User talk:Madsal

Why I chose Bisho Jarsa as my topic
I chose Bisho Jarsa as a topic because it was something new and refreshing to me. I have never heard of a woman who was a slave become such a great role model for generations. I wanted to know the details of how she became and slave and then how she became a teacher. After looking at the BBC article I knew this was the right topic for me because it was something I genuinely wanted to discover and know about so I can then share what I discovered with others because I never knew about her before this. This topic is fascinating and so far I am enjoying the process, after deliberating for a few days I chose this topic because it is unique and it is a life story that I believe needs to be shared. I want to cover the whole life story from beginning to current. Madsal (talk) 14:45, 22 October 2021 (UTC)

Bisho Jarsa Origin and Story Overview
Bisho Jarsa is the grandmother of Neville Edward Alexander (Shell, 2021). Bisho Jarsa originated from Ethiopia and was part of the Oromo tribe. “The Oromo, despite being the most populous of all Ethiopian groups, had long been dominated by the country's Amhara and Tigrayan elites and were regularly used as slaves.” (Shell, 2021). Even though Bisho Jarsa’s tribe was the largest amongst the Ethiopian tribes it did become overturned and ruled over by other tribes which lead to the selling of slaves. “Emperor Menelik II, who has been described as Ethiopia's "greatest slave entrepreneur", taxed the trade to pay for guns and ammunition as he battled for control of the whole country, which he ruled from 1889 to 1913.” (Shell, 2021). The Oromo tribe were taken as slaves in exchange for goods such as maze and were put on a boat to be slaves. The Oromo children were taken as slaves and transported onto a boat where they were crammed into a small, enclosed space below deck. Bisho Jarsa had two other brothers who were orphaned due to drought and disease that spread throughout Ethiopia during that time. They were taken in by one of her father’s slaves however were sold due to the inability to look after them due to the famine that was occurring, they sold Bisho Jarsa in exchange for Maze. (Shell, 2021). “Bisho was one of a group of Ethiopian slaves freed by a British warship in 1888 off the coast of Yemen, then taken around the African coast and placed in the care of missionaries in South Africa.” (Sahistory, 2015). Bisho Jarsa was “one of 183 children” found onboard the ship. (Children of Hope, 2021.) The children and Bisho Jarsa then travelled to safety. “They had been trekked as many as several hundred kilometres to the coast. The children were taken to Aden and, for a time, were housed and cared for at the Free Church of Scotland mission at Sheikh Othman. The arrivals, however, were often too debilitated to withstand the harsh climate and prevalent malaria. In 1890, 64 of the survivors were transferred to the Free Church of Scotland’s Lovedale Institution, in Alice, a town in South Africa’s Eastern Cape.” (Morton, 2021.) There they were thought basic skills and were then given the choice to travel back to Ethiopia or to stay and marry someone in south Africa. Due to her good skills, Bisho Jarsa was given the opportunity to study to become a teacher in which she took the opportunity and became a primary school teacher. Bisho Jarsa showed talent hence she was one of two that was trained to become a schoolteacher and then married a church minister (Shell, 2021).

Bisho Jarsa – Anticolonialism and Education
“Anticolonial movements in Africa were responses to European imperialism on the continent in the late nineteenth century and the greater part of the twentieth century. African responses to colonial rule varied from place to place and over time. Several forms of both armed and nonviolent resistance to colonialism occurred. (Encyclopedia, 2021) Bisho Jarsa can be regarded as a woman who set a good example of anticolonialism. Bisho Jarsa was tied to being colonised by the slave traders and then by the people who saved her by teaching her English. However, her grandson Neville Edward Alexander revealed that during her older years she reverted back to her mother language which was Oromo (Shell, 2021). Bisho Jarsa was a role model to everyone who is out of place. “So, what did he feel when he found out how his grandmother had ended up in South Africa? "It reinforced my sense of being an African in a fundamental way," he told the BBC. Under apartheid, his family was classified as Coloured, or mixed-race, rather than African. "We always struggled against this nomenclature," he said. He also noted that it explained why he had often been mistaken for an Ethiopian during his travels. The strongest parallel he can draw between his life and that of his grandmother is the role of schooling. “Her real liberation was not the British warship but the education she later received in South Africa," he said. “Equally, while on Robben Island, we turned it into a university and ensured that all the prisoners learned to read and write, to prepare them for their future lives." (Shell, 2021). Bisho Jarsa showed the world that with education and knowledge you can grow, expand and liberate yourselves from the box others put you into. As Neville stated, Bisho Jarsa struggled all throughout her life however became better with education and educating others and future generations. She was a peaceful resister of the colonialism that tried to occur.

