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05/12/18
The book Kadeja the Fulani Pearl Queen flags up brilliantly the collaboration that occurred between black and white Abolitionists to end the Slave Trade in its appendix section and follow on work.
The story of Kadeja is a haunting tale about the capture of a Fulani princess as she travelled through the African rainforest to her betrothed; the heir of the Ashanti throne.
The book is an engaging tale about the ardent love and aspiration of 2 young people. The work is nevertheless a crucial teaching resource for Key Stage 2 and 3 History lessons about the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
The book “Kadeja the Fulani Pearl Queen” is a concise teaching resource and enables teachers to deliver excellent lessons about the Slave Trade. The book in its appendix section, examines the impact the trade had on different aspects of African life.
The future belongs to our young people. We all reap what we sow. If we sow seeds in the hearts of young that makes them sensitive to the pain and suffering of other people, then we will find that we go into our twilight years safe in the knowledge that those who will govern and wield influence when we are aged and at times frail will be noble spirited individuals who remember that we loved and nurtured them when they were little and vulnerable and need to show us love, respect and compassion even as our eyes begin to dim…

See below an interesting rendition of the song Amazing Grace by John Newton, a slave captain that probably commanded the slave ship that took Kadeja from the shores of Africa into the diaspora of North America.
Stella Osammor
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07/08/18
Due to recent developments and in line with eCommerce trends, Delta Maria Books now accepts online payments via paypal. We are really excited about this development, as we believe that this will ease and open up payment options for our numerous customers. So get shopping!!
AUM
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26/01/18
Great news for all our fans, we have a new website. You can now read up on our latest news, see what previous customers have had to say, view our gallery and contact us with just the click of a button.
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22/11/17
Great Britain has been wedded to several nations and birthed countless Anglophiles in virtually all the continents of the world.
Britain legal practice, accouting practices, medical practice (to name a few) has influenced so many nations of the world.
Britain used to be the Ultimate "Shopkeeper" of the world. Her customer Service/Trading skills was second to none; and she gave the world of Trade and Commerce the slogan: "The Customer is King".
Britain is not just a great country, she is a nation of destiny for so many; for the simple reason that she birthed them (This is despite the fact that she may not have celebrated them) . The fastest growing segment of the British population today is that of mixed race people.
Today, the human resource of a nation is what defines its gravitas and influence in the world. Your greatness as a nation now rests heavily on the quality of your human resource and the degree of amount of ardour your populace have advancing the interest for their motherland.
In this global village we now call the world, tribal commitments and the ability to make ALL and not just some of your citizens extall you as "MOTHER" is crucial.
China has huge numerical superiority over many nations, the technological might of Germany and Japan cannot be questioned. America's superior space technology cannot be questioned. Israel has more scientists and inventors than any other nation of the world. However in terms of diplomatic prowess Great Britain should be number one. She ought to have a long line of foot soldiers who extall her and are passionate about protecting her global interest
Britain has been fecund and totally ignorant of the complex and powerful loyalties she has around the world by reason of bloodties. She has many children who are avid anglophiles but need to be told they matter. Britain's ability to mend bridges with ALL of her numerous offspring around the world will indeed determine the amount of influence she wields in this century, and in the years to come.
The book Silhouettes of a treasured Heritage was a recommende reading text for a Freshman social science course at Priceton University, from 2009-2014. The course examined the complexities of multi-racial relationships.
Silhouettes of a Treasured Heritage is also a recommended QCA text for the teaching of modern day, British multi-racial History. It is also available on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silhouettes-Treasured-Heritage-Recommended-Text/dp/1546869921/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511356083&sr=1-1&keywords=Silhouettes+of+a+Treasured+Heritage
Stella Osammor
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07/11/17
Bullying as a topic of conversation is something that parents, teachers, and society in general, try to avoid. This is because the subject fills parents, teachers, young and old alike with despair. However, life on earth is fraught with all types of difficulties and challenges that try to frustrate or bully the human spirit. Ill-health, poverty, destitution, war and the unkindness of people are all examples of the way life tries to frustrate or bring down the human spirit.
However, we are all called upon to exercise courage in the face of life’s inclination to make the human spirit bow or be cowered.
