The Bite Of The Mango

1. The Bite of a Mango by Mariatu Kamara and Susan McClelland, is a powerful story about the experiences of young Mariatu Kamara, a Canadian refugee from Sierra Leone. The culture of Sierra Leone during the 90’s and 2000’s impacted Mariatu’s life and how she ends up in Canada. One aspect of the Sierra Leonean culture is that young girls get married and have children at a very young age. When Mariatu was only 12 years old, an older man named Salieu wanted to marry her, but she rejected him. After that, while Mariatu was all alone at her house, Salieu came in and raped her, making her pregnant. She later gave birth to a baby, Abdul, who died due to malnutrition. Mariatu getting raped by an older man shows how the Sierra Leonean culture impacted her life because, in the West, this would not be acceptable, and Salieu would have been punished, although in the book, he is later shot by rebel soldiers. Next, another culture aspect of Sierra Leone is that a civil war is going on during Mariatu’s time there. Rebels and soldiers alike were attacking and destroying the country. One day, Mariatu had to go to a nearby village to get food, where rebels captured her

Soon after being held in captivity, Mary Rowlandson’s attitude started changing from hopeless to hopeful; “Oh, I may see the wonderful power of God, that my Spirit did not utterly sink under my affliction: still the Lord upheld me with His gracious and merciful spirit, and we were both alive to see the light of the next morning” (Rowlandson 131). Here Rowlandson is talking about how she is able to keep her spirit up even though her daughter is extremely sick and she has no friends to comfort her. She claims she is able to do this because of the great power of God. It seems like her mind is being uplifted by the thought of God, and she is able to focus on the good things she still has in life. I believe without her religious beliefs keeping her mentally healthy throughout all of her hardships, she would have never been able to handle her captivity as well as she did. Even after her daughter died, she is still able to keep herself together; “I have thought since of the wonderful goodness of God to me in preserving me in the use of my reason and senses in that distressed time, that I did not use wicked and violent means to end my own miserable life” (Rowlandson 132). She recognizes looking back that she could have easily decided to take her own life after losing her daughter at such a young and helpless age. It is God who protected her and kept her from doing anything bad to herself at such a low point

The catastrophic war in Sierra Leone included all ages that were hurt, amputated, or killed right outside of their own houses. After reading the two books, The Bite of the Mango and A Long Way Gone, there were some similarities and differences the two main characters came across in their books. Living through this event was a very deplorable time for victims. The two books, The Bite of the Mango and A Long Way Gone, are both similar and different in how the two main characters are both victimized but differently because of their gender.

A Mango Shaped Space, was one of the most intriguing books I have read. Mia’s story not only gave me the freedom to consider the gifts I take for granted every day, but taught me to appreciate the strengths others have. At the beginning of my journey with Mia, I was jealous of her Synesthesia. I saw her as a unique, almost superhuman teenager and myself as an average one. Because of this, A Mango Shaped Space was more than personal growth story for Mia. I grew as well.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (1997) is an ethnography written by Anne Faidman. It tells the story of Lia Lee, a Hmong girl with severe epilepsy, and her family’s journey with managing the condition and the cultural barriers that posed great challenges in Lia’s care. Lia was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 1. It was her family’s opinion that the condition was a spiritual gift. Lia’s parents, Nao Kao and Foua, were wary of the American medical system, preferring to treat Lia in the Hmong way. Under the more spiritually focused care of her parents, Lia continued to have severe seizures; at the age of 4 ½, she slipped into a coma that would last the rest of her life. This book serves as a testament to the importance of cultural competency

The Bite of the Mango speaks about the war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s and is through the eyes of Mariatu Kamara, a female and amputee, while A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is written by Ishmael Beah, a boy soldier that lost everything. They both were casualties to one of the most brutal civil wars; however, their experiences were different due to gender.

The first forms of adversity an individual may face are those of the burdens that are placed by family members and their expectations. This can be seen through Mariam’s progression of her ability to endure and suffer through

“Where is the Mango Princess”, written by Cathy Crimmins, is the journey through her husband’s, Alan’s, brain injury. Alan was hit on the head by a speedboat, and from which, he suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Eventually, awakening from his coma, his recovery took his wife and child on a roller coaster ride of emotions. This story explores the heartbreaking and frustrating experiences of a caregiver to a patient recovering from TBI. Crimmins uses slight humor and honesty to welcome the reader into the chaotic life of caring for her husband. This book has darker themes like most, so it is important that the atmosphere is kept light and airy through humorous attempts. It is the most admirable trait that Crimmins has, in my opinion. I’m not fond of reading, so the humor kept me occupied; I really enjoyed the humorous aspects of this story. This book also focuses on educating the beholder about TBI and the effects of severe brain damage. Though Alan had recovered physically from the accident, his mental recovery was still an on-going process in which rehab was required. She went on to describe the accident as: “One day, you and your family are hiking across a long, solid plain, when out of the sky comes a blazing meteor that just happens to hit one family member on the head. The meteor creates a huge rift in the landscape, dragging the unlucky one down to the bottom of the crevice it has made. You spend the next year on a rescue mission, helping him climb to the top,

