But for the grace of God goes I

Why are some people happy when someone’s life is going downhill? The African proverb “Do not laugh at a person’s problems because tomorrow it may be you” teaches but for the grace of God goes I.

“Do not laugh at a person’s problems because tomorrow it may be you” ~ African Proverb

Schadenfreude is a complex emotion, where rather than feeling sympathy towards someone's misfortune, schadenfreude evokes joyful feelings that take pleasure from watching someone fail. The happiness of most people is not ruined by great catastrophes or fatal errors, but by the repetition of slowly destructive little things. ~Ernest Dimnet

When we consider pleasure-in-others'-misfortune as pertaining to minor misfortunes and involving our belief that justice has been done and that we are not responsible for eliciting the misfortune, then this emotion is not so reprehensible from a moral point of view.

Beyond that basic human social-comparison instinct, certain situations are ripe for schadenfreude. These include if you stand to gain from another person's misfortune, if the other person's troubles are somehow deserved, or if something unfortunate happens to someone whom you dislike, resent or envy. "Sometimes more than one of these things causes schadenfreude at the same time – we can feel schadenfreude toward someone because we dislike them, they are a rival and their loss is our gain.

[Read: Survival of the Fattest, obese Europeans starving Africa.]

A major reason for being pleased with the misfortune of another person is that this person's misfortune may somehow benefit us; it may, for example, emphasize our superiority. A central feature of pleasure-in-others'-misfortune is the belief that the other person deserves her misfortune.

The belief that the other person deserves his misfortune expresses our assumption that justice has been done and enables us to be pleased in a situation where we seem required to be sad.

The more deserved the misfortune is, the more justified is the pleasure. Norman Feather shows in a study of people's attitude toward the downfall of those in high positions that the fall was greeted with positive approval when the fall was seen to be deserved.

Sudan fermented Kisra bread

Kisra or Kesra bread is a common fermented bread that looks similar to crepes or flatbread. Kisra is a staple food made throughout Sudan, South Sudan and Northern Africa.

Slow-fermented Kisra bread has more nutrients, vitamins, and minerals than regular bread because of the process of fermentation process easier to digest.

Article Topics

How to make Kisra bread

Three rules for making Sudanese fermented Kisra bread is practice, patience, and preparation.

Sudanese fermented Kisra sandwich

Easy Sudanese Kisra Bread

Ingredients

1 cup wheat flour

2-3 cups water

1/4 cup plain yogurt

Sesame oil for greasing the crepe pan

Directions

Mix flour with 2-3 cups water into a thin consistency, similar to pancake mixture but slightly thinner. Add yogurt and mix well. Leave covered for 3 days to ferment in the fridge. Heat the pan and grease lightly with oil. Pour ¼ cup of the dough mixture onto the crepe pan and spread evenly using a crepe maker utensil into a thin sheet. Allow 1-2mins to cook one side then flip and cook another 1 minute. Eat with your favorite soups and stews; make into a decadent dessert or as a wrap for your lunch sandwich. 

Sour Fish Soup African Food Recipe

Sierra Leone is a small coastal African country where fishing is a way of life and Sour Fish Soup African Food Recipe is one of Africa's favorite recipes.

African Fish Soup Recipe

Roadside market in Sierra Leone

As such fish is an important representing almost 70 percent of the animal protein consumed in Sierra Leone. The herb sorrel or sour grows wild in Sierra Leone. The leaves of the sorrel plant are the part used in recipes throughout Sierra Leone. 

Because of its pungent flavor, sorrel is often combined with fish; blanch the sorrel leaves before cooking if they taste too sharp. Sierra Leone Fish Sour Soup is an easy one pot recipe to make ahead or on a weeknight. 

Sierra Leone Fish Sour Soup African Food Recipe

Ingredients:

1 handful fresh sorrel leaves, chopped

Sierra Leone Fish Sour Soup

4 ounces any smoked fish

Peppers to taste

2 cups water

Directions:

In a large pot with water boil the sorrel for 3 minutes, drain water. Add water, fish and seasoning to pot of sorrel and simmer 10 minutes. Serve over rice or as a soup.

Did you know?

Sorrel has a characteristically sharp acidic taste and contains large amounts of oxalic acid which can interfere with absorption of some minerals. Spinach and broccoli also contain high amounts of oxalic acid.

