asouf and his father and the way in which they took care of their family.

I was also happy to see that Asouf was finally able to stand up to Cain and not take him to the Waddan. At the beginning Asouf did seem quite spineless and not able to stand up for himself but he was able to develop his will and make his opinion heard.

The one thing I did notice that seemed to be a recurring theme in many of this stories about the continent of Africa is the movement of foreigners into the area and the manipulation of resources and people in the area.

....and still waiting

In 2007 Nigeria took part in a highly controversial and condemned General Election that was marred with corruption. There is much argument as to who should have been able to have run a campaign and if the country even had the technology or know how to hold an election of this magnitude. Voter fraud was rampant and bribed officials let many serious issues go unnoticed. Many members of prominent global institutions have declared that the results are not credible and should not be considered valid.

The Niger Delta has also been the focus of increasing violence and unrest in the recent past due to the growing demand for oil in foreign developed nations. While there is a "democracy" in place in the area, growing conflicts in the area has resulted in an increasing military force to help protect some of the economic interests of the country. Many Nigerians are upset because they have not seen the economic impact of the money made form the oil the country has exported and many local ethnic groups continue to feud over land rights in certain areas of the Niger Delta.

In Darfur there is a continuing conflict between governments and tribes and death tolls are estimated in the hundreds of thousands. The Sudanese government is responsible for many of these atrocities including the arrest of many journalists and activists.

There has been an effort by some in the international community to help bring an end to this but there seems to be no real end in sight. The president has been charged with crimes but the trouble has become evidence and how to go about detaining someone of that position.

Waiting....

The political system that is present in this time as described in the novel is very volatile. Greed is a center theme to the agendas of many of the Nigerian soldiers that are responsible for the many coups that take place. The people of Nigeria at this time are suffering dearly and are in need of help.

I took two different meanings from the title of the story and how they play in to what was taking place in the novel. For one man it appeared that he was waiting to for the angel of death to come and take him away. The one thing that made me wonder about this was that he was not the least bit worried that he was going to die and as a matter of fact he could have avoiding dying at the cafe by just leaving. It seems like many people at this time were very disturbed by what was going on around them and that death may not be all that bad compared to their current life experiences.

Another interpretation I took from the novel was that the people were waiting for an angel to come and save them from their horrible conditions. One that would lift them up and bring peace and prosperity to the people. Sadly to say that never happened and the people continue to suffer in regions throughout Africa today.

There were many activists seen throughout the story trying to bring an end to the corruption and bring happiness to the communities. Many people died in this struggle as the military was quick to squelch all forms of civil disobedience, and resulted in many political prisoners at the time. These reporters and activists were very important at bringing global attention to their strife and pressure on the governments to conform. The violations of human rights are widespread and evident in the novel and continue to this day.

Blessing and a Curse...or maybe just curse

Well there is not doubt that the possibility of a business in an area is a happy time for just about everyone, this does not seem to be the case for the most of Africa. The oil industry is a very lucrative business that can generate a lot of money for both a local and national economy. That is why there is no doubt that when people in Africa hear about the discovery of oil and the jobs it will create and the money it will bring in that initially became very happy. But after a few failed attempts at the process the people of Africa had realized that it was a hoax and they were receiving the short end of the stick. I found a very brief but compelling argument online about the Price of Oil in Africa and is has a short video slide depicting a village near the oil extraction sites and it explains the picture on the left.

Not only was money not brought into the area to develop much needed public services and infrastructure, it corrupted people and wound up destroying their environments and livelihoods. Business practices that had been tradition for so long now seemed obsolete and not worth time or efforts. Methods families used to feed their families such as fishing were now disrupted and ruined by environmental disasters and land takeovers.

I was shocked myself to read about this, I guess I knew it went on but I never really thought it was that bad. It has become quite obvious that the oil companies are in it for the best profit they can make and do little to help out the local communities or even reduce their footprint in the area. It really should come to no surprise to me, I am sure the fact that it is Africa has these oil companies excited because they know what they can get away with on this continent. Money has developed such a stranglehold on the small elite in power and the corruption is very far reaching. In the meantime the people of Africa suffer greatly.

I found a rather interesting article on some of the problems countries run into with highly valued natural resource called the resource curse or Paradox of Plenty. It highlights some of the problems many nations run into with natural resource exploitation, in particular in developing nations and nations with histories of instability.