Peer Review
(/ = what went well, X = even better if, --> = points of discussion)

/ Wow, you clearly have a great grasp on the subject matter at hand.

--> Formatting/organisation = I assume it's structured like this because it is just a draft. Make sure when doing the real thing to include more subheadings and smaller paragraphs. Also don't forget to have a good lead/summary.

X Make sure to SPAG check, there is a few missing words every now and then.

X Check the flow of your sentences. It's great that you've kept them short and sweet but some of them are a bit stunted. Also make sure the sentences flow together nicely.

/ The origin of Bisho Jarsa is great. You've clearly researched it well and are well-informed on your subject matter.

X Make sure to make it clear who Bisho Jarsa is. When you make her entire identity about being the grandmother of Neville her history is erased. Who was SHE? That first sentence should give me all the information I need. 1. she was a woman, 2. she was a primary teacher 3. she had been enslaved. The information you are currently starting with should be the information you finish with. Additionally, as a reader I don't know who Neville is until the very end.

X You don't really have an introduction as of current.

--> In the second section be careful of your use of the word 'by'.

/ Your ending comment is beautiful and encapsulates your topic aptly.

X Your second section is more introductory than your first. Maybe try and reorganise the information you are using into a better format.

--> Have a think about how you want to organise your article for greater ease of read.

--> Is there any images you could use? Or a person profile?

--> POVs = are there any other perspectives you could talk about?

--> You're doing a great job of describing but try and include some analysis as well.

Top Tip = on wiki you may have seen referencing is done using number citations. This makes it easier for readers to check your sources, try and implement this.

? Your bibliography is organised accurately, well done!

--> The quotes are really great for showing you have considered multiple sources but there may be a few too many. Try to cut back on quoting and try paraphrasing instead.

/ The diverse references are great! It is clear that you have some sources from the country of origin. If you can try and find a few more sources for a more detailed article.

Big targets in reference to the rubric = develop a lead and introductory section. Think about how you want to structure/organise your article. Cite via numbers. Proof-read (put it on a word doc and have it read it aloud - this will help you find bits that don't quite flow). SPAG check. Is there any critical analysis which could be appropriate? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jemdrew (talk • contribs) 13:16, 25 November 2021 (UTC)

Positives
Clearly well researched on topic

Includes lots of relevant information

Bibliography well organised

Possible Improvements
Including images to further demonstrate points.#

Including relevant links to other wiki pages such as for key figures of events

Use Wiki referencing system (numbers) to create a bibliogpragy with in text citataions

Add a lead sentence summarising the main information from the article

Try to break down text into smaller sections with headings and subheadings

Check for spelling, punctuation and grammar errors

First Page Peer-Reviewed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Crb43/sandbox#DRAFT_ARTICLE

Second Page Peer-Reviewed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Wikibright14#The_National_Education_Crisis_Committee_and_its_impact_on_the_educational_crisis

Madsal (talk) 11:48, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

1. Which comments you will address and how do you plan to do so?
I will address most of these comments. I plan on making it more precise with word use as the peer reviewer suggested. I will input the referencing through the wiki formatting and will make it more person-focused as they stated. As well as that I will input all my recent findings to ensure there is more information on Bisho Jarsa and format in a way that makes it more precise and easily understandable. I will make sure the flow and the topic carry on throughout the work. All of the comments are accurate and detailed which helps a lot with assisting the improvement of this work.

2. What comments you will not address and why?
I believe I did have suitable information on Bisho Jarsa and the overview of her and there was enough information to grasp who she was but it's just word choice and formatting as well as the way I showed my information that led the peer review to not grasp a better idea of whom she is until the very end. However, it is not a comment I will not address since my peer reviewer did a very good job of assisting and pointing clear issues and assisting me in improving my work and I do understand where this point came from.

Madsal (talk) 11:46, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

Early Life
Bisho Jarsa was born in Ethiopia in the year 1872. Her family was one of the few that owned slaves themselves. She lived with her family that included her parents and two brothers however her parents died when she was young due to diseases that were spreading around Ethiopia. Bisho Jara's educational history is unknown as of present (2022).

Famine
In Ethiopia, during the period 1888, there were illnesses such as starvation, bubonic plague, cholera, typhoid, smallpox, dysentery as well as a host of other diseases that plagued the lands. Bisho Jarsa and her siblings became orphans after her parents died of these diseases. Due to that, she was taken in by her father's slaves family. Bisho Jarsa had two other brothers who were orphaned due to drought and disease that spread throughout Ethiopia during that time. They were taken in by one of her father’s slaves who already had his family and children to look after. At the age of fourteen in the month of May 1889, Bisho Jarsa was sent with a man to buy some food in the neighbouring county called Gobu. However, due to the lack of food and inflation of food prices because of the famine, the family that took Bisho Jarsa in had to sell her for corn.