It is critical that young people at all stages of education; primary, secondary or tertiary levels of education are given keen support and keen assistance if they find themselves grappling with this serious challenge, that some encounter, as they journey through life. Parents particularly must exercise courage as their children’s primary caregiver. Children must not be allowed to grapple with this challenge alone as it is a challenge that may cause a young child or person to end their lives. Parents must exercise wisdom by first of all calling for every available help that is at their disposal. This is often necessary to help their children emerge from their difficulties as a stronger and more courageous individual.
This was the case with my childhood friend Lola Soares. Lola was a pretty Brazilian Yoruba girl who had been born to her parents in their old age.
Lola had a much older sister, who was a highly placed official in the Ministry of Education. Lola’s immediate older brother was a Lieutenant in the Nigerian Army. Lola’s life was idyllic until the year she turned ten
Lola and I used to walk home together with my older sister and three other friends. Our school was about a mile and a half from the middle-class neighbourhood where we all lived. We all enjoyed the walk home after school, talking endlessly and buying hawker food as we all made our way back to our different homes.
About a week after Lola’s 10th birthday, an all-boys demonstration school was opened not too far from our own school. The boys used to pour out of their school gates, just about the same time as we also set out for home. Some of the boys began to pester Lola and call her names, like “Bessie Bunter”, “Roly Poly”, “Puff-Puff” and so on and so forth. Then after some time, they began to tug and pull at her arms and breasts. This used to frighten us and had Lola in floods of tears.
Lola’s mother decided to act when Lola with great defiance said she would sooner die than allow the bullies to defeat her.
The moment Lola’s mother heard Lola mention dying; she knew she needed to wade into the shark-infested waters with her anguished daughter. The rest of the family, to be honest, were too busy with their own lives and had swept the issue under the carpet, by saying that the bullies would get tired and leave Lola alone, or that Lola should take the bus home and avoid the bullies.
Lola’s mum, in the end, realised that Lola was her responsibility and needed her support as mother and ally. Lola’s mother (Mrs. Soares) came to the school to tell the headmistress about the bullying Lola had been suffering. The headmistress was horrified and agreed that it was important to fully support Lola.
Mrs. Soares arranged to travel with us one Friday afternoon after school and confront the bullies head-on with her daughter.
The headmistress asked the three big hefty, feisty girls to accompany Mrs. Soares and bring up the rear.
As we walked ahead, the bullies came straight towards Lola, chanting their obscenities, pulling at Lola’s arms and breasts like they had in the past.
Lola’s mother, Mrs. Soares was clothed like African royalty, at its best. Mrs. Soares was also a devout Catholic. She had prayed fervently and God gave her great courage that day. She looked awesome, and the bullies fell at her feet, wimping and petrified.
“I will let you go this time but know that in future, I will come at you with a truckload of soldiers. They will pounce on you when you least expect it!" She thundered at the ringleaders holding them by the scruff of the neck. The hefty girls had the head of some of the boys under their armpits, and some of them were held in an arm lock. Lola smiled and came alive again after so many weeks of being crestfallen. She whispered “They never knew I had my mum with me,” she said and glowed with beauty and life again as she watched her magnificent mum grab the bullies by the scruff of the neck.
The bullying ended suddenly as it had begun. A year later, we all moved on, from primary school to secondary school.
I learned that Friday Afternoon that bullies are actually cowards and cower when challenged. I also learned that bullies need to be reminded that what goes around, comes around. What bullies do to other people will be done; either to the bully themselves or their children and progeny (unless the grace or mercy of God intervenes).
Bullies must be confronted sometimes not just for the sake of their victims but also for their own good. Evil seeds they sow often constitute a bad harvest in their own future or the future of people they love.
Furthermore, as Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “In our struggles with life’s cruelties, we have cosmic assistance. There is something, in the very nature of the universe, that assists good. There is a compelling force that helps men in their different battles with the vicissitudes of life. I, as a Christian, call that compelling force Prayer.
A parent must never face this type of challenge alone. After you have prayed, tell the school, your GP, the NSPCC, tell your community leaders, and your church about the bullying. Most important of all, never allow your child to face the challenge of bullying alone.
