Joys of Motherhood Alt. ending

Nnu Ego is a mother that has attempted sucide after the death of her first born child. After a divorce that resulted from that death, she remarries to Nnaife but he moves from job to job. He however, leaves money for the famliy. Nnu Ego soon has another son and twin girls. During this time, she has to deal with competition from another women Nnaife inherited from his brother, Adaku and tensions ruin high. Nnu Ego is able to adhere some income from her cigarette stand but it is not enough to provide for the family as well as Adaku and at the same time care for her children. Nnaife is forced into the army, but still sends money and to make matters worse, Nnu Ego has not been getting the stipend. As time passes, her sons realize the importance of education and puts their ambitions over family traditions and accept the opportunity to go to America for the education. Not only that but Kehinde, one of her daughters become "rebellious" In the end, Nnu Ego dies a lonely, sad death, never having to experience the motherhood she wanted but her oldest son, Oshia returns to properly bury her.

To certain extents, if there were micro-financing there may and very well could have been a very different ending for Ona, Ego's mother. She could have had the money for proper maternal care. Since she died giving birth, the money from her business that came from micro-financing could have made things better. Who's to say that if she alive, Ona could have helped Ego in some way to to where she did not have to die a lonesome death.

For Ego, so many different endings come to mind. She had her own stand and was able to provide some income but with microfinancing, she couldve have avoided malnutrition for the family. She could have been the head provider and in turn, Nnaife would not feel as high and mighty to where he would accepted another mate, Adaku. Ego could have had the opportunity to send her kids to school and keeping Oshia, Adim and Kehinde from being compelled to leave because of their ambitions. However, what may be the most significant change maybe the respect of her children; her children may actually care for her well-being. She gave everything and gained nothing. She dreamt of how miraculous motherhood would be but never experienced it but the chance was quite possible with micro-financing.

What crosses my mind as well is her children's ambitions. Even if the financing does change the ending for Ego, one cant help but wonder if their ambitions would run as deep. She may be able to experience motherhood with financing but would the better lifestyle, colonialism, and expectations to adopt the changes that was brought over, drive their ambitions just as it did without financing? Her daughter wanted to choose her own mate so regardless of lifestyle, she would have that same mentality. With micro-financing, Ona may have had a better ending and for Nnu Ego, there were certain aspects that would have definitely looked bright but there are some parts, i believe, that would not change regardless of "what if, what could or what may have been."

Articles Comparison

For Aljazeera, many of their front page stories are concerned with the middle east or the east completely. As mentioned in class, violence around the world is normalized and top stories are focused on that as well as politics. Despite that fact, there was a coverage focused on the well-being of the blue-fin tuna in the Mediterranean and the issue of overfishing. Evidently, there is some variety in their news but only a minute part. Their news coverage, do cover media in Africa, the Americas, Pacific Asia, Europe and the Middle East but again it deals with violence so information towards those stories are biased. Coverage of other media is quite limited compared to The Guardian and The New York Times. Throughout the three news source, few of the same stories are in unison. For example, the NATO investigation of a jet bombing was mentioned in this source and NYT. What could be pointed out is Aljazeera is biased against many other countries along with the U.S.

As for The Guardian, they give a more diverse set of sub-categories of media and they are not as biased toward one section of the world as Aljazeera (Middle East) or The New York Times (U.S.). The Guardian's coverage is very global; covering from the Congo's children to Russia's battles to a global stimulus package to something as insignificant to many as the death of an author/playwright/ journalist. With one of the few stories such as the sinking of a boat in the Macedonian Lake. Whats interesting is, these sources have limited similar stories. Nonetheless, this source seems more varied, unbiased and globalized than ALjazeera and The New York Times.

The New York Times, similar to The Guardian, has a variety of sub-categories of media but with one set back - many of the stories are U.S. related which leads me to believe they are biased. For example, one of the top stories is about Roger Federer's victory, which is not at all significant compared to what else is going on in the world. Their coverage - Africa, Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Middle Eat is limited compared to The Guardian but the other sub categories are quite informational but also biased towards the U.S.'s perspective.