Welcome to today's program. I am Dr. Pallavi Kugai of Krishnakanta Handic State Opera University. Today I shall take up Unit 8, title Chenyua Chipe, a mother in a refugee camp. This is the poem prescribed for you and in this video we shall be discussing the major themes, style and language employed in this particular poem. The course is Jail English Semester 1, Block 1. So let us quickly begin. Starting with the table of contents, learning objectives, major themes, style and language. Let us sum up questions to check your progress and the references. To provide you the learning objectives, after going through this third and final video of Unit 8, the learner will be able to explore the relevant themes pertaining to the poem, grasp the style and language employed in the poem and appreciate the core message contained in the poem. So let us quickly come to the major themes that are evident in the poem. The first theme is the consequences of war. War and its trailing consequences leave individual lives shattered and paralyzes the life of a nation. In the poem, we find a reflection of a tragic condition in a refugee camp, which is universally true in most of the refugee camps after civil or national wars. I am sure you would agree with this. The learner may have read or heard on how refugee camps are set up in the hours of human crisis, in order to accommodate it and provide human relief or aid to those who suffer during communal or ethnic clashes, natural calamities or disasters. The refugee camp described in the poem is one such temporary shelter or settlement provided to those who are displaced from their homes during the civil war. Thus, the context of the present poem is the Nigerian Civil War, which had taken place from July 1967 to January 1970, for almost three years costing millions of civil life. This civil war, also known as the Bifurian War, was an internal war fought in the home soil between Nigerian forces and a newly formed Republic of Bifur. Bifur was home to majority of the Igbo people and their assertion of an independent state carved out from the Nigerian map had fueled the civil war. Achipe supported Bifur and recorded the history of the war in his last work titled There was a Country, a Personal History of Bifur 2012. At the end of the civil war, the Nigerian forces weakened the strength of the Igbo people on the Bifurian side. This particular period had witnessed widespread sickness and starvation, death and suffering, a fragment of which is mirrored and captured in the poem. Another theme is motherhood. The relationship of a mother with her children is always special, which is also universally true. One of the most amazing moments in a woman's life is motherhood. The poem reflects a mother's fortitude even during a time of great loss or crisis. When her happy world shatters into fragments, she is left in utter shock and disbelief with a turn of fate, with a turn of circumstances. Yet, unlike the other women in the refugee camp who surrendered to their fate, much as they want their children to survive, this strong woman goes about her daily duties towards her son, even as she fears that she would lose him too.  Given the circumstances of disease and suffering in the refugee camp, the mother fears that her child may not survive the hardships for too long. In her thoughts, she cherishes the special moments that she had spent when her son before her world was pulled down, much similar to that of countless mothers. This also reminds one of the heartbreaking cries of mothers who lost their soldiers and the soldiers' sons in the war time. Thus, the mother in the poem is in a similar position who senses the looming danger or threat to her son's life, but does her best to take care of his vulnerable condition as best as she can in their crisis. There are times when we take the little everyday moments for granted and realize how special they are when we wish to relive them once again. This same happens to this unfortunate mother who cannot wish her son's sufferings away, even if she wishes to and is almost at the edge of losing hope of finding a new breath of their life that they had once known together. Now coming to your style and language employed in this poem, the poet of Chinnu Achibi, much like his writings, bears special reference to historical, political and sociocultural contexts as also reflected in poems like A Mother in a Refugee Camp and Christmas in Bifuram, among others. Achibi provides an insight into the African sociocultural traditions, indigenous cultures and tribal ways of life through most of his writings. The present poem is a fragment of wartime in Nigeria and reflects how war can completely shatter innocent lives. There are many whose lives are paralyzed during and after wartime as reflected in the lives of the children and women lodged in the confines of a refugee camp, totally displaced from the comfort of their home. The poem opens with the first image of Mother Mary and the infant Jesus, which is a universal representation of mother and child, as also represented in the famous paintings of the classical masters. The central figure in the poem is that of the mother who represents the sacrifices of motherhood and the extent of suffering as a refugee during wartime. Some of the weird images that remain with us long after we finish reading the poem are that of the mother's quote-unquote ghost smile of children with quote-unquote washed out ribs and quote-unquote blown empty bellies. Also the images of the once happy mother getting her son ready for school and the same mother uncertain if her son would live long to go to school again to dream of a new future, compel the reader to imagine what it is to lose a happy life to an unhappy nation that calls for war. Her eyes speak volumes as the poet captures how she holds her happy memories quote-unquote in her eyes that are now stilled with her dramatic experience. The happy songs that she once hummed in her happier days were silenced, leaving only a trace of its memory. The transition from her former life to the present is captured simultaneously in the poem. At the end of the poem we confront the image of a grave with tributary flowers and through the use of the closing simile. The poet conveys a mother's dying hope. Thus in the economy of a few words Chinu Achibe strongly expresses his political sensibility towards a mother's dramatic experience. His use of language