The NSPCC give excellent support to children who may be experiencing bully through their "Speak out and Keep safe campaign" They can be contacted by telephone on 02078252505 or from overseas on (+44)2078252505 or via their website at nspcc.org.uk/staysafe
This link is a Morale boost for anyone who may be going through bullying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frtZ4XfoXxM
The book "Silhouettes of a Treasured Heritage" is a recommended reading text at Princeton University and examined the racism and challenges that Miranda; a mixed race woman experienced as a child.
Silhouettes of a Treasured Heritage is also a QCArecommended reading text for the teaching of modern day British multicultural history.
Available at discounted prices at shop.odeigahouse.com
or at Amazon.co.uk
Stella Osammor
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06/11/17
World Kindness Day was established in 1998, by a coalition of non- governmental organisations, in several countries. World Kindness Day is observed on the 13th November in Canada, Japan, Australia, Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
After the abolition of the Slave Trade, William Wilberforce is said to have set out to make kindness and courtesy and integral part of the British national character. Wilberforce was good-looking and influential and made his campaign successful to a considerable degree in Victorian Britain.
On a personal note, my own father towards the latter end of his life suffered ill health. He had a long and successful career as a Civil Servant. He was however inclined to still help the widowed wife of a friend or an acquaintance, or give fatherly assistance or guidance to an orphaned young person he knew needed his support. This was in spite of the enormous challenges he had with his own health. He often said to my mum, “I do these things because our children may one day need the help of someone in some part of the world, where you and I may never get to.”
My mum taught a kindergarten class, for many years in a school in Nigeria, ran by Catholic nuns. A parent of one of the children she taught was overwhelmed by my mother’s kindness and motherly patience with her children. Through a conversation she had with my mum, she got to know that I wanted to pursue a career in broadcasting and radio journalism. This woman with great generosity of spirit helped me achieve my dreams of working with Nigeria’s foremost broadcasting radio station, in my gap year. The result of that one year experience inspired me to write my first book “The Triumph of the Water Lily” This book was later used as a university entrance exam text by a Nigerian joint admission and Matriculation Board.
Kindness is the thing that makes us celebrate exceptional individuals in this life. The kindness we show to people keeps speaking about us long after we have died and gone. We see examples of this in the lives of individuals such as Dr Barnardos, William Wilberforce, Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa of Calcutta to name a few.
There is also a wise saying that we reign in life as triumphant heroes to the degree or extent to which we touch the lives of other people, with grace and kindness.
That is why it is often said that good teachers are remembered not because of what they taught you, but because of the way they made you feel. The kind acts we extend to other people invariably blesses us or those we love, is very often in our distant future.
I remember a young woman who recounted how a Caribbean woman had helped her survive the overwhelming grief she experienced when her husband died on their honeymoon on a Caribbean island far, far away from her home and her parents in the US. Her beloved husband had gone out to swim in the open seas and was washed away by a strong overpowering tidal wave.
Many good people tried but were unable to save his life. This young woman’s parents tried to travel out to the Caribbean to be with their grief stricken daughter but were unable to do so, due to the fact that all flights out of the USA had been cancelled, owing to problems the airlines were having because of volcanic ash in Italy. This motherly Caribbean woman a chambermaid, heard heart rendering sobs coming from the room next to where she was cleaning . She left her work and went next door to try and see if she could help the person who was crying. The young American woman told the elderly Caribbean woman what had happened to her. The woman gathered the grief stricken young woman in her bosom and literally saved her sanity and stopped her from being annihilated by grief.
There is also the remarkable account of a young medical student in America who sold insurance premium from door-to-door to help pay for his fees.
One hot sunny dusty day in a remote town in America’s Deep South, he knocked on the large wooden front door in a large cattle ranch. The daughter of the farmer opened the door and spoke to the young man at length. After the conversation, he asked her if she could give him a glass of cold water as he was feeling thirsty and weary. The young lady quickly went to the back and came back with a tall glass of cold full cream milk. She said, “You look hungry and tired, and I think you need this, more than water.”
The young man was famished and drank the milk with tremendous gratitude. About 12 years later, he became a surgeon and was told he had to operate on a woman who had a benign tumour in the brain. She had insurance but was told that the insurance was not sufficient to cover the bill that the surgeon needed to be paid. He recognised the name of the young woman and the name of and address of the ranch her family owned. He told the hospital that he would perform the operation very gladly as a matter of priority.
