Look, but do NOT touch, my awesome fro

HAIR is simply keratinized proteins hanging from our skull.

But to women it’s an accessory, a beauty routine, a part of who we are.

Women have a strange and special relationship with their hair and for African women, that relationship is even more complex. One day it’s shaved, the next long and straight. From braids to weaves, relaxers to wigs, it’s a plethora of wild options that all offer completely new looks.

I was born in Nigeria where varied hair styles (just like bold colourful head-dresses) are a source of pride for most women. Our family moved to Canada when I was two years old and to Winnipeg when I was four years.

Lessons Learned: ‘Continent of extremes’ fostered new self-awareness

In our "Lessons Learned" series, The Free Press talks to Manitobans who have lived in Africa about what the experience meant to them.

Lessons Learned: In Chad, ‘one learns the art of living in the moment’

Naomi, Doug and Hannah Enns, serving with Mennonite Central Committee in Chad (Naomi as a health educator, Doug as a pastor and peace educator, and Hannah is completing Grade 12.)

“We live in one of the poorest countries in the world. And the weather — try highs of 53 C, blinding desert sandstorms and not a drop of rain for nine months at a time. But this place has grown on us. We are learning to slow down and be thankful for things that can so easily be taken for granted in the western world.

With death around us daily, we realize that life is fragile. One learns the art of living in the moment. Gratitude presents itself as the recognition of having something that others do not possess — food, for instance, when our neighbours might not have any. The ability to purchase water.

The ability to sleep under a mosquito net when friends are sick with malaria. Being able to get an education when we see hundreds of children out of school. Shoes on our feet, when the child running up to shake our hands is barefoot in worminfested sand.”

Kimon’s story: A Small miracle

He was found abandoned in the streets of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia when he was less than a year old.

The staff at the orphanage he was taken to taped a tag to his chest with the word 'small' on it, referring to his tiny size for his age.

Around the same time, several thousand miles away, Lloyd and Sharon Small had begun exploring the idea of adding another child to their family. The Brandon couple had three biological children (Jarrod, Joel and Erin) and had adopted a girl (Katherine) from Romania six years earlier.

African students have much to teach Canadian peers

WHEN Celine Tshibamba first came to school here, classmates believed every African child was starving from years of famine and war.

"I show them pictures of a beautiful house, mango trees, peaceful kids playing." And they still didn't believe her, lamented Celine.

"Our Africa is a beautiful country. They should have a program here teaching students about Africa," said Celine, who arrived from Zambia in 2005.

"Africa is not a country. It's a continent," said Dakota classmate Madeleine Musenga, echoing a frequent complaint from African immigrants who find their classmates woefully ignorant: " 'You're from Africa? Were you poor, were you sleeping on the street?' "

Smell of paint, paper transports her back to Kenya

MOST of us have a favourite olfactory memory, but not everyone is transported back to childhood by the aroma of baking bread or their mother's perfume.

For Bhavni Bhakoo, it's the smell of paint and paper that takes her home to Kenya and her grandfather's printing press.

"He was the first one who taught me how to draw plants, at age three or four. He'd draw it for me and I'd have to colour it in," the Winnipeg artist recalls.

The flora of her native land inspired Bhakoo's new solo exhibition, Garden of Mothers, at cre8ery gallery & studio.

Francophone community grows

OTTAWA -- Immigration is helping change the face of Manitoba's francophone community.

Of the French-speaking immigrants in Winnipeg, half are Caucasian, just over one-tenth are Asian and more than 25 per cent are black.

Winnipeg has the highest proportion of black francophone immigrants of any city in the country outside Quebec. Manitoba and Saskatchewan have a higher proportion of blacks among French immigrants than any other region, other than Quebec.

The numbers are growing too, mainly due to a federal strategy to bolster immigration to French-speaking communities outside of Quebec and promote Canada's bilingual heritage.

Altona feels like home

ALTONA -- When police knocked at Salih Hassad's door in Sudan, he was detained and tortured for almost three months.

So when police showed up unexpectedly at his door in Altona, Hassad's wife, Shadia, started to have conniptions. Were they going to take her husband away?

It was OK. It was just their friendly neighbourhood Altona police returning a children's wagon someone had taken from their yard.

"For a little kid's cart!" said an incredulous Hassad, grateful to his new country.