Question 1
PASSAGE I
Africa, in a way corresponding to her vital statistics on the map of the world, carries a question mark in her heart. This is a question within herself, and a question about her to the rest of the world. The reason for the question is that Africa is just passing through the birth throes of a new life. She has suffered for centuries. Her illness has been written off as chronic and her sickness as sickness unto death or at best, something that would leave her more dead than alive. She has suffered so much because she has been callously and frequently raped and despoiled by the strong ones of the world who are adepts in the act of benevolent exploitation and civilized savagery. Even now there are organs of her body which are under torture and cruel assault and consequently, she is still more or less a sick personality. Nevertheless, she is not without friends. There have been those who have given their lives, their time, or their substance in order to heal her ‘’open sore’’ which has various manifestations. Such friends are still few and far between, and the quality of friendship is always a baffling question. There are those who have graciously given her a place in the newly imagined ‘’Third World’’ which stands in sharp contradistinction to the ‘’First World’’ of Europe and the ‘’second World’’ of America. Even these are divided in their attitude to her: should she be accorded the status of a corporate personality worthy in her own right to stand on equal footing with any order continent? Is she still not too immature or crude to be recognized fully as a full sister continent? And her sons and daughters, whatever their education, achievements, or status, would they ever be admitted across the subtle but palpable line of demarcation which separates the elder (the stronger of the world) from the younger (the weaker ‘coloured’ ones)? One thing that is certain is that while they are die hard enemies of her life because they think that her death or chronic infantilism is of benefit to them, she has an unfailing fund of condescending paternalism and generous patronage. Where she behaves herself according to prescription and accepts an inferior position, benevolence which becomes her poverty is assured, and for this she shows herself deeply and humbly grateful. If for any reason she shakes it into her head to be self –assertive and claim a footing of equality, then she brings upon herself a frown; she is called names; she is persecuted openly or by indirect means; she is helped to be divided against herself.
Adapted from Idowu, Bolaji E. African traditional - A definition London: SCM press
Africa, in a way corresponding to her vital statistics on the map of the world, carries a question mark in her heart. This is a question within herself, and a question about her to the rest of the world. The reason for the question is that Africa is just passing through the birth throes of a new life. She has suffered for centuries. Her illness has been written off as chronic and her sickness as sickness unto death or at best, something that would leave her more dead than alive. She has suffered so much because she has been callously and frequently raped and despoiled by the strong ones of the world who are adepts in the act of benevolent exploitation and civilized savagery. Even now there are organs of her body which are under torture and cruel assault and consequently, she is still more or less a sick personality. Nevertheless, she is not without friends. There have been those who have given their lives, their time, or their substance in order to heal her ‘’open sore’’ which has various manifestations. Such friends are still few and far between, and the quality of friendship is always a baffling question. There are those who have graciously given her a place in the newly imagined ‘’Third World’’ which stands in sharp contradistinction to the ‘’First World’’ of Europe and the ‘’second World’’ of America. Even these are divided in their attitude to her: should she be accorded the status of a corporate personality worthy in her own right to stand on equal footing with any order continent? Is she still not too immature or crude to be recognized fully as a full sister continent? And her sons and daughters, whatever their education, achievements, or status, would they ever be admitted across the subtle but palpable line of demarcation which separates the elder (the stronger of the world) from the younger (the weaker ‘coloured’ ones)? One thing that is certain is that while they are die hard enemies of her life because they think that her death or chronic infantilism is of benefit to them, she has an unfailing fund of condescending paternalism and generous patronage. Where she behaves herself according to prescription and accepts an inferior position, benevolence which becomes her poverty is assured, and for this she shows herself deeply and humbly grateful. If for any reason she shakes it into her head to be self –assertive and claim a footing of equality, then she brings upon herself a frown; she is called names; she is persecuted openly or by indirect means; she is helped to be divided against herself.
Adapted from Idowu, Bolaji E. African traditional - A definition London: SCM press
According to the passage, who are those described as having inflicted pains on Africa?
Objective