Then he was given a form to sign and confirm that he did not require to be paid for his services. The surgeon gladly signed the form and added the words, “My services have been paid in full with a tall glass of cold milk.”
Our kindness indeed chases us down with untold blessings, not just for ourselves, but also for our generations yet to be born.
The kind acts of Jesus who was a huge historical character is still a fine example to so many.
The book “The Triumph of the Water Lily” is a book about the kindness and gentle nature of an African woman who suffered so much, owing to the fact that she was infertile, in the early years of her marriage. Nkem, the main character of Triumph of the Water Lily eventually died, at a very young age. Her life however touched the lives of so many with grace and comfort.
The story of the boy with the five loaves and two fish is also about how a little boy’s kindness fed thousands of people.
Delta Maria Books is currently giving away four copies of the Triumph of the Water Lily and four copies of “The Boy with the Five Loaves and two fish”- published in English and translated into French and Spanish. It has a world book section with comprehension questions, in French Spanish and English. If you want a copy email delta.maria@btinternet.com.
Stella Osammor
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10/10/17
THE ADVANTAGES OF MULTILINGUALISM
The advantages of multilingualism in an ever-shrinking world are indeed enormous.
The world-wide-web has made the world a much smaller place than it was three decades ago.
In this global setting, ones ability to be multilingual puts an individual at an enormous advantage.
As a nation, it is important that at least 70% of our workforce are not monolingual if our credential as a nation with financial/economic gravitas is to be maintained.
This need for a multilingual workforce was aptly put by Germany's ex-chancellor Helmut Khol. In an address in Germany to foreign trade delegation; Helmut Khol said "If you desire to sell your wares to me, on my turf, you must be prepared to do so in German.
A decade ago, the British press made a great play about the commercial astuteness of a Japanese delegation who won a massive engineering contract in the Middle - East.
The Contract was a very lucrative one and virtually all the G8 countries vied for the contract.
The presentation packages of the various delegations were awash with spectacular computer-generated graphics and powerpoints materials.
The graphics and powerpoint materials from the Japanese delegate were equally spectacular and cutting-edge; however, they outstripped the competition by delivering their presentation in fluent Arabic.
The minute you are able to communicate with people in their indigenous language or dialect you immediately put them at ease and remove emotional barriers we all put up when we meet strangers.
Language constitutes a crucial aspect of a people's culture. The way a people express themselves or use words gives you an indication of the way they perceive the world and the events that occur in it.
The Yoruba people, for instance, refer to a pregnant woman idiomatically as a protector of a fetus.
The English use the idiom "She is in the family way"
Whilst the Ibos will refer to the same pregnant woman as a woman with a dual existence.
Idiomatic expressions encapsulate the wisdom and philosophical disposition of a people. By extrapolation, children who are multilingual are exposed to the wide spectrum of cultures, knowledge, wisdom, and philosophies that exist in our world.
A child equipped with a rich store of cultural experiences and languages is a child who is being groomed to be a global citizen and a person of significant influence.
Children who are multilingual are said to be so much more mentally agile than monolingual children. Multilingual children are also reputed to have greater focus and attention spans than monolingual children.
Multilingualism also encourages children to think laterally and evolve into great problem solvers.
In addition to all the foregoing, multilingualism makes everyone so much safer and able to cope in whatever airport, seaport or cultural setting we may find ourselves.

Multilingual education becomes a lot easier and immensely enjoyable when it is incorporated into the everyday life of children; such as storytelling or the reading of storybooks.
Deltamaria books have translated African fables into the French and Spanish Languages. The fables are in the genre of Aesop fables.
The end goal of fables is to help children acquire good social skills and encourage them to be emotionally astute and intelligent.
The account of each fable is beautifully illustrated and delivered in English. The same account is immediately translated and delivered in French (for the English/French editions) or Spanish (for the English/Spanish editions).
The publications give pupils an opportunity to see/compare how words/ideas are expressed in English with the way they are expressed in French or Spanish.
The titles of the Fables are Tortoise and the Sardines and The Cunning Tortoise.
There are two beautifully illustrated bible stories for children. The boy with the five loaves and two fish and The story of the boy Samuel.
Relaying fables and bible stories to children multilingually enrich the imagination and educational experience of young people in a way that is enjoyable and profound.
