*MAY VIDEO NA MAGPEPLAY*

Keanly: Good Afternoon everyone! I am Keanly Manganaan.

Juliane: I am Juliane Maratas.

Via: I am Via Candido.

Lychee: I am Lychee Pomar.

Coleen: I am Coleen Pornasdoro.

Chloe: I am Chloe Pujalte.

Francine: I am Francine Enriquez.

Gabriel: I am Gabriel Palas.

Martin: I am Martin Sadullo.

Brian: I am Brian Salvacion.

Leo: I am Leo Cuario.

Mathew: I am Mathew Villaverde.

Carlos: I am Carlos Antipolo.

Keanly: and we are about to present what is African Literature and the poem entitled 'Another
World' written by Rasaq Malik.
Via: So what is African Literature all about? African Literature refers to the different literary works
that are written or shared orally to the audience especially sa African people. Just like here in the
Philippines, ang literature ng mga Africans ay nag-start din sa pagkukuwento orally, na ginagamit
nila sa mga chants, rituals, and even story telling. These literary pieces is written in Native-African
language or in other dialect such as French, Portuguese, English, and other European languages.
So bakit nga ba nag-rerevolve ang African Literature sa iba pang language and not just on its own?
It is because Africans are caught in an identity crisis that was made after some Dutch settlers in
1652 and some whites took over their government in 1948, kaya most of their literary works do
not just compliment their native language but their colonizers as well. But given all of this naman
po, African Literature retains its uniqueness in terms of the creativeness of its composition na
naghahighlight sa kanilang sariling culture.

Coleen: Given this piece of information about African culture, let us now tackle about the famous
literary pieces in the African Literature. For example is Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe,
Americanah by Chimamada Ngozi Adichie and Another World by Rasaq Malik which will be
discussed later on. So Rasaq Malik, being one of the prominent writer or poet in African Literature
has blessed us with his work entitled Another World. Rasaq Malik is a graduate of the University
of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. His work has appeared in various journals, including Michigan
Quaterly Review, Poet Lore, Spillway, Rattle, Juked, Connotation Press, Heart Online Journal,
Grey sparrow, and Jalada. He is a two-time nominee for Best of the Net Nominations, and was
among the finalists for the 2015 Best of the Net. Recently, Rattle Magazine and Poet
Lore nominated his poems for the 2017 Pushcart Prize.

Mathew: As of today, Malik still considers the making of In Another World as one of his greatest
achievement in life. The poem is inspired by the way Africa has faced multiple wars that gave the
people life-long trauma, including the children. According to him, Another World was among the
poems he wrote exploring the aftermath of the incessant bomb blasts that occurred in the Northern
part of Nigeria on the lives of people living in places like Kano, Maidiguri, Kaduna, Borno, etc.,
that has greatly suffered in the brutal wars they have encountered.
Via: As we have come to know more about Rasaq Malik being the author of the poem, this had
made our research easier and insightful as we felt that it answers some of our questions while
deciphering the hidden meaning in between the lines of the poem. Another World is a poem by
Rasaq Malik that is inspired with his encounters of countless wars. It is written in the point of view
of a father who wishes an ‘Another World’ for his children, as they are in a war setting where
everything is unpredictable and unsafe. The poem represents the unfortunate fate of those that are
affected by numerous wars especially the innocent children. It shows the hopes of a father that
could possibly reflect most of the parents in war setting who wishes for their child to live a normal
life but had faced tragedies that robbed off their innocence, growth and in a more unfortunate
manner, their lives. So without further ado, let us present the interpretations that we have compiled
to know the meaning behind every line in the given poem.

Carlos: In another world I want to be a father without passing through the eternal insanity of
mourning my children, without experiencing the ritual of watching my children returns home as
bodies folded like a prayer mat.

Chloe: This part of the poem talks about the hope of a father begging for a safe life for his children,
as it was visible in the line ‘I want to be a father without passing through the eternal sanity of
mourning my children, without experiencing the ritual of watching my children returns home as
bodies folded like a prayer mat’ as it lets us visualize how children who are supposed to come
home after a long day of playing, returned to their parents as a corpse as the environment where
they live is unsafe for them.

