“Africa is the rhythm of life. Africa is that mighty tree of an ancient origin rooted in mountains of gold and silver. Africa is that mighty stream full of untold number of souls. Africa is that bird. Africa is that quick but mighty bird. Africa is that quiet bird with the voice of thunder. Africa is that mighty bird with wings of gold and diamond feathers. Anytime Africa spreads her precious wings of different colors, even the beasts below the surface of the earth, smile. Africa is my home and there is no place like Africa” (Africaw). Although that quote describes africa as a place of beauty, life in Africa is not as wonderful as people would expect. There are some unthinkable events that happen in Africa that are rare in other countries. The hardships and suffering that take place in Africa affect people of different ages. These hardships affect children, teenagers, and adults.
The effects of hardships on children is an emotional subject for anyone because children are seen as cheerful and they are constantly active. The first hardship faced by children is poverty. Poverty leads to barriers to access of the well-being, status, and respect that can result in feeling of humiliation. Due to the increase of orphaning, poverty, the irregular structure of the countries’ families, and the social norms around extramarital pregnancy and childbearing, many children are not raised by their parents leaving the children vulnerable to abuse and neglect ( “Health”). Poverty is the worst for children because they have no one to help them or take care of them, making it hard for them to be able to have a normal childhood. Although there are different organizations out in the world trying to help children in Africa, there are re still some suffrage happening.
The second hardship that affects children is discipline. This may not be seen as hardship but when you are young, you do not expect the amount of discipline that these children recieve. African children receive scoldings from parents, grandparents, or other guardians if he/she steps out of line. Consequences if the child chooses to still be disrespectful include threats of having to do more chores, losing playtime, taking away toys or money, or even receiving smacks (Howto).
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Discipline at home is not as bad as a discipline a child receives in school.The last hardship that affects children is poor education. The education in west africa is the worst of all all due to the fact that there some uneducated teachers who teach students topics that do not pertain to the subject or even help the child know exactly what to do. The worst part of education is a the discipline. The schools use physical punishment as part of discipline. A smack on the hand or bottom with a ruler or stick on a hand were ways used to mold children who show misconduct. In 2010, BBC reported a legal bill in Nigeria to make corporal punishment that causes “grievous harm” against children a crime, but even with the bill, this method is still used (“How Parents Discipline Their Children in Africa”). It is easy to have empathy for children in Africa because no one would want to the experience what they go through. it is harsh and an unfair treatment of a little child, but that does not stop the man / woman who are in control.
The effects of hardship on teenagers is worst and extremely cruel. The first hardship that affects the teenager is physical violence. According to Dr. Fiona Scorgie, “67 percent of adolescent males and 48 percent of adolescent females reported being victims of violence.36.6 percent among adolescent girls have suffered intimate-partner violence. Exposure to violence keeps adolescence at high risk of becoming perpetrators of violence in their adult lives. Experience and violence could lead to post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression, even living in high-crime areas could lead to anxiety, impacting their mental health long term.” Violence is the number one leading cause of death of the world amongst teenagers around the world either through bullying or even street gang violence.
The second hardship teenagers face is forced marriage. Dr. Aoife Doyle comments, “Extramarital relationships were not uncommon. Polygyny is legal in Tanzania, the polygynous marriages can be registered as either Muslim or traditional. A large proportion of young women were in polygynous marriages which they had joined as junior wives.” It is part of some cultures to have many wives, but marrying young woman was a way for men to remain fertile. Although marriage may not be concluded until a girl reaches puberty, families may promise an infant or very young daughters’ hand in marriage. Age differences may reinforce male dominance within the marriage, limiting a girl’s ability to consult safe sex practices. Girls between the ages of ten and fourteen are five to seven times more likely to die from childbirth as their partners are over 20 years older (“Culture, Dissent, and the State: The Example of Commonwealth African Marriage Law”). Infant are still babies, but yet they are promised to a man like properties. These children suffer horrible deaths through childbirth even though they are not yet developed.
The last hardship faced by teenagers in Africa is sexual abuse. According to Mr. Mohamed Seedat, “Research has shown that 39 percent of girls reported having undergone some sexual violence before they were 18 years old…rape dockets from Gualing province in 2003 showed that 40 percent of victims who reported rape are children younger than 18 years, with 15 percent younger than 12 years. Most (84 percent) of rapes in young age groups are perpetrated by men who are known to the child, whether relatives, neighbors, friends, or acquaintances. 48 percent are perpetrated by strangers.” The fact that the offender is someone related or even known by the child is sickening to think about because these are scared to speak out and still have to face their rapist over time because they are apart of their family.
The effects of hardship on adults are popular all over the world but mostly popular in Africa. The first hardships faced by an adult in Africa is getting a sexually transmitted disease. Hiv-related infections are the leading causes of death among women between ages of 15 and 49 years with 60 percent of total global population of people living with HIV infected woman. In Nigeria, the popularity of STDs among the female youth is about 17 percent. Approximately 2.9 million people live with HIV/AIDS. About eight out of every ten infected women with HIV by having unprotected sex with infected men. Woman’s biological vulnerability to HIV through sex is up to four times as high compared to men (“Perceived Confidence to use Female Condoms among Students in Tertiary Institutions of a Metropolitan City, Southwestern, Nigeria”). This shows that women are seen as vulnerable and they are being taken advantage of. Women are strong and are not meant to be used for sexual preferences.
