Literature Circles Extension Project

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Literature Circles Extension Project
By Julie DeCintio
EDLA 615
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REFLECTION
The book The Heaven Shop by Deborah Ellis is a
non-fiction novel based on realities of the
world. Debroah Ellis was able to bring
aknowledgement to her readers of the epidemic of
HIV/AIDS in Africa as well as poverty through her
characters. The story takes place in Malawi,
Africa where Binti, her sister Junie, and her
brother lose their dad to AIDS. The siblings have
to deal with their loss of their father to a
deadly disease while they are striped from all of
their belongings, seperated from each other, and
are discriminated against because of the disease
their father died from. The author brought out
many emotions in me while reading the book. I was
angry to see the siblings relatives take
everything they own, sad to see that Junie had
resorted to prositiution to attain money for her
family and as a result contracted AIDS continuing
the vicious cycle. I was also very upset that
such terrible things are happening in our
world. I also was inspired that despite all that
Binti went through she was able to be the rock
for her family and reunite them as a family.
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POVERTY
Being Sick by Debroah Ellis The public hospitals
in Malawi and Zambia are overcrowded. There are
not enough beds, so many patients have to sleep
on mats on the floor between the beds. Sometimes
patients have to share a single bed with a
complete stranger. There arent enough nurses,
because AIDS affects health care workers, too.
Family members of the sick person usually stay at
the hospital with them, often sleeping under
their bed.
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There are no drugs here for AIDS, so what does
it matter if I have it?
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PAIN
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I'm very brave. I feel bravest when I'm with my
friends. My mother gets scared, though. I dont
remember very much about when my father died. I
was quite small, and you dont always remember
what happens to you when youre small. I think he
suffered from bad headaches, and also he ran out
of blood. When he was well, he was very kind to
me and would let me ride on his shoulders, or
just let me sit beside him while he talked to
other men. He was a soldier. He was very strong,
when he wasnt sick. Id like to be a soldier,
too. My mother says the older I get, the more I
look like him. My mother says he died of AIDS, so
she tries to stop other people getting AIDS. The
house we live in now is smaller than where we
used to live. Our old house had running water and
electricity, but this house doesnt have
anything. After my father died, his family came
and took everything we had our house, our
furniture, and our money. My mother is trying to
get everything back for us, but she says she
needs money to go to court, and we dont have
money. There are a lot of children living in
this house. They are children whose parents have
died, and they have no place to go. I dont know
where my mother finds them all, but she does, and
she brings them here. She says every child should
be taken care of. They are my new brothers and
sisters.
Real Life Binti
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RESOURCES
http//www.amazon.com/gp/product/1550419080/103-76
64267-9642223?vglancen283155
http//www.fazeteen.com/articles/aidsafrica.htm
http//images.google.com/imgres?imgurlhttp//www.
timesunion.com/fourthworld/graphics/h1.jpgimgrefu
rlhttp//www.timesunion.com/fourthworld/h200w
350sz19hlenstart36tbnidJ3DlASn0XDu0vMtbn
h69tbnw120prev/images3Fq3DMalawi,2BAfrica
2Bpictures2B26start3D2026ndsp3D2026svnum3D1
026hl3Den26lr3D26sa3DN
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RESOURCES
http//www.litcircles.org/Extension/rubric.html
http//fotw.fivestarflags.com/mw.html
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Self Assesment
Julie DeCintio
August 1, 2006
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My goal for this project was to bring attention
to the very important issues of the people living
in Malawi, Africa. I think my pictures were
carefully chosen to depict the terrible things
happening in Africa.