is simple yet powerful and the poem is a testimony of the suffering confronted by innocent people during wartime. This brings us to the end of the video. Let us quickly sum up this particular unit that we have discussed. After a thorough study of the unit you'll be able to discuss the life and works of the African poet and writer Chinu Achibe. The text of the poem, a mother in a refugee camp captures the ground reality of war-torn conditions and the common sufferings of the afflicted. The major themes emerging from the text of the poem have been elaborated and the analysis on the poetic techniques have been provided for your detailed study. Also, the unit will enable the learner to press the code message of the poem as reflected through vivid flashes of images. This brings us to the questions to check your progress starting with question number one. What is the context of the present poem? Question number two. Name the volume in which Achibe had recorded the history of the bifurne war. Question number three. Who is the central figure in the poem, a mother in a refugee camp? Explain why? Question number four. What is the image that you find at the end of the poem? Here's a reference. I hope you'll also go through the B.A. English Graduate Self-Learning Material, that is the SLM of Jail English, block 1, unit 8, semester 1. I wish you all the best. Thank you, dear learners.


The thing with co-dependency is typically it comes from growing up, you know, in a household that maybe had one or both parents with addiction.  So when a relationship doesn't have that, typically that's not the relationship you get into. You get into a relationship because you're not, you're unknowingly craving a bit of chaos. You have some comfort in chaos. You know how to deal with things when they're a little bit crazy. So I think as far as, because there are a few questions around that in this letter, I don't think you can control the relationship from not being a co-dependent relationship. All you can do is control your behavior. And I know for me a lot of I'm on the side of, you know, where I am the co-dependent.  So I need to control it. I need to fix the person. So instead I turn that around and find ways to appreciate the person and give encouragement. I cut them slack instead of like putting everything under a microscope.  So he didn't do the, you know, his dishes today. It's okay. He did my dishes like, you know, a couple of times last week. And I also set boundaries, you know, I had, I had my current relationship is not a co-dependent relationship, but I've had my share. So I think the big thing for me was that I didn't set boundaries. I made it okay for people to treat me in a poor way. I made it, it was okay if, you know, one second that person was shining the light on me and I was the center of their universe, but it was also okay if they completely ignored me and didn't get back to me, you know. So it's like, you really have to, you know, be clear about your boundaries with the other person. And if they don't respect those, then maybe that's not the relationship to be in, but as a co-dependent setting boundaries is a huge challenge. I think something else to go along with that. Certainly you should come into it working on yourself and not expecting somebody else to complete you because that is, that's where you're looking at this other person and every time that you feel lost, scared, upset, you're looking to the other person, fix me, fix me now, make me feel good. And they're like, I have my own life, I have my own things going on here. And so now you're not only looking at this other person to complete you, you're constantly taking and draining from them and putting all the pressure on them to make you feel whole. And certainly that's going to go too as well. Well, we've talked about this on the show with co-dependency. Oftentimes your interests, your friends, everything goes to the wayside and the relationship becomes all consuming. And a lot of times those guardrails disappear immediately because we have this huge chemical spike. We're so infatuated with one another that we're like, oh, I can hang out with my friends later. And all of a sudden, we're creating this environment that is going to lead to co-dependency because we've thrown all of our eggs into this metaphorical basket. So working on yourself, one, absolutely important. Number two, really pursuing those passions outside of the relationship, coming into the relationship, having your own life, having a strong social circle, having things going on in your life that excite you outside of the relationship is also important because the co-dependency line turning into controlling, turning into, okay, I need to know where you are. You need to be with me at all times. I don't feel safe without you. Those behaviors are typically starting at the initiation of that relationship because you've created this pattern that this is acceptable.  Also, obviously looking back at your past is very key here. You've already started to do that, which is a great first step. But think about what are the qualities in your past relationships that attract you to that person and what are the qualities that you weren't so attracted to that popped up after the fact. A lot of us don't realize that we pay so much attention to the qualities that we like, we don't realize it's the qualities that we don't like that are the reason for a lot of the strife in our relationship. So being clear on what are the qualities I'm looking for and what are those qualities that I just don't jive with really well. And everyone, as we talked about earlier this month, has different love languages, ways they communicate things. Understanding your own is going to help you a lot from protecting you from potentially getting into another codependent relationship. Yeah. And I highly recommend also Melody Beatty's book, Codependent No More and Language of Letting Go. Language of Letting Go is a daily piece of advice and just dives a little bit into codependency every day in a different way. And I know when I go through my periods where I'm really struggling with it, I read that each morning in journal and it helps a lot. So journaling, absolutely. A lot of us don't realize in the moment when we're feeling these things, we can reflect after the fact, but having a regular journaling practice can allow you to see some of these signals sooner than later.