Oromo People
Bisho Jarsa originated from Ethiopia and was part of the Oromo tribe. “The Oromo, despite being the most populous of all Ethiopian groups, had long been dominated by the country's Amhara and Tigrayan elites and were regularly used as slaves.” Even though Bisho Jarsa’s tribe was the largest amongst the Ethiopian tribes it did become overturned and ruled over by other tribes which lead to the selling of slaves. “Emperor Menelik II, who has been described as Ethiopia's "greatest slave entrepreneur", taxed the trade to pay for guns and ammunition as he battled for control of the whole country, which he ruled from 1889 to 1913.”.

Slavery
The Oromo tribe were taken as slaves in exchange for goods such as maze and were put on a boat to be slaves. The Oromo children were taken as slaves and transported onto a boat where they were crammed into a small, enclosed space below deck. “Bisho was one of a group of Ethiopian slaves freed by a British warship in 1888 off the coast of Yemen, then taken around the African coast and placed in the care of missionaries in South Africa.”. Bisho Jarsa was “one of 183 children” found onboard the ship. The children and Bisho Jarsa then travelled to safety. “They then trekked as many as several hundred kilometres to the coast. The children were taken to Aden and, for a time, were housed and cared for at the Free Church of Scotland mission at Sheikh Othman. The children, however, were often too weak to withstand the harsh climate and the illness from malaria so many of the children ended up dying. In 1890, 64 of the survivors were transferred to the Free Church of Scotland’s Lovedale Institution, in Alice, a town in South Africa’s Eastern Cape.” (Morton, 2021.) There they were taught basic skills and were then given the choice to travel back to Ethiopia or to stay and marry someone in south Africa. Due to her good skills, Bisho Jarsa was given the opportunity to study to become a teacher, Bisho Jarsa trained initially in the girls’ work department, where she learned to sew, wash, and iron. However, she had no intention of being confined to domestic service. Instead, she had set her sights on training as a teacher. Bisho Jarsa showed talent and potential so she was one of two that was trained to become a schoolteacher. Bisho Jarsa then went on to become a teacher in Cradock, some 160 kilometres northwest of Lovedale. By May 1899, three young women remained at Lovedale and Bisho Jarsa was one of them.

Return
Bisho Jarsa was firm on not returning to Ethiopia, when asked if she would go back she gave a negative response: “I am on duty at present, rather remain a few years longer.” She remained teaching a few more years, then married the Reverend Frederick Scheepers, a Lovedale classmate. Arguably her greatest gift to her adopted country came in the form of her eldest grandson, the late Dr. Neville Alexander, a renowned intellectual, educationalist, human rights activist, and struggle hero.

Anticolonialism
“Anticolonial movements in Africa were responses to European imperialism on the continent in the late nineteenth century and the greater part of the twentieth century. African responses to colonial rule varied from place to place and over time. Several forms of both armed and nonviolent resistance to colonialism occurred. Bisho Jarsa can be regarded as a woman who set a good example of anticolonialism. Bisho Jarsa was tied to being colonised by the slave traders and then by the people who saved her by teaching her English. However, her grandson Neville Edward Alexander revealed that during her older years she reverted back to her mother language which was Oromo. Bisho Jarsa was a role model to everyone who is out of place. “So, what did he feel when he found out how his grandmother had ended up in South Africa? "It reinforced my sense of being an African in a fundamental way," he told the BBC. Under apartheid, his family was classified as Coloured, or mixed-race, rather than African. "We always struggled against this nomenclature," he said. He also noted that it explained why he had often been mistaken for an Ethiopian during his travels. The strongest parallel he can draw between his life and that of his grandmother is the role of schooling. “Her real liberation was not the British warship but the education she later received in South Africa," he said. “Equally, while on Robben Island, we turned it into a university and ensured that all the prisoners learned to read and write, to prepare them for their future lives." Bisho Jarsa showed the world that with education and knowledge you can grow, expand and liberate yourselves from the box others put you into. As Neville stated, Bisho Jarsa struggled all throughout her life however became better with education and educating others and future generations. She was a peaceful resister of the colonialism that tried to occur. .

Additonal Links
Bisho Jarsa is the grandmother of Neville Edward Alexander.

Ethiopia's famines

Oromo People

Additional notes

 * No picture of Bisho Jarsa was allowed to be input on this page.
 * Due to the lack of information, there is not much information on Bisho Jarsa.
 * Most information was taken from one book as the story of Bisho Jarsa was most spoken about by her nephew in this book.