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/deltamariabooks
Stella Osammor
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13/09/17
In all of the developed countries, education is regarded as the primary ingredient in the creation of a civilised society. There is the firm belief that enlightenment creates or ushers in a society that is no longer savage in its inclination. Therefore, good governance is deemed to go hand in hand with education. Education is also seen to be a critical mechanism in the creation of a society that is homogeneous and cohesive. Education is what allows everyone throughout the length and breadth of a country, to sing as it were from the same hymn sheet.
In Britain, the Government sees the education sector as the sector that supplies the nation with its human resource base.
In fact, it was the education or enlightenment of the masses via the Methodist Movement, set up by the Wesley Brothers that created the spring board or platform for the Industrial Revolution in Britain. The Methodist movement by Oxford undergraduates created a working class that was encouraged to be self respecting, public spirited and governable. The Methodist movement pushed for peasants to be given a living wage. Set up by the co-operative movements, to back them up in times of medical crisis, and ultimately encourage the creation of the Labour Party.
In the colonies, administration of the colonies went hand in hand with the education of the indigenous population, i.e. the teaching of the 3 Rs: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. This was to enable the people to evolve into masses that were governable.
All the G8 countries (i.e. the most economically advanced nations of the world) all have education as a top priority in their budgets and National Agenda.
Education is regarded as the supplier of the only resource which the highly industrialised nation of Japan relies on. Of all the G8 countries, Japan has no natural resources. All it can boast of is its Human Resource Base, a resource that is highly motivated and committed to excellence in terms of what it manufactures. This pride is vividly demonstrated in the story narrated at a G8 meeting about a Honda motor foreman who always arrived home late because he was forever adjusting and tightening the screws on Honda vehicles parked on the sidewalks that led to his house.
The United States has over the year endeavoured to revive her flagging car industry by trying to evolve a workforce that takes pride in what it manufactures.
It has finally become an established fact in many industrialised nations that the manufacturing sector needs a work force that is not only trained in the use of equipments but also trained in the ability to provide its client base with excellent service, i.e. that has a good knowledge of the lifestyle of its client base and those extra little things that make life special for these clients.
The teaching sector also provides developed societies with its oligarchic class. This is class that provides developed nations with its captains of industries, its scientists, its politicians, its civil-servants and professionals such as lawyers, doctors, teachers etc.
The education sector in Britain is delineated into communities; public schools, and local government schools for the bulk of the population. The public schools in Britain such as Eton, Harrow feed Oxford and Cambridge with undergraduates which have for decades, created Britain’s oligarchic class.

Eton, like most schools in the private sector carry out a stringent interviewing procedure before students are selected. An interesting feature of its interviewing programme includes a one to one interview with the mother of the potential entrants. These public schools insist on this, because the profile, character and disposition of a pupil are deemed to be important.
The Head Teacher and his staff often want to gauge the type of supervision a child would get from home. Dad is often perceived as not having as much access to a child, as its mother invariably does. Dad’s work may actually take him away from home quite a lot and so mum is the ally that underpins or supports what the school does. Besides, the perceived wisdom is that a man’s wife speaks volume about a man’s real character…
Teaching a child to read from the age of 6 and successfully write and do long division and multiplication takes a lot of skill, patience and dedication.
Many teachers impact people’s lives beyond what they teach. The integrity they bring to the work they do inspires you for life.
How does one remunerate someone who allows you; as a petrified early learner, to feed on their ego, so as to enable you evolve into a confident self-possessed adult. Britain celebrates its teachers annually. Some appear on the Queens’ Honours List and others are feted at Gala Awards, which are broadcast live on television with massive viewing audiences. Teachers impact our lives to such an extent that we may never recall everything they taught us but we remember them, because of their integrity and character.
I remember an Irish Head- teacher at St Louis grammar school in Ibadan in Nigeria. She wrote me such a testimonial that gave me a belief in myself that has kept me going for years. I decided to contact her and thank her. I wrote her a letter and got a response back from her convent in Nigeria, saying she was in Britain that summer. My letter was forwarded to her, and she invited me to meet her up at Victoria Station a week and a half later. I kept the appointment and felt slightly nervous about the encounter. The moment we clapped eyes on each other, all nervousness was gone. We hugged each other warmly and in spite of the hurly-burly of Victoria Station I had one of the most surreal afternoons I had had in England for a long time. We sipped coffee as she filled me in on her life in Ibadan, and old girls who were in various parts of the world. All too soon, our rendezvous was over and she had to continue her journey to Ireland. That was decades ago. I do not know whether this nun is still alive. However, all she did for me and so many young women of my generation still live on.
