How to Write about Africa – Reflection Paper

How to Write about Africa? Initially, I was weird out by the choice of article to be read.

My initial reaction to the article was what has Africa got to do with Accounting Ethics? “What

could be the relation between Africa and ethics?” – That was what I was thinking. This is the first

time for me to read an article about how one country is to be written. Honestly, I was confused

as to why this article has to be entitled the way it is.

As I was reading the article, I didn’t understand at first what the author was trying to say.

I read the article multiple times just to make sure that what I was reading are really what the

author wants me to read. I was confused as to why the author would entitle the article as such

when the content clearly expressed otherwise. I was also confused as to why the author would

want any other people to describe Africa as such, since the characteristics the author used were

not appealing to a country, especially if you are wanting to attract tourists. I was not sure

whether the author’s intention was to be sarcastic or not, but it appeared to me as a sarcasm. It

was a sarcasm that Africa, or any other country for that matter, deserves. In the article, Africa is

always depicted as a hopeless country, with people starving and dying of sicknesses, and

children not being able to be educated.

What would come to your mind once people say “Africa?” Personally, and honestly,

every time Africa is mentioned, savannahs and starving children come into my mind. After

reading the article, my mind was opened to the other possibilities of what lies around the fields

and grasses of Africa. The article changed every perception I had of Africa. I once thought that

Africa might be dirty and dangerous since people there of all ages are easily “contaminated”

with the contagious diseases such as the HIV and the Ebola. I realized that speaking of and

writing about Africa requires a lot of sensitivity on the part of the speaker or the author. I also

realized that many people might have not fully understood Africa because of their differences

from the others. It was heartbreaking to have read such article describing a country. Imagine

your own country being described as such and to be written as such. What citizen would like to

read their homelands compared to a hopeless case. It is such a waste of a beautiful land going

to waste just because “Modern Africans” deprive Africa of their better future. I remembered my

TREDTWO professor once narrated a story wherein a group of missionaries were sent to Africa.

And when they were asked to have a formal photograph taken, the African women removed all

their clothes since being naked is a customary of being formal for them. After hearing this

anecdote and reading the article, I don’t think it is safe to say that all the women in Africa are to

be depicted as naked. They may be naked when a photograph was taken of them because of

their customary or it may be because of breastfeeding.

From what I realized and understood of the article, the author is trying to get help for

Africa. He did not write the article to belittle Africa but to show the readers what they can do in

order to get Africa out of the situation she is in. As I reread the article, I felt that maybe the

author was only trying to point out what has been the “normal” for Africa. I also think that the

author purposely entitled the article as such to gain more readers. Since if the author used

words that would really describe Africa in the title, maybe a few to none would mind the article,

and the article means a lot to the author. Since the author himself is an African, he can relate

more to the article and becomes sentimental about writing Africa; and that’s why he may have

written the article to gain sympathy. What may be right or wrong in the perspective of the author

is not of our concern maybe because he understands Africa more than what we have

understood of Africa. It may be long before people will see Africa in a different light but it will

never be too late for them to see a brighter future.