Sudanese Aseeda Honey Dessert Recipe

Learn to make aseeda (asida) simple honey dessert recipe

In Southern South Sudan, Aseeda is a giant doughy dumpling dish made with three simple ingredients; flour, water, and salt topped with melted butter and honey.

Sudanese Aseeda Honey Dessert Recipe

Sudanese Aseeda Honey Dessert Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups whole-wheat flour

2-3 cups cold water

1 teaspoon sea salt

Aseeda Topping

½ cup melted butter

½ cup honey

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, add flour, salt and cold water mixing well with a bread hook attachment. You can also mix by hand. Mix until flour and water and fully incorporated.

In a large pot over medium heat, add dough and an additional 1 cup of water and stir well until dough is warm, smooth and firm to the touch 10-15 minutes. There should be no lumps since you used cold water and not hot at the start of the recipe.

Slightly grease a serving plate and place the dough in the middle of the plate forming a ball with smooth sides. Make a deep indentation in the center of the dough by using a large ladle or spoon. Pour melted butter inside the indentation and over the sides, and then pour honey in the same manner.

How to eat Aseeda

To eat the aseeda simply pinch a piece of the dough, pop it in your mouth, close your eyes and enjoy.

Marriage Story

How the Mouse Won His Wife African Folktale tells the story of how Mr. Mouse won Mrs. Mouse hand in marriage with courage, intelligence, and persistence.

How the Mouse Won His Wife African Folktale

Explore and Understand Africa Through Her Food and Culture

9-19-2016

Love, so many people use your name in vein but not Mr. Mouse.

How the Mouse Won His Wife African Folktale

Years passed, and when the father was dying, he told his wife that only he who felled the mahogany tree could marry his daughter.

By and by, an Elephant arrived, and, sitting down in the town, asked the girl for a drink of water. She poured him some water and gave it to him, and he then asked her, "Are you married?" and she replied, "No, I am not yet married." The Elephant said, "I will marry you." Whereupon the mother called out, "You can marry her; but you must first cut down the mahogany tree."

The Elephant took an axe and cut, cut, cut until he was tired, and then went and rested so long that when he went again to the tree it was just as it was before he cut it. When the Elephant saw that, he threw down the axe, saying, "It is not my wedding, the woman is too much trouble."

As the Elephant was going away, he met the Buffalo, and told him all about it his problem, saying, "I came to marry, but I am not able to cut down the mahogany tree."

Then Buffalo picked up the axe and cut, cut, cut, and then rested under the verandah of the house. When he returned to the tree, he found it had grown again to its former size. Down he threw the axe and ran away.

As the Buffalo was running away, a Lion shouted out, "Where have you come from?" The Buffalo stopped and told him all his troubles. "Oh," said the Lion, "give me an axe, I'll marry her." However, the same thing happened to him, and to the Hyena, and to the Leopard also. They all cut at the tree, got tired, rested too long, and each ran away, saying, "I came to marry, but the girl is not worth the trouble."

As the Leopard was running away, a Mouse asked him "What is the matter?" and the Leopard growled, "I went to marry a woman, but whoever marries her must cut down a mahogany tree." Thereupon the Mouse went and gnawed, gnawed, gnawed without stopping, until at last the tree toppled over and fell to the ground.

When the mother saw the tree fall, she said, "Mouse, you can sleep here, and in the morning take your wife."

In the morning, they cut up six pigs and twenty loaves of bread, then the Mouse took his wife, and they started on their journey to his town.

They reached a stream where they camped for a time, and while there the Elephant arrived, and the Mouse said to him "See, this is my wife."

The Elephant would not agree to that, but said, "She is mine, I married her." "No," said the Mouse, "she is mine. Accept of two pigs for dinner."

When the Elephant heard that, he began to beat the Mouse, but the Mouse entered his trunk and gave him such pain that the Elephant cried, "Come out, and I will give you two pigs." The Mouse came out, received his two pigs, and went off with his wife.

How the Mouse Won His Wife African Folktale

They reached another town, and while resting and eating there, the Buffalo arrived. "Welcome to you," said the Mouse. But, the Buffalo did not want his welcome, and said he had married the woman, and when the Mouse would not give her up, the Buffalo hit him on the back with a big stick. 

