Chronicles of an African Baby

Book excerpt: African Baby is a fictional story about one African woman's life in a rural African village, her unexpected, traumatic, and illegal entry into the United States, the ramifications of that entry, and how she managed to survive in her village and America. As the story unfolds, revealing both the past and the present, it describes, in detail, the suffering and cruelty experienced by women and girls in African countries; cultural practices still continued today like genital mutilation and breast burning, as well as the underground trafficking of sex slaves. The story is written "to shine a light" on the daily struggles of being a woman in Africa and globally, the women whom are suffering and in desperate need of access to health care, education, economic and social stability. It is meant to draw in the reader, whom while reading becomes informed, and their awareness rose to a level that implores the world to take action. African Baby is the means to give a voice to those still in the shadows, unknown to the world, and afraid to speak out. It is meant to give courage to these women and girls to demand access to proper health care and education and to rise up against traditions and practices that keep them in submissive lifestyles as products to be sold or perhaps worse. It is a voice that must be heard. A story that must be told. Descriptions of survival under circumstances many of us would not have the inner strength to endure or survive.