I'm gonna go for it. This is how to get 1,000 subscribers. So this is a video for how I think you can get 1,000 subscribers. Hello, my name is Neil Mossy, and this is my YouTube channel. And for the last two years, I've been trying to get to 1,000 subscribers. I finally did it. I leapt over the hallowed line of 999 to 1,000 subscribers. I'm monetized. I was demonetized in 2018. YouTube changed their terms and conditions. And that was a sad time for all of us who hadn't got 1,000 subscribers yet. Two years later, two years of slog and videos. And finally, I did it. I did it. I managed to get over 1,000 subscribers. And if you're watching this video, firstly, thank you. If you subscribe, massive thank you. Do you know what you get? When you get 1,000 subscribers, my son made this for me. You get the YouTube brown play button. Hey, look, you can pause the video and you can make your own out of hammer beads there. And this will be the thumbnail. It's not edible. So I just wanted to make this just to share some of the things that I think have helped me to get 1,000 subscribers. And I want to share them just in case any of these help you. Now, if you're looking into videos on how to get 1,000 subscribers, I'm sure you have seen, like I did, the same tips coming up over and over again. But there were some things that helped my channel which I haven't really seen recommended elsewhere. So I just wanted to go through these five ideas, five basic ideas for things that I think helped me get this channel over 1,000 subscribers. I've got my little list here. The first big thing that I think helped me hit 1,000 subscribers is regular posting. I'll put it on the lower third caption there. I went through a stage last year where I put up one video every day and my views and my subscribers didn't move at all. If anything, I think they probably went down a bit. But I can't help thinking just from seeing all the analytics that's presented to you on the analytics page. The algorithm loves it when you just put out something regularly and that could be once a month, could be once a week, but just having that regular pulse means that it's assigned to the algorithm that you are consistent and that you have videos coming out at a regular rate. I don't think it should be every day. I think you'll probably start to feel ill if you were to do it daily. I just wanted to hit one video every week. Even now that's a struggle but just getting out something regularly is I think is the first big step to a big leap in my subscribers. Most of my views don't come from subscribers. I think this is more a thing that lets the YouTube algorithm, the YouTube machine to bump you up as a regular YouTube channel.  I'll put the playlist link up here and it's down in the description. Videos that I found really, really inspirational in helping you to keep going. There's a video called 100 Crappy Videos, which is one of my favorites. And oh my goodness, the Casey Neistat video, filmmaking is a sport. Anyway, all of those videos helped keep me going and this hourglass video as well. So I hope those videos help you hit this point. Number one, post regularly. The second big thing that I think helped me, I've not seen anyone talk about this at length really. I am absolutely convinced that leaving comments on other people's videos is a really good idea. So that's my gut instinct tip number two. I think you should be doing it for a number of reasons. Firstly, I think it's just a kind thing to do. So even if it doesn't have any effect on your channel, I think you're helping other people in your situation. I think psychologically, if you start helping other people to achieve their aim by encouraging them with kind comments, you are more likely to invite some of that onto your channel. So I think firstly, just be a good person and say well done to the people who make the videos that you watch. As soon as I started leaving comments on other people's channels, I think two things happened. Firstly, I think the YouTube algorithm started to see my channel in lots of other places and that's another clump of data that it can gather to maybe suggest your channel to other people who like that channel. Maybe it's more direct than that. Maybe people scrolling through the comments might be more likely to click on your avatar to find out more about you if you've left an interesting comment somewhere. I just think it's a really good idea to leave comments on other people's videos.  Unexpected tip number three for how I think I got 1,000 subscribers is making subtitles. YouTube calls them lots of different things. They're called subtitles, they're called captions or closed captions or CC which is I think an American term. I put subtitles on my videos and I'm convinced that has helped me. I'm convinced that YouTube seeing that my video has been manually subtitled, bumped it up in the ranking. If it doesn't, I'm absolutely sure that my videos have gone up in the ranking which means they're offered to more viewers because I have removed the auto-generated subtitles that are automatically applied to your video when you upload. These captions are usually really good but the two things they get wrong, they get my name wrong, they get the name wrong of the terminology that I'm using so the actual video, say if it's about a camera, the auto-generated captions spell that camera name wrong so you're missing out on letting Google and YouTube know what your video is