Teachers should be celebrated in every society and culture.
As an Oxford dean said to his students the other day, a good teacher prepares you for life. A good teacher prepares you for employment, but the best of teachers prepares you for unemployment and those times when you have to think laterally and find the resources within you to re-invent yourself and remain a winner and an achiever in society, in spite of great odds.
Stella Osammor
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24/08/17
The Brexit Referendum results and the recently concluded American elections, make it extremely clear that rhetoric is an important mechanism in the battle to win the hearts and minds of any electorate.
Libraries up and down the nation constitute public places where people can be persuaded to embrace a national vision or perspective that engenders peace and progress for that nation.
Brexit is now a reality and opens up new frontiers, new partnerships, new challenges and new socio-political and economic agendas for the UK.
The need for the UK and its populace to be broad in their vision and in their appreciation of other peoples and cultures has never been greater. Britain once upon a time had a close involvement with the cultures and peoples of one- quarter of this planet. That is a staggering legacy from the forebears of the British people. This relationship was encapsulated and enshrined in the principles of the Commonwealth.
An examination of historical facts will establish whether present day Britain makes good use of this legacy
Globalisation by its definition requires socio political and economic interaction with people of diverse cultures. One can that it is hypothetically correct to say that globalisation and diversity are two sides of the same coin.
Population and culture is more diverse) perform better than students in the Northern parts of the country. The report went on to suggest that positive engagement with diverse cultures helps us all to be global in our perspective.
A Joseph Rowntree report pointed to the advantages of a heterogeneous nation in leaving us better equipped to weather the storms of the global economy and adapt to change
Members of CDEG areinvolved in all the three levels of education (primary, secondary and tertiary) and are supremely positioned to encourage decision makers in government to recognise the crucial need to put the message across that diversity is an asset to present day Britain.
The role of Britain on the world stage is a pivotal one. She is a nation with an increasingly culturally diverse population the fastest growing segment of the Britain’s population are people of dual heritage. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11205165/Mixed-race-in-the-UK-am-I-the-future-face-of-this-country.htmlI was involved in the Who do we think we are?pilot project carried out by the Geographical Society of Britain and the forum for citizenship studies which explored the situation and the experience of those with dual cultural heritage.
One of the important findings of the project was that children of dual cultural heritage have a pressing need to be well versed in the history and cultural knowledge of the two aspects of their cultural reality. The book Silhouettes of a Treasured Heritage is a teaching resource that highlights the huge emotional dividends that accrue to persons of dual cultural heritage when they invest time and effort to understand their none –white or European culture.
The text was recommended by the Qualification and Curriculum Authority as a teaching resource for Britain’s modern multi-ethnic history in 2007. This
occurred because the text addressed many of the issues that Teachers at the Ethnic minority Achievement Service have for many years pinpointed as serious factors that undermine that schooling experience of many black and Mixed race pupils.
The Home office funded Connecting Communities Project which I managed also worked with the Learning Trust apart from Emas. The findings of my project clearly pointed to the fact that mixed race children desire to know the history of Africa which was far removed from the slave trade.
However, it was mature or older mixed race people in tertiary education who we interviewed, that had the emotional intelligence to admit to our team that the pathos that surrounds the slave trade drives many mixed race persons from exploring their African heritage.
Some mixed race Oxford graduates; know all about the battle of Agincourt and the origin of the royal family right back to William of Orange but know nothing at all about the History of Africa or any of its kings or Queens. These individuals freely admit that this lopsided knowledge of their roots is incorrect.
The picture that began to emerge was that a case needed to be made that ; Africa’s history did not begin with the slave trade any more than Jewish history began with the holocaust. The text Silhouettes of a Treasured Heritage makes this case.
The QCA, in its decision to recommend that Silhouettes of a treasured Heritage be used for the teaching of modern multi-ethnic history of Britain; reasoned that many mixed race and young black people are more likely to be interested in knowing about Africa’s history if it goes back to ancient Egypt, when Nubian and Cushite kings ruled Egypt.