The second hardship faced by adults in Africa is physical violence. Mr. Mohamed Seedat comments, “More than 40 percent of men disclose having being physically [sic] violent to a partner and 40 to 50 percent of women have also reported experiencing such violence. Intimate-partner violence usually occurs within a broader context of relationships marked by controlling behaviours by men and their pervasive sense of fear in women. Violence is viewed as socially acceptable.” This implies that women have no rights and nothing they say could really stop the physical violence implicated on them.
The last hardship adults in Africa face is marriage. A person might say, “What is so bad about marriage?” but to women in Commonwealth Africa, marriage determine social acceptance, financial well-being, and even physical health. Families force women into marriages and social pressure to marry is important and acts as a powerful motive for a woman to accept the marriages arranged by her family. Marriage under African laws are often seen as the union between two families rather than two individuals. A widow may live under the guardianship of her husband’s brother or his male cousin (“Culture, Dissent, and the State: The Example of Commonwealth African Marriage Law”).Once again, women have no right in Africa, their decisions are made mainly by their family before marriage and by their husband and his family after marriage.
There are always two sides to every story, whether it be good or bad. Some people believe that the negatives are more of a personal issue and are not to be seen as a nationwide issue,or people must find a way to make their lives better, but it is not always easy for everyone.
Everything in this world has a negative and a positive perspective. However, the issues in Africa cannot be seen as having a positive side because no matter the issue, the problems are bigger than we assume. Nevertheless, people convey the impression that hardship in Africa have nothing to do with the personal responsibilities, but how people react when there is a negative situation. This includes children being respectful to their parents and teachers and being able to put in effort.
Children in africa need to consider themselves lucky to be able to receive a good education because it is difficult for others their age in other third world countries to experience education like they recieve. Even though the punishments may be harsh, they have their benefits and their disadvantages. Parents need to put more effort into helping their children better themselves and learn how to be more respectful to a teacher in order to avoid corporal punishment and also put in effort to ensure that their children do not suffer and work toward getting a proper education.
Overtime, we have seen that education in Africa seems to encourage corporal punishment in the school systems in order to enforce or stricter educational system. In some other people’s point of view, children would not be beaten if they did not show disrespect or misbehave to a teacher. In order for a teacher to go out of your way and waste their time and energy to hit a child the child must have done something awful. In order for teenager to be successful and grow up to be a successful adult, he or she must be able to work hard and get an education, meaning he or she has to endure strict punishments.
As for an adult/parent it is their duty to make sure that a child does not misbehave and it would initially be on them if the child gets beaten. “Children are often punished for poor academic performances, the score the teacher’s target mark on an exam. Children are punished for a wide range of behavior including extraordinary minor ‘ offenses,’ such as fidgeting in class, being tardy, wearing a torn or dirty uniform, or not being able to answer a question” (“Kenyan Children Suffer Frequent Beatings by Teachers”). These punishments show that there is always a reason for everything , andthe teachers are not completely wrong for disciplining the child.
However, people disagree with this reasoning because these beatings could lead to more injuries than needed. No parent would want to see his or her child go through such strict or brutal punishment. Brutal punishment could lead to death or even more if they get intense. Schools in the west see physical punishment as part of discipline… In 2010, BBC reported in Nigeria to make corporal punishment that causes “grievous harm” against children a crime, but even with the bill, this method is still used (“How Parents Discipline Their Children in Africa”). Having to experience physical harm could push some children to cause harm upon themselves, and these harms include suicide or even attempt to commit suicide. To conclude, physical punishment does not help mold children, it instead puts them through mental and physical pain.
Another opinion of hardship in Africa is that poverty in Africa is caused by parents of a child. The child would not go through hardships even if the parents tried to at least make an effort to get their situation handled the right way. This point is to show that parents need to find jobs, and try to step up as good role models for their children. People believe that it is not impossible for a parent to try their hardest to build a better life for their children. As a child grows into a teenager, the mental hardship he or she goes through from seeing their parents suffer eventually leads to the teenagers making bad decisions in their life. As adults, it is your job to ensure a child succeeds in life through them getting an education.The mayor of Kenya, Kiraitu Murungi, says that “Education, not tea farming, will reduce unemployment and poverty.” Parents are urged to educate their children instead of relying on small tea farms. Land subdivisions contributes to poverty (“Small Tea Farms Worsen Poverty, Warns Kiraitu”). Inability to receive a proper education appears to be the result of poverty. This sounds unreasonable, but it is a fack.
Although poverty is seen as a personal responsibility, it is not always the case. According to Africa News Service, “ The figures for children are even more shocking. In what study calls ‘truly staggering’ statistics, two of every three African children are living in poverty. That is 300 million African children.” That quotes shows that not all situations should be viewed as little because all over the world, children are going through the same problems of living in poverty. Not only children face this, adults also have to find ways to live through poverty because it was how they were raised. The economy and difficulties finding a job and a stable home that leads to people begging or living on the street. To conclude, parents should not be blamed, and children do not deserve such suffering. Instead of blaming the parents, try and help out in every way possible.
At the end, people have different opinions.You cannot control your situation, and nobody chooses to be put in an uncomfortable position. The hard punishments are unnecessary, and it has no effect on the improvement of a child’s education. There are many ways to stop corporal punishment and as well as stop poverty. These include helping in every way possible, little effort is better than no effort at all. At the end, the first side emphasizes that no matter how old you are, life in Africa comes with hardships and suffering. There is nothing that a person could do to avoid the hardships, and it seems to be women who face more hardships than men.
To conclude, there are always two sides to every story and situation. Even with people saying there are positives, the negatives will always be greater than the positives. There are always ways to make an effort and help people. Do no look at people as if they wished negativity in themselves: you have to know the whole story before jumping to conclusions about people’s lives.
