Unit 1

         Straight Out the Ordinary 

Oumey Oumey un lelat pour ecole! I woke up in such a hurry, the alarm going off, my nene yelling saying we are going to be late for the first day of school. I was somewhat over it already, but once I got into my dark blue skirt with my bright yellow top. I was feeling like that girl and honestly ready for the first day. My baba, who is dad in English, dropped me off from school. We lived right up the block so it wasn’t too far. I ran into the park and I could see my baba in the corner of  my eyes cheesing ( I know he was hiding back tears because I didn’t say bye though). I was honestly ready to start third grade in a brand new school. 

Entering the school seeing everyone look alike with their long straight hair and their cute headband made me feel so different. I loved the feeling of being different though it made me feel extraordinary and I love my braided ponytail. It was lunch time and everyone was clicked up in their little groups of friends so I decided to sit by myself. As I was sitting down I heard someone say “african booty scratcher” echoing from the right side of my ear. I didn’t really think of anything because I haven’t done anything to anyone and I sure didn’t see any shirley temple looking kid in the lunchroom. 

I was eating my lunch. My mom prepared cassava leaf sauce with white rice. I was enjoying my meal until I looked up and a group of older kids were heading towards me. The three of them sat right across from me. I started to smile because they might be my future friends. “Hey what’s your name?” one of them asked. “Coumba How about you guys?” I said. “Cucumber” “Cucumber” they started to chant Cucumber. My smile turned upside down and my heart sank into my stomach. I had realized I was being made front of. I didnt let it get to me. I just kept

eating my food and holding in my tears like I was swimming underwater holding on to my last breath. 

After the lunch incident time went by so fast. Must be god on my side today. I felt happier leaving than coming in. I seem my dad with his throbe ( it’s basically a men’s dress) . I grabbed him so fast by his hand tightly and started dragging him towards the exit. I didn’t want to be bullied even more because of what he was wearing. “ Ecole welly walla wellani?” My baba asked . “School was amazing” I said lying so fast I didn’t want to tell him what really happened. That question made me realize about the incident even more and how come I was bullied over my name. Maybe my name wasn’t too modern. Or maybe my name wasn’t common, but in my head I started to blame my parents for the name they gave me. Either way I couldn’t even bring it up to my parents. They wouldn’t even understand what bullying even means. So I just brushed off the whole thought of it and enjoyed the rest of the day with my baba.

The next day I woke up so early my nene didn’t have to yell this time. “ aun ah daybed ya da ecole wanna” she says while she’s walking into my room and seeing that I’m already up. “Yes” I said, cheesing from ear to ear. Today I decided to wear my african print sweatshirt that was made directly from africa. Since I’m the “african girl” in school I might as well embrace it. I said my mom looked so confused she doesn’t really catch on to my English. She says the Complex version is too hard to understand. “Show off de culture” my nene said my mouth opened wide. I was so shocked my mom was able to speak English back to me. Even though I thought she couldn’t understand, she proved me wrong. That just made me realize so much about not taking people for granted or there too less to know things. 

My baba dropped me off again but this time I gave him a hug. I ran into the building with my light up sneakers and my hannah montana book bag feeling so confident. Diingggggg the bell rings. It was my first period English class. I hate English and everything about it. Today wasn’t any better because she announced we were gonna go talk about background and names. I hit my head into the palm of my hand and sighed so loudly. “Why me?” I mumbled under my breath. “Was there something you wanted to say, Coumba?” The teacher said I felt all heads moving towards me. “ Yes, may I be an excuse to the nurses office”. This was just my way to escape this prison hole of class. Nothing was wrong with me, I just needed to catch a minute to myself. As I was walking into the nurses office I saw one of the girls that approached me yesterday in the cafeteria. I dropped my head to the floor to not make any eye contact. The only empty seat was the one next to her. I sat down and kept making side eye looks to see if she noticed me. It looked like her stomach was hurting. She had her hands around her waist and a cup of water next to her. I wanted to ask if she was okay  but she would probably ignore me. Five minutes went by and I still wasn’t able to see the nurse but I was pretty happy about it. I didn’t want to go back to class. I was playing with my fingers when a tall man with a throne came into the nurses office. He looked just like my dad and I thought I was dreaming. “Djenabou” the tall man said. II looked around the room trying to find a Djenabou. That’s when the girl from yesterday stood up and followed the tall man. “Coming baba” the girl from yesterday said. My mind exploded. I was so shocked that I decided to get up and leave. All of a sudden I was feeling way better and I didn’t need to see the nurse like a kid that lies about being sick to not go to school. My mind felt relieved as if i just had an open head surgery to remove all the thoughts in my head. “So is Djenabou African just like me?”. “How come I was bullied for being African if she is one too?” so many questions I had that only one person could answer. I went home right after  school waiting for the next day just to see the Djenabou, the person I really needed to see. 

