THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
German-Ghanaian actress and author Dayan Kodua has written a children’s book.
Odo tells the story, in German, of Odo, a 6-year-old girl in Ghana.
The day Odo saw a black doll at her girlfriend’s birthday party changed her. She was so fascinated that she could no longer think of anything else other than of how to own her own doll.
Odo is ready to embark on an arduous but also an educational journey to realise her wish. The little girl learns through this experience to believe in herself and her dreams.
On her motivation to write the book, Dayan Kodua, who was born in Ghana, believes children’s books should be mirrors of the world and windows to the world at the same time. “A mirror that allows children to learn to reflect on their lives, and a window that gives them the chance to get to know other children’s worlds,” she said.
“In my opinion there is too little variety in culture and colour in German children’s books. As a result, children with a different skin colour or a different cultural background have limited positive identification figures,” the author says.
“At school and in the media, Black children are often talked about in terms of poverty or war. Stereotypes in film and television do the rest. However, Black children do not always want to be “the problem children”, but sometimes they want to be heroes with special skills,” Dayan Kodua said.
The actress and author published her first book My Black Skin – Schwarz. Erfolgreich. Deutsch in 2014.
Austin Ohaegbu
The book can ordered at: https://www.gratitudeverlag.de