Since the start of the Sierra Leonean war in March of 1991, innocent civilians have been the primary target of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)’s wrath. The people of Sierra Leone have faced significant problems due to the invasions and attacks by the Rebel Forces and are the main population that is being affected by this group’s disapproval of the government. One person who experienced profound changes in her life due to the start of this war is Mariatu Kamara, a victim of a Rebel attack that cost her both her childhood and her hands. Throughout her memoir, “The Bite of the Mango,” she is faced with numerous traumatic events and meets an abundance of people who were very significant in her life and some of whom helped her survive the war. Kamara also gives the reader a variety of themes to use as a foundation to understanding war life, which also serve to help readers learn more about life, grow as people, and rise above to help others in need. Mariatu Kamara has not only changed the lives of people all throughout Sierra Leone by giving them a voice and an outlet to share their experiences, but has also proved to be an inspiration for countless amputees around the world.

Souls, spirits, and their purpose regarding humans and life influences different Hmong cultural traditions, such as the Seed Ceremony, the String-Tying ritual, and a Hmong funeral (PBS:1). Each tradition involves souls and their connections to the human body, which establishes the importance of souls in the Hmong culture as they are a continuing theme and belief in many traditions and rituals (PBS:1). The Hmong and this connections to the soul is an example of habitus, unconscious actions and activities individuals in a group do often. The people are believing in spirits and their connection to souls. It is an unconscious and unquestionable belief shared by the Hmong people; therefore, categorizing the active thought and belief in spirits as habitus. Considering the Hmong’s viewpoint on souls in traditional rituals as habitus is critical to understand because it establishes that these views are common and important to the Hmong, thus establishing this view as an ordinary detail of their life. Spirits and their healing powers have a much greater value in Hmong culture over other healing methods, such as western medicine. Due to their large faith and belief in healing with spirits, other practices are not taken as seriously, as evident by Lia’s parents and not following the medication’s directions. There was a language and cultural barrier that also influenced their

He was forced into one of the worst labor concentration camps and through it all he found and held on to the slightest bit of hope. For example, “ I no longer felt anything except for the lashes of the whip….He took his time with the lashes. Only the first one really hurt.” Even though the lashes hurt really bad all he could think about was his father, “ I was thinking of my father. He would be suffering more than I,” He wasn’t really focused on the fact that he just got beat. He had lost his faith and belief in God through this traumatic event; and even through this time, when he had little faith, he was resilient and pushed through. He pushed through even though he had no idea of the future. Even though he could have give up and died at any point during his time there, he decided to be resilient and to keep

Introduction: God guides and protects us through all crisis by showing his power in faith to overcome. Sometimes we ask God “help us” or “save us” only when a crisis is present in our lives and forget

In those moments when he had a woman at his mercy, he was God, he held the destiny of human life in his hands. An hour with the first victim, two with the second, but nowhere near long enough to bring her to the brink. To hurt her again and again, to have her shrieking in agony and begging. Begging Aaron Lord to let her live then, as the pain never relented, she gave up her will to live and instead pleaded for him to allow her to

It all started on a dreary October night. The halls of St. Mary’s Medical Center were serenely quiet, it seemed to be an unbreakable shroud of silence. That is until shrill screams permeated the corridor. Weighing in at 10 pounds and 3 ounces, a baby boy was freed from his entrapment. This child, one of prophecy, was given the name Charles, bestowed upon him by his father. The child advanced quickly in size and intellect, growing out of putting random things in his mouth in just three short years. WIth his increased size and strength he gained a sense of comfort. He felt safe and was not afraid of the world, in fact, it fascinated him, it called to him and he yearned for it. He believed himself ready to explore it and so he did, small ventures around the neighborhood were not uncommon and many stray cats were captured. But his blissful sense of invincibility was waning and shattered at around the age four when the first of many unfortunate events befell him. The first resulted in a faceful of concrete and a few broken teeth, caused solely by the child's fascination with the hurricane force winds that whipped the giant palms around like they were made of rubber. And it descended from there…

She had learned many things in their one talk, and she couldn’t stop imagining more. An unquenchable curiosity grew in Aetna; the more she learned, the more she wanted to know. The man brought stories of creatures, of tools they made, and the struggles that he and his kin went through. The arrival of the voice became a source of adventure for Aetna; but time passed, and the voice grew weary. His visit became less often, until one day he said that he had not the energy to keep her company anymore. Aetna was about to cry when, once again, an idea struck her. She said to the man that if he came back to keep her company, she would endow him a gift. The man accepted her offer and left. Weeks passed, then months, but no one came. But Aetna believed the voice would come, he said he would. She waited and waited, until a voice asked if anyone was there. Her heart leapt in joy, but quickly was stumped. It was not the same voice; her old friend had abandoned her. The new voice asked if an old man had talked to her before. Intrigued, she said yes, and the voice felt really sad. He said that the old man was his father and he fell ill on his last trip. His last words were to keep company to a dear friend imprisoned on a faraway island, and so the voice came. Aetna felt terrible. Another friend died thinking of her. She said to the new voice, she would give him the gift that she promised his father and after that, he wouldn’t need to come back