Morning came I rushed to leave the house as if my school was giving out free ice cream. “Mhmm Iun I yeedie ecole” my mom said. “Yes I do love school” I said lying straight through my gap tooth. It was finally gym class after what felt like 30 years so this is what impatient is? Djenabou walked in the lockers and I rushed and followed her to her spot. “ Are you african?” I said speaking so fast I felt embarrassed. “ Yes but I’m ashamed of it,” Djenabou said. My mouth widened and I was so shocked as if I saw a pig fly. She walked away and said “ Don’t tell anyone”. My eyes rolled away like a clock. I was so disappointed in her. Why hide the fact that you are african why not embarrass it? That’s when I realized I shouldn’t care about what other people thought about how I dressed or what my name was. All I knew was that no one should ever take away my confidence of being african. 

unit 2 revised

When we hear Ethiopia we automatically think about their creative dance traditions. Ethiopia is a beautiful country we tend to oversee or not really give that country the recognition. There are many different ethnic groups in Ethiopia that make them so unique. The one thing that stood out to me is the crucial problem that Ethiopian women are facing. Females are struggling in a place they call home. They are being unequally treated between men and society  to the point where they lose hope. They are being treated as if they shouldn’t have a say on their rights or how their life should be going. Many women in Ethiopia are facing FGM underground because they dont have say on their rights. It was supposingly banned but that’s what they want us to think. FGM is a crucial process women go through called Female Gential Mutalation. Many generations are being taught that FGM is the only way for a women to be married or have self respect for themselves. In Ethiopia these women are being fed lies and beliefs just to take away their rights and they are making it okay. Women rights in Ethiopia needs the recognition and support to stop them from continuing hurting these females. 

Source One Adinew, Y.M., Mekete, B.T. I knew how it feels but couldn’t save my daughter; testimony of an Ethiopian mother on female genital mutilation/cutting. Reprod Health 14, 162 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-017-0434-y Published December 2017

Summary – This article gives us a clear understanding on what FGM is and how it starts to come about in Ethiopia. FGM involves the partial or total removal of external female genital or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The overall summary of this article was to talk about a mothers experience. This article didn’t just tell me what FGM is but gave readers a statement on what a victim had to say. The victim mentioned how she wasn’t able to save her daughter. Also mentions how FGM was supposedly banned but was still being done underground. Ethiopia has failed its women’s rights by not banning FGM and taking the proper actions for it. This article gives us a glimpse of how a woman in Ethiopia is treated.

I also noticed that in this article the mother in the story talks about blaming The elderly because I made it the idea of females getting a FGM was able to get married. So the mother talked about how the elderly impacted the FGM action. This just goes to show that the cycle never ends unless people take the proper action.

Rhetorical Analysis – Yohannes Andinew is an interview that interviewed women at the  Ethiopia health organization. This article was published by Reproductive Health and was published June 2017. During this time people had thought the FGM was banned but people started to notice it was still going on underground. This author uses logos and pathos into conveying the message of FGM in Ethiopia. The author gives us a short personal story on a Ethiopian women that went through this horrific event to bring out the message of FGM. The purpose of this article was to show readers women rights in Ethiopia doesn’t get them the help and support they need. Author conveys this message by using an aggressive tone and a sympathetic attitude. The author wants readers to feel these women and feel what they are going through. Not just physically but mentally these women are being tortured. The effect these choices have on the audience is that we get to understand how the mother wasn’t able to do anything because she went through the same thing.

The author shows readers how these women are being fed tales that if they want to get married they will have to do the FGM. So the author basically gives readers an idea of how it is living in Ethiopia as a woman. The author uses real life experiences to send out the message of FGM.

Key notes ; “If circumcision is a precondition for marriage, a mother will get her daughter circumcised. She knew how it feels from her own experience, she might even have suffered a lot but no mother can sit and watch her daughter left unmarried.”

