'The slave trade' - The Diary Of Kunta Kinte The Life in Africa.

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The Diary Of Kunta Kinte

The Life in Africa

The Life and conditions I lived in during the 16th and 176h century in Africa was good. Africa was a very hot country with high climates and therefore most people living in our village lived in mud huts and often people did not wear very much. Most days I wore a white cloth as shorts and wooden sandals made by the villagers living in the same area. I lived with my parents and family was an important feature in African life.

We, the African people had our own traditions, which all families chose to follow, we had many strict rules to obey, and most people in my village including myself were Muslims. At birth, when I was born I was brought up in to a caring family, normally the baby was given a name after 8 days of birth. Traditionally it was the fathers’ job to name the child, usually the baby was named during the night, he would hold his baby in the air over a lake and would shout out the baby’s new name in the name and blessing of God. Other traditions included the ‘Sacred Manhood Training’ this was a important feature in my life. One afternoon suddenly I was taken from my village I was covered with a yellow sack it was placed on top of my head, I don’t remember much but we were forced to walk a long distance in with the sack covering out faces, we all held on to each other and walked in a line one after the other, I did not know was going to happen to us and what these people where going to do to us. At the age of 15 every boy  is taken to a sacred part of the village, we are not told about this ceremony by our parents. ‘Sacred Manhood Training’ it is a tradition of a boy becoming a man. We are trained to hunt, fight, independence  and living your life with out our parents. The leader Kantango taught us manhood. I was in a tribe called Mandika, I  was proud and my life in Africa was enjoyable. One of the last ceremonies of the ‘Sacred Manhood Training’ is circumcision. Once this is completed we are ordered to return to our villages and collect our belongings and move to live independently, most of the fathers build a small hut for their son to live after the training.

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Most villages living in Africa formed a tribe of warriors, many men in the villages worked as farmers this brought in money to support the family. Women looked after young children or either made little hand nits or ornaments. In the future I would like to become a warrior and work in a tribe but it takes a lot of work and dedication.

The Journey – ‘The Middle Passage’

My experience of the distressing and shocking time with the white people when I was convicted in ‘The Slave Trade’ was an emotional and terrifying time but I stayed brave ...

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