Our project also discovered that history matter to young people. Chinese and Asian pupils we encountered were proud of their language, history and cultural heritage and readily invest time and effort in learning about their roots.
Black and mixed race pupils on the other hand expressed unease with sad history lessons they often had to endure about the slave trade. Most important of all these history lessons we gleaned, constitutes a serious emotional barrier that prevented black and mixed race children from embracing Britain as their adopted homeland.
The QCA felt that Silhouettes of a Treasured Heritage was a necessary resource that was crucial in correcting this soci-educational anomaly.
Many other social issues Silhouettes of a treasured Heritage drew attention to are even more relevant today than they were some years ago (some examples being violent demonstrations or violent extremism). These typically arise when segments of a society are marginalised.
In 2008 Silhouettes of a treasured Heritage was a recommended reading text at Princeton University in a social science Freshman’s course, that examined the dynamics of multi-racial relationships.
British exit from Europe can no longer be reversed. According to the Rowntree report mentioned earlier. A heterogenous population could constitute an assert for a nation.
Britain’s gravitas as a nation state and global giant is closely tied to what she does with the cultural diversity that her ever increasing mixed race population and the Commonwealth of nations; created by her forebears bestow on her.
Finally,war and combat have today become asymmetrical. People are now prepared to die for all kinds of causes they are passionate about .out
Very often, they acquire these passions through what they read and what they hear.Decision makers should put out messages that say peace is beautiful (and to be treasured in spite of its fragile nature). We should similarly tell all our youngpeople that the safe child today; is the child who can cope in any seaport or airport itshe/he finds itself. Our children are so much safer if the education we give them; lets them knowabout the conditions and way of life of other people in the vast and varied global village we now inhabit.
Stella Osammor
Comments...
04/07/17
As a TES author and a QCA consultant, I find it disconcerting when the history curriculum requires that a case be made for the slave trade.
A case can never be made for the huge suffering that goes with enslaving human beings(for example as it occurs in the sex-slave industry of modern times or as exploited labour on some cotton/sugarcane plantation in the 18th century).
The truth is that the suffering and degradation of other people diminish the dignity of our species. This was the rallying cry of the Quakers and the Abolitionists who fought so long and hard to end the trade in humans.
Evidence from the various strands of social media, suggests that race relations are important sociological elements in the thinking of young people today. It must be mentioned that many young people don’t realise that white people of goodwill; such as William Wilberforce worked alongside fellow black Abolitionists such as Oludah Equono (as life-long friends) to end the slave trade.
Life is essentially a journey we’ve all embarked on. The mugged and wounded traveller on Jericho’s highway should be the concern of all of us and not just that of the Good Samaritan.
We cannot be spiritually isolated entities in a world that is geographically held together. Our children must be taught about the huge contributions and endless efforts the Quakers; the champions of the abolitionist movement made to end the slave trade. Our young people need to know about Peg-leg Joe. The one legged abolitionist who risked life and limb, travelling from one cotton plantation to another, teaching slaves in coded folk songs about the constellations and stars they were to follow as they journeyed along the Mississippi river to a destination where he would be waiting to assist them to freedom.
The book Kadeja the Fulani Pearl Queen flags this collaboration between black and white Abolitionists to end the Slave Trade in its appendix section and follow on work.
The story of Kadeja is a haunting tale about the capture of a Fulani princess as she travelled through the African rainforest to her betrothed; the heir of the Ashanti throne.
The book is an engaging tale about the ardent love and aspiration of 2 young people. The work is nevertheless a crucial teaching resource for Key Stage 2 and 3 History lessons about the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
The book “Kadeja the Fulani Pearl Queen” is a concise teaching resource and enables teachers to deliver excellent lessons about the Slave Trade. The book in its appendix section, examines the impact the trade had on different aspects of African life.
The future belongs to our young people. We all reap what we sow. If we sow seeds in the hearts of young that makes them sensitive to the pain and suffering of other people, then we will find that we go into our twilight years safe in the knowledge that those who will govern and wield influence when we are aged and at times frail will be noble spirited individuals who remember that we loved and nurtured them when they were little and vulnerable and need to show us love, respect and compassion even as our eyes begin to dim…
Stella Osammor
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