“Thus, anti-FGM/C interventions shall take in to account elders influence and incorporate a human rights approach rather than relying merely on its dire health consequences”

Moore, Jina. “7 Poems That Show What It’s Like to Be a Girl in Ethiopia.” BuzzFeed News, BuzzFeed News, 23 June 2015

Poem name ” What happened to me didn’t happen to others”

Summary- In this poem we get a brief understanding of how gender roles are played in Ethiopia. This girl wasn’t able to go to school but her brother was and she never understood why. As readers we notice how she felt a way because of the use of words she used. In What happened to me didn’t happen to others she states “When my mother sends my brother to schoolShe says to me — work at home.Clean the house. Make food.My brothers come from school.He comes and eats when he’s hungry.If he wants, he can study.He can be as he wants.But me, I don’t know what the outside looks like”. This shows she’s trapped in this world her mom created and she doesn’t know how to escape. I feel as if the gender roles in Ethiopia are so forced that females feel as if they are trapped away from the outside world. I agree with how the author uses her words in the poem even though she’s not physically trapped at home but mentally she is. The author of the poem also expresses how she wants to make sure her daughter doesn’t face what she went through living in Ethiopia. She keeps repeating she’s going to take her daughter to school and give her a better world. She also talks about her mom not liking the fact she ended up going to school with her brother. This is because her mom was never taught that It was okay for females to go to school

Rhetorical analysis – Moore, Jina. “7 Poems That Show What It’s like to Be a Girl in Ethiopia.” BuzzFeed News, BuzzFeed News, 23 June 2015, The author is a female that grew up in Ethiopia.The author audience are females facing gender inequality and future generations of females. The author also expresses her future daughter in the poem saying she’s writing this for her to know things will be different. This author made this poem during this time because gender inequality was getting worse and she wanted answers. The purpose of this poem was to show young Ethiopian females there are going to be changes. We just have to start with our future kids.  The author using a poem expressed what she was trying to address because we can feel the words she uses. When the author kept using question marks at the end of each phrase I noticed that she really wanted an answer and for someone to give it to her.   She’s asking these questions as to why this is happening to her like how she expressed in her title. The effects of these choices are that we can feel that the author wants clarity and she does want to understand how come her brother goes to school and she cants. She’s connecting to the audience using these questions for readers to think about it as well.

key notes -Once my uncle came from the North.He wanted to see me and my brother.He just became angry and shouted at my mom.He says, what’s going on with your mom?Why didn’t you send her to school?Why you didn’t send her?Why you just put her at home?So you want her to be like you?Staying at home?Then, my mom feels sad

Now, I will educate my girlNot to repeat my own story with my daughter.It started with my mom, but won’t go on with my daughter. Not making my girl stay at home.I will let her out to go to school.Never will happen to her what happened to me.

Third Source YouTube video ” Ethiopian woman shares truth about the futures women rights” By Blen Sahilu

Summary – In this YouTube video Blend gives us an overview of how women rights in Ethiopia can only be changed when we do something about it. She basically talks about how younger women in Ethiopia now have role models to look up too. Younger females can say how they can become something else rather than a stay at home mom or a female that doesn’t attend school. She also mentions how society should start seeing women as equals and as capable as men. Blen talks about women in Ethiopia needing to have the understanding and belief that they can become something so they can start to feel more confident in the things they do. Blen also mentions Barack Obama saying how if we had a female like him Ethiopian women would start to have faith. In the YouTube video Blen says ” After the presidency of Barack Obama everyone thought that ” The issue of race has been handled” and the difference that made is going to last a long time” Blen inserts this quote in her interview because she thinking if leadership in women comes about the Ethiopian women would start to think oh there is change when it comes to equality. At the end of the video she also mentions Ethiopia starts to become safe for women and she meant safe by harassment so that women can feel Ethiopia is a safe place for them.

Rhetorical Analysis- This YouTube video was made in fall 2018 for women in Ethiopia to know that they can change the women rights they just have to believe they can. This video is for young females in Ethiopia to know that they can become something and they have other Ethiopian women they can look up to. The purpose of this YouTube video was for Ethiopian women to understand that they have to start believing that they can be something in this world no matter who’s telling them no. The YouTube video used so many images and short mini videos of females in Ethiopia going to school and working outside of home. Blen tone during the interview in the video was very encouraging for viewers to understand that she is serious. The video also uses similarities in the video for viewers to understand what Blen was trying to portray. The effect these choices have on viewers is that maybe women rights can be changed differently in the future. I say this because when Barack Obama became president people started to think racial profiles were ended. So for me to use this in the video it makes me open my eyes on how women rights can be changed also by having women leadership.

