From A Passage to Africa, George Alagiah: Practice Questions

In From A Passage to Africa, George Alagiah mentions that he was in a particular village in Somalia when he had the encounter that forms the core of the text. What was the name of this village?

In From A Passage to Africa, Alagiah uses the phrase "the quiet suffering and solitary death". How does the word choice here contrast with the earlier descriptions of the 'ghoulish' journalists?

In the sentence, "It was a smile of face, which is normally a smile of greeting; it was a smile of mouth, which is normally a smile of pleasure," how does Alagiah use syntax and parallel structure to emphasize his confusion?

At the beginning of the extract, Alagiah describes the journalists' behavior as being like a "hunt". What is the primary object of this hunt?

Alagiah describes the smell of decaying flesh in the huts using a specific sensory detail. To what does he compare the state of the air in these dwellings?

In From A Passage to Africa, what is the primary reason George Alagiah describes the journalists' behavior as "ghoulish"?

Alagiah uses the metaphor of a "hunt" to describe the work of journalists and camera crews. What does this suggest about the relationship between the media and the victims of the famine?

Analyze how the author's tone shifts in the final paragraph of the extract when he speaks of his "nameless friend". What does this shift reveal about his internal conflict?

In the text, Alagiah describes the reaction of a woman who is being watched by the journalists.

(a) What phrase does he use to describe the way she 'shuffled'?
(b) What does this movement suggest about her dignity despite her circumstances?

In the latter half of the text, Alagiah describes his encounter with a man whose smile haunts him.

(a) Describe the man's physical condition as presented by Alagiah.
(b) Why does the author find the man's smile so 'unsettling' compared to the other horrors he has witnessed?