The Mouse entered the Buffalo's ear and gave him so much pain that he bellowed: "Come out, and I will give you five sheep." The Mouse came out, received his five sheep, and went away with his wife.

As they journeyed along they met the Hyena, who said "Why, that is my wife," and when the Mouse denied it, the Hyena became very angry, and beat the Mouse and made him cry. The Mouse called the Squirrels, who came and fought the Hyena, and while they were fighting, the Mouse hurried off with his wife.

They travelled until they came to a high plateau, where they met a large Rat, who said, "Give me that woman." To him the Mouse replied, “I cannot give her, for I have had plenty of trouble to gain her."

"Very well," answered the Rat; "let us go to my home and I will give you some beer."

While sitting there the Mouse took a rat's head out of his bag.

"Where did you get that?" asked the Rat.

"Oh," boasted the Mouse,” I have eaten nine rats, and you will be the tenth." So alarmed was the Rat that he ran away and never said "Good- bye."

At last, the Mouse reached his town and gave his wife a house. There they feasted on the pigs and sheep they had gained on the road.

However, one day the Leopard paid a visit to the Mouse, and said "Mouse, let us jointly make a farm." This they did, and while the Mouse was watching the corn one day, the Leopard tried to run away with his wife. The Mouse, hearing this, invited the Leopard to drink wine in his house, and while they were drinking, the Mouse took out of his bag a Leopard's head.

"Where did you get that?" asked the Leopard.

"Down in the drinking-booth I killed and ate nine," said the Mouse, and you will be the tenth."

The Leopard was so frightened at this, that when the Mouse told him to get into the bowl, he went right in at once.

The Mouse put in the cork, and then put the bowl on the fire, and thus the Leopard died.

The Mouse said, "I will govern in this country, for there is not another chief left." Therefore, the Mouse rewarded for his courage, intelligence, and persistence.

African Yam Recipe

The white yam originated in West Africa and accounts for 90 percent of world production of yams. The yam belt of West Africa includes Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Bénin and Togo along their forest and savanna areas. Nigeria yields 70 percent of the world's yams.

Ji means yam in the West African Igbo language. Yams are a favorite food of West Africa's yam belt; especially fried yams.

Ji Fried Sweet Yam Fritters Recipe

Africa Yam recipe makes delicious African Food

Ji Fried Sweet Yam Fritters

Ingredients

1 cup cooked yams (not sweet potatoes)

1 cup rice flour or all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

Oil for frying

Directions

In a large bowl mash yams into a thick paste adding a small amount of water if needed. Add flour and sugar mixing well. In large frying pan heat 2 cups of oil, drop by tablespoon the mixture into the hot oil until golden brown on each side. Remove from oil onto a paper towel to remove excess oil. Serve warm drizzled with honey and powdered sugar if desired. 

Did you know?

One yam can weigh up to 150 pounds and are delicious barbecued, roasted, fried, grilled, boiled, and smoked.

King Eagles Promise is Easily Broken African Folklore

King Eagles promise is easily broken African Folklore teaches us to think before making a promise to someone, especially to the Sparrow bird.

King Eagles Promise is Easily Broken African Folklore

Sparrow hides all his relatives in the bush at the river.

The animals choose the powerful Eagle as their King, and throw him a great feast. 

Sparrow wishes to present a gift to Eagle but, Eagle will pay him no attention unless he first drinks a huge pot of wine. If Sparrow succeeds in this, Eagle agrees to share with him his kingdom. 

Sparrow asks King Eagle that after each drink of wine he be allowed to fly to the river for a drink of water. 

Overconfident Eagle unwisely agrees to Sparrows request.

Sparrow hides all his relatives in the bush at the river. After the first drink of wine, he flies to the river, and a relative takes his place for the second drink; another relative goes for the third drink and so on until the pot is emptied.

King Eagle is amazed little Sparrow can drink more than 100 times his weight in wine! 

Suddenly all the animals present at the feast jump up noisily, and demand Eagle keep his promise and share his kingdom with sparrow. 

But, Eagle refuses; the animals assemble for a great gathering, and dismiss him as King since he is no longer an honorable leader. 

No one ever discovered Sparrow as a cheater; it is said whenever there is heard a great chattering by sparrows, that King Eagle was being laughed at for his promises and wits being like a roaring great wind.