about. These auto-generated subtitles have actually put swear words into my subtitles where they don't exist. Maybe it's my British accent, maybe it's because I do not have an American accent but anyway I made a whole video about how to make subtitles and how to transcribe your videos that's up in the corner of the video now if you click on the I and I'll put a link to that in the description below but I really, really strongly recommend you teach yourself how to subtitle your videos. I think that really helped me get 1,000 subscribers. Tip number four, good video hygiene. I came across this term when I was working for a branded content agency. It's a lovely word, hygiene. It just means make sure all the bits of your video are clean. Good YouTube hygiene is having a good title. It's having a description that's really sort of beefy and writes out in prose what your video is about and what is in the video and why your audience should be watching this video. The subtitling is part of good hygiene. I always put cards at the top of the videos. I always put an end board at the end. I sometimes get a bit hung up about having to do it because after I've shot the video and edited the video the last thing I want to do is to spend the same amount of time typing but just good general hygiene for your videos has really, really unconvinced. Help me to get 1,000 subscribers. I think good hygiene on your videos means that the YouTube algorithm ranks your video more highly because it shows it has some care and attention behind it. And the details that you put in themselves also help rank your video higher and make it more likely that someone's going to see your video and more likely that someone's going to hit subscribe. By the way, on that note, I've actually put these tips in the description so you can jump around. If these tips are helping or if you have any tips that have helped you to get more subscribers, please leave a comment now. Just click on the comments below. It'd be lovely to hear from you. Just say hi. But here's the last tip. Take viewers on your journey. I'll say it again because it's a bit oblique. Take viewers along with you on your journey. So I wanted to get 1,000 subscribers. I was really upfront in every video that that was my aim. I actually said it out loud in every single video. I really want to get 1,000 subscribers. Other creators, other YouTubers, actually want to help. There are other people who want to help. I want to help you. That's why I'm making this video just to encourage you to keep going so that you too can hit 1,000 subscribers. I know you can. All you need to do is to keep posting and to take people with you on your journey. We're all in this together and we're all part of this YouTube ecology. You can step up. You can leave comments on other people's videos. You can keep sharing stories from your viewpoint. And I found the more that I did that, the more of myself that I put into the videos. I think it's a volume thing. I think the more videos that you make, the more likely it is that you let your guard down and you bring people in on the things that you really want to talk about. You won't do it on the first video. You might not do it on the first 10 videos. But if you have this regular pulse where you're putting out videos, eventually your story is just going to come out and you're going to share more and more. And that is why someone's going to subscribe to you. Someone somewhere in the world is going to want to hear your story. And the brilliant thing with YouTube is that it can be out there forever for everyone. And the algorithm I find is really good at finding people who might latch on to hearing the things that you want to say. So that's it. That's my top five unexpected reasons why I think I got to 1,000 subscribers. Leave a comment. If you've hit 1,000 subscribers and you have an unexpected reason that you haven't seen, shared very often, please leave me a comment. It'd be lovely to hear from you. If you've hit this point in the video and this has helped, why not hit the thumbs up? It would be lovely to know that somebody reached this point in the video. And if you're feeling even kinder, why not subscribe? I guess my next goal to hit, I don't know what color button comes next after 1,000 subscribers, leave a comment. What should the next YouTube play button be for 10,000 subscribers? I can't even begin to think what would be more cherished than my beautiful brown button. Thanks for watching. And I'll see you for the next 10,000 subscribers. I need to change to the end of the video. Can you please help my daddy get 1,000 subscribers? Just click in the space. Thanks, bye. How was that?


A new study has found that dietary sugar can cause insulin resistance in fruit flies, which is similar to the effect seen in humans with type 2 diabetes. The researchers fed the fruit flies a high sugar diet and observed that they became insulin resistant at higher levels of fat and showed signs of hypoglycemia. They also identified changes in gene expression related to lipid metabolism and insulin signaling, suggesting that these processes may play a role in the development of insulin resistance. This study provides evidence for a potential link between dietary sugar intake and insulin resistance, and could help scientists better understand the underlying causes of this disease. This article was authored by Laura Polanka Musselman, Jill L. Fink, Kirk Narzinski, and others.