Key notes – ” Barack Obama becoming president ended racial profiles older women can end women rights for younger females by more women leadership”

” Females need to come together has a sisterhood to end all the inequality in Ethiopia”

The hurt us women are facing needs to stop. We are ignoring the problems just because it isn’t happening in “our country” which makes our sisterhood look bad. Us women need to come together and help each other whether that’s go-fund me or writing a post to bring awareness. I noticed in all my sources I’ve looked at that Ethiopian women are lacking the support they really need to overcome these women rights struggles. I also noticed that they only have each other, no other outside support or help. I also found in my research that FGM

is a cause of failed women rights in Ethiopia. Even though they are saying It’s banished It’s still being practiced underground. These sources taught me that we can change the future as long as we believe we can. Especially source 2 and 3 at the end I realized ending these women rights can’t be done with one person it has to be ended with all of us women coming together. What surprised me mostly about the research was when the sources made me realize no one really helps until It’s being done to them. The understanding of my question is that it’s not really the traditions that affect women rights, it’s the support. The women rights in Ethiopia are being labeled as just how traditions are but it’s not the case. The case is that they are treating women rights as if it isn’t a problem at all. This is important for me to learn because now I will stop looking at women rights as a cause by traditions but instead I would look at the people that’s not helping these women as the cause. Females all over the world need to realize these issues and not just people in Ethiopia. We all need to try to help each other and stop the failure in rights to continue.

unit 3 press on the 3 for the video

     Reflective Statement 

I don’t know whether I should be sad or happy that English class is over. I will be honest, I came into English class not wanting anything to do with it cause I hated english. I felt I was forced to be in that class especially since it’s a prereq for nursing. I even told my professor that English isn’t for me and she shouldn’t expect anything good out of me. Until I got my first A- in college for english. I was so shocked I honestly felt like my professor gave me the wrong game I definitely deserved like a C. This is because English has always been my fear, especially since it wasn’t my first language. So I let that get to me thinking I was not smart in English but I was wrong. English has taught me many things and one thing not to ever doubt my writing. 

English was such an amazing class for me not only did it teach me how to write but it made me view things differently. I don’t think of writing as a thing I need to become a starter living in america. I think of English as a way for me to connect to my audience and my inner thoughts. The writing assessments we did in class have changed my thoughts on things completely. For example unit one I thought talking about my elementary school experience would be stupid. Until I was able to try and connect to those that are going through the same thing. “Hey, what’s your name?” one of them asked. “Coumba How about you guys?” I said. “Cucumber” “Cucumber” they started to chant Cucumber. My smile turned upside down and my heart sank into my stomach”. This quote in my writing touched me completely because it’s an issue we need to bring to light. Bullying is an issue and I felt like I expressed that in my writing that readers can feel and understand what I was going through. English class was able to help me bring a message out that I was keeping since elementary school that made me have a different perspective on writing. 

I noticed that I made myself an actual writer instead of thinking I’m not. In the beginning I had this mindset that how can I be a writer if English isn’t my first language? Which was really stupid thinking about it now because english shouldnt define a person’s ability. So doing these different assessments was really a life changer for me. Especially now that I know that there are different types of writing than I think. My favorite unit had to be unit 3 expressing my writing through a video. That was so creative of me just thinking about doing a fake advertisement. What led me to that is understanding that audience is key. In your writing always think about your audience and that’s what unit 3 taught me especially since I was trying to get a message out there. My least favorite unit was unit 2 only because that was my first time doing an annotated bibliography. I also noticed that in this article the mother in the story talks about blaming The elderly because I made it the idea of females getting a FGM was able to get married”. I felt like this topic alone could have taken up the whole writing but as writers you can’t always get off topic on what you are trying to say. I didn’t know what I was doing but I honestly think I did pretty good for my first time. It was just hard trying to show my readers how my research connects to my topic with different types of research. 

Feedback  came in handy with my writing, especially from my professor. My professor made sure to critique us in a way that we would feel confident in doing better. Getting feedback from my professor made my journey way better, especially when it was encouraging feedback. For example, in unit 1 my professor made a heartfelt comment that I had “an amazing piece and it deserves to be in a magazine”. That comment made me want to write 1 million more writing pieces. It was a comment that I needed , especially since I felt bad about myself. This just goes to show feedback goes a long way even when you really dont think it does. So when you hear feedback time in classes don’t get offended or bored this is an encouraging moment. 

I can definitely say leaving high school and who I am now are two different people. And English made me realize that. I’m anxious to see what I become in the future and how being a writer will affect me even more. As I said in unit 1 “that’s when I realized I shouldn’t care about what other people thought about how I dressed or what my name was. All I knew was that no one should ever take away my confidence of being african”. For this quote to relate to this is I won’t let any standards let me think that I am less or I’m not creative. Being a writer this semester definitely proved to myself that I can be anything if I really put my mind to it and not just doubt myself from the beginning. 

So for a little advice to anyone that’s doubting themself as a writer is to give it a chance and not just think less of yourself. Having faith in something can change you completely and that’s what English this semester did. I can’t wait to see what the writer’s journey has ahead of me in the future. I can’t wait to hear the good reviews about my professor because she is a wonderful professor.