African Writing Systems Before Europeans

Nearly 5,000 years before Christ was born, Proto-writing was well-established form of written expression in North and West Africa. 

The dominance of European languages through colonialism has led to the mistaken belief that the written languages in Africa did not exist before the arrival of Europeans. However, Africa has the world’s oldest and largest collection of ancient Symbolic and Writing Systems.

Here are five African symbolic and writing systems you should know about to dispel the myth that Africans were illiterate people before European colonialism.

5 Ancient African Symbolic and Writing Systems

Proto-writing is symbolic communication 

Proto-Saharan

Dated 5000BC - 3000 BC

Before the Egyptian and Sumerian civilizations, there were inscriptions labeled proto-Saharan. Nearly 5,000 years before Christ was born, Proto-writing was well-established form of written expression near the near the Kharga Oasis in the Libyan Desert of Africa. Proto-writing is symbolic communication which the reader understands the symbol as a written expression.  

Egyptian 

Dated 4000 BC - 600 AD

Egyptian hieroglyphs

Perhaps the most famous symbolic writing system in Africa is the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Egyptian hieroglyphs were a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that combined logographic and alphabetic elements. A logogram is a written character that represents a word or phrase. Egyptians invented three scripts: hieroglyphic 4000 BC – 600 AD, hieratic 3200 BC – 600 AD, and demotic 650 BC – 600 AD.

Proto-Sinaitic

Dated 2000 BC - 1400 BC

Proto-Sinaitic was the first consonantal alphabet. 

Proto-Sinaitic, also known as Proto-Canaanite, was the first consonantal alphabet. In 1999, Yale University archaeologists identified an alphabetic script in Wadi El-Hol, a narrow valley in southern Egypt. Dating to about 1900 B.C., the Wadi El-Hol script bears resemblance to the Egyptian hieroglyphs, but also the much older writing system. A similar inscription that dates to 1500 B.C. was found in Serabit el-Khadim on Egypt’s segment of the Sinai Peninsula.

Tifinagh

Dated 300 BC - 300 AD

Tifinagh is the Berber name for the ancient Libyan Alphabet. 

Tifinagh is the Berber name for the ancient Libyan Alphabet. Tifinagh is the traditional writing system of the Tuareg people, who are scattered throughout different countries of northern Africa. The name Tifinagh maybe means the Phoenician letters, or perhaps, from the phrase tifin negh, which means 'our invention.

Nsibidi

Dated 400 AD - 1400 AD

Nsibidi script comprises 
nearly a thousand symbols.

Nsibidi comprises nearly a thousand symbols. Nsibidi is an ancient system of graphic communication indigenous to the Ejagham peoples of southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon in the Cross River region. It is also used by neighboring Ibibio, Efik and Igbo peoples. Aesthetically compelling and encoded, nsibidi does not correspond to any one spoken language. It is an ideographic script whose symbols refer to abstract concepts, actions or things and whose use facilitates communication among peoples speaking different languages.

Did you know?

Proto-writing is different from True writing. True writing is information of verbal sound sets that the reader must structure the exact sound written down in order to understand the meaning. In True writing systems, a person must understand something of the spoken language to comprehend the text.

"There are truths on one side of the world which are falsehoods on the other" - African Proverb

Africans vs. African-Americans

Forced slavery is the tie that binds

The legacy of slavery binds but also keeps Africans and African-Americans apart. Many African-American black people boast the closest they have ever come and will come to Africa is Busch Gardens and Disneyland.

Shared Skin Color Does Not Guarantee Racial Unity

Explore and Understand Africa Through Her Food and Culture

9-8-2016

Africans vs. African-Americans

"Just because African-Americans wear kente cloth does not mean they embrace everything that is African," says business owner Eromosele Oigbokie. Africans and black Americans often fail to forge relationships blaming nationality, ethnicity, culture, economics and education.

"A shared complexion does not equal a shared culture, nor does it automatically lead to friendships," says Kofi Glover, a native of Ghana and a political science professor at the University of South Florida. "Whether we like it or not, Africans and African-Americans have two different and very distinct cultures."

Glover agrees that while some Africans suffered under colonial rule and apartheid, not all can relate to the degradation of slavery. In Ghana, he says, "we did not experience white domination like the Africans in Kenya, Zimbabwe or South Africa. We do not understand the whole concept of slavery, or its effect on the attitude of many African-Americans, mainly because we were not exposed to it. To read about racism and discrimination is one thing, but to experience it is something else."