Brian: without spending my nights telling them the stories of a hometown where natives become
aliens searching for a shelter. Given this line, we can visualize some happenings that the poet wants
us to comprehend; the line ‘where natives become aliens searching for a shelter’ possibly refers to
how people who originally lives in a particular hometown are forced to leave, thus resulting them
to become stranger or in this case aliens searching for a shelter that can temporarily be a shelter
who provide protection for them. If we were to correlate this in real life, this is the routine of most
people that suffers from the effect of war. They lost their homes due to multiple bombings, unsafe
location, or it even becomes a hostage warehouse, which makes it hard for them to live in a certain
place because the chances of having a risky location is unpredictable.
Lychee: It discusses how widespread brutality and violence are, particularly among Africans,
where children face horrible death. In this part, the author appears to be in another universe, where
they have nothing to worry about and are not like a lost child yearning for a warm home. He
imagines a wonderful existence in another world without ferocity, where he doesn't have to tell his
children about their natives looking for a safe haven, where they don't have to be strangers in their
own town, where they don't have to be terrified every time, they hear gunfire and explosions.
Despite the fact that Africa is their home, they do not feel safe and have nowhere to go. Africans
have no choice but to close their eyes and pray that one day things will return to normal, free of
murder and bloodshed.

Martin: I want my children to spread a mat outside my house and play without the walls of houses
ripped by rifles.

Gab: The message of this poem is just simple, the child parent's want their child to play outside
and be happy. Because in this poem, the child never gets a chance to play outside safely. The father
just want's his child to feel and live like a child.

Martin: This poem for me states two things, the fear and the hope. The parent fears that his children
will grow up with the fear and trauma he experienced, he doesn’t want his children to be in danger.
And hope, he hopes for better future for his children to be free and able to do whatever they want,
he wants the best for his children and that is peace.

Ishbel: I want to watch my children grow to recite the name of their homeland like Lord’s Prayer,
to frolic in the streets without being hunted like animals in the bush, without being mobbed to
death.

Juliane: This poet wants the reader to be able to visualize the words while they are being read. It
describes the terrifying experiences of children who are hunted down in the streets and beaten to
death as if they were animals.

Ishbel: In this part, the author was telling us that he wants his children to know the history of their
culture. The author wants his children to live their lives fully but instead they have died in war.
For me, the author is telling us how unfair the world is. He wanted to watch his children grow but
he never got to do that because of war.
Keya: In another world I want my children to tame grasshoppers in the field, to play with their
dolls in the living room, to inhale the fragrance of flowers waving as wind blows, to see the birds
measure the sky with their wings.

Leo: Nigeria experience incessant bomb blasts during the past and countless lives of children were
affected. By writing the poem, he wanted to send a message that he wanted peace for the children
and especially peace in Nigeria. Rasaq Malik wanted children to play with grasshoppers on fields
and little girls play with dolls in a living room without holes made by gunshots. He wanted children
to smell the fragrance of fresh flowers and see birds soaring high up in the sky instead of smelling
gunpowder and seeing continuous explosions coming from the sky. He wanted children to enjoy
their youth and not feel threatened that random bombing will occur. He wants his children to be
able to spread a mat outside their house and play without having to worry about their homes being
ripped apart by weapons. He’d like to keep an eye on his kids to be able to frolic in the streets
without being pursued like a criminal also, the animals in the bush, without getting trampled. In
another universe, He'd like his children to be able to train grasshoppers. To play with their dolls in
the living room, in the field to absorb the scent of flowers swaying in the wind. To watch the birds
use their wings to measure the sky and be able to fly freely without the explosion of the bomb.

Keya: This line sums up the thought of the poem, it shows how the father hopes for his children to
experience normalcy in their childhood even if it is ‘In another World’. He hopes for them to live
a peaceful life contrary to the way they’d experience or continually experiencing in the poem. He
wants his children to be safe just like any other parents wants for their child. He expresses his love
through the wish that even after the innocence of his child has been robbed off by rifles, gunshots,
and countless wars, he still hopes that someday, if life permits, they would experience a simple,
peaceful, and happy life.

Liane: Do you have any questions? If there is none, that is all for our group presentation, we hope
that you learned lessons not just for academic purposes but also realizations that could motivate
you for life. Thank you for patiently listening!