Akindele Owolabi Essays (1010 words) - Free Essays, Term Papers

Akindele Owolabi Essays (1010 words) - Free Essays, Term Papers Akindele Owolabi Jovonne Bickerstaff English 104-25 November 30, 2015 Ebola in Africa The social issue that I am presenting is Ebola in west Africa. Ebola is a dangerous disease that affected the world population as a whole, and it struck the hardest in West Africa. This was extremely bad because the countries in west Africa have some of the lowest gross domestic products per capitas in the world. This means that they have a lack of means to treat people when they get the disease. Taking into consideration the lack of treatment for the virus and how contagious it is, it's easy to realize why this virus became a pandemic. People were dying at such high rates that the available treatment in western Africa could not keep up with the rate at which people were getting infected. This became a major concern for me because although I no longer live in Nigeria, my grand-mother, uncle, father, and other family members still live in the first infected city of Nigeria. The part of my multi-modal assignment that would be considered the "respectable" portion was a documentary done by Vice news. The documentary took place in Liberia: the start up location for the new cases of Ebola. The documentary definitely puts the issue into perspective by showing it from the outside looking in, as well as the view point of the actual citizens of Liberia. I put certain excerpts from the documentary into my project that I thought held value. The first one was Barack Obama giving a speech about how dangerous Ebola can be and that it is spreading rapidly all around the globe. I also included some interviews that the journalist did in that same documentary where he interviewed the people of the country of Liberia. The journalist asked a man how he feels about the current situation and he responded saying that it is sorrowful that his people are just dying on a daily basis. Also included is the note that there is a complete shortage of medical professionals and he althcare facilities to treat this disease. The people call ambulances and police and get no reply. Their people are just left to die. When someone is infected in the community, they have nowhere to go, being forced to stay in their community. This is the main cause of the disease spreading. That's the main aspect of the documentary; it tells specifically what the diseases is, how hard it is to treat, and how fast the people that are infected are dying. The song portion of my project, or the "ratchet" part is a song made by a native of Liberia that goes by Shadow. The name of the song is Ebola in town. The song is written partly in pidgin English, so it might be a little difficult to understand for some. The main point of the song is that Ebola is highly contagious. The song is supposed to be sort of a comical song stating the facts about Ebola. Some lines are that "Ebola can kill you fast, no touching your neighbors, no eating bush meat like bat and monkey meat" because they tend to have the virus in them. The song also says you can't run from it. You can go to Guinea but the virus is still there. Everywhere you go the virus is there. I feel like the documentary and the song add important aspects to one another. The documentary is more for outsiders and non natives that aren't aware of the situation going on in west Africa and the song is clearly made for natives considering the fact that the artists uses pidgin English. The song also shows the how some Liberians see the disease. Below I have written the lyrics of the song so if its hard to understand, you can follow along with it. Please enjoy! Something happen Something in town Oh yeah the news I said something in town Ebola Ebola in town Don't touch your friend! No touching No eating something It's dangerous! Ebola Ebola in town Don't touch your friend! No kissing! No eating something It's dangerous! (Repeat) I woke up in the morning I started hearing people dem yelling "Da what thing happen?