Many black Americans are ignorant about Africans, Oigbokie adds. They share comic Eddie Murphy's joke that Africans "ride around butt-naked on a zebra." "They think we want to kill them so that we can eat them," Oigbokie says, laughing. "I remember a black person once asked me if I knew Tarzan. I told him, "Yes, he is my uncle." 

Glover, who also teaches African studies at the University of South Florida, says these perceptions are rooted in "all the negative things we've been taught about each other." "A lot of African-Americans were taught that Africa was nothing more than just a primitive, backward jungle from whence they came," he says. Meanwhile, Africans have picked up whites' fear of blacks. "Our perception of African-Americans is that they are a race of people who carry guns and are very, very violent."

Africans admire the American struggle for civil rights. Yet, when some come to America and discover black is not so beautiful, they insist on maintaining a separate identity. "When indigenous African people come to the United States, they adopt an attitude of superiority ... about individuals who could very well be of their own blood," Tokley says. The axe forgets what the tree remembers.

Some African customs, such as female circumcision, shock Americans. Other traditions have been forgotten, or, in the case of Kwanzaa, invented in America. Africans tend to have a strong patriarchal system, with differences in attitudes about family and work.

"The women's liberation movement has barely caught up to Africa," says Cheikh T. Sylla, a native of Senegal. "That's why I think many marriages between African men and African-American women don't last. Most African-American women are like, "I'm not going to put up with the notion that you are the absolute head of the household."

"Most of the friction between African people centers around the class issue," Yeshitela says. He says when blacks and Africans fight over jobs; they are buying into a conspiracy to keep them at odds. "I don't like the artificial separations that won't allow the two of us to get together. It is not in our best interest to always be at each other's throat." Especially since the two groups are in the same boat now, Akbar says.

"If you visit Nigeria or Ghana, the masses of the people are locked in the same circumstances as poor African-Americans," he says. "Both groups seem content to do nothing other than what they are currently doing.

"However, the denial among Africans comes from living in a place where all the bodies that surround them look the same as they do. That makes it easier for them to fail to see that the folks who are controlling the whole economy of Nigeria are the oil barons - and they don't look anything like (black) Africans."

Another point of contention, Akbar says, is that blacks appreciate their heritage more than Africans do. "We have to convince them to preserve the slave dungeons in Ghana or to continue the weaving of the kente cloth." Tours to Africa are booming. Feeling rejected at home, many middle-class blacks turn to Africa, Yeshitela says. "But in the final analysis, culture won't free you. Any ordinary African will tell you a dearth of culture is not the source of our affliction.

"We're faced with a situation where less than 10% of the total trade in Africa happens in Africa. The rest is exported from Africa. The future of all black-skinned people centers in Africa. That is our birthright and someone else has it. The struggle we have to make lies in reclaiming what is rightfully ours." It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.

Excerpt from author Tracie Reddick A shared complexion does not guarantee racial solidarity.

Smoked Fish With Peanut Sauce

Food of Africa

When it comes to African food and cooking with peanut butter, easy unique recipes are just the beginning of your African food recipe journey.

Smoked Fish With Peanut Sauce West Africa Recipe

Explore and Understand Africa Through Her Food and Culture

1-26-2016

Smoked Fish with Honey Peanut Sauce is a sweet and savory peanut butter recipe. If you are a fan of African peanut stew you will fall in love with the flavor of honey, smoked fish and peanuts.

Recipe

Ingredients

8 ounces any smoked fish

1 onion, chopped finely

1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 tablespoons peanut butter

2 tablespoons honey

1/2 cup warm whole milk

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon vegetable or olive oil

Directions

Over medium heat in a large frying pan sauté onions with oil then add seasonings, fish, and sauté for an additional 2 minutes. In a large mixing bowl add honey and peanut butter to warm milk and stir well. Add mixture to fish and simmer until thick, 5-6- minutes. Serve over rice.

Did you know?

Smoked Fish with Honey Peanut Sauce recipe

Groundnuts, sometimes confused for peanuts, are the 5th most widely grown crop in sub-Saharan Africa behind maize, sorghum, millet and cassava. Groundnuts are also grown in some Asian countries such as India, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.