View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How old is Khalifa when he is sent to a private tutor to learn mathematics, bookkeeping, and elementary English vocabulary?

2. When Ilays's mother died, how old was her baby?

3. How many officers die on the retreat from Rufiji in Chapter 5?

4. In Chapter 4, how many girls does Bi Habiba teach in her home before Afiya is sent to learn from her?

5. In Chapter 4, how old is Afiya when she gets her own room for the first time?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ilyas come to work at the sisal estate?

2. In Chapter 5 how does the schutztruppe fight on?

3. How does Afiya spend the first few months she is with Khalifa and Asha?

4. How did Amur Biashara do his business, and how did his way of doing business fail him?

5. What does Hamza learn from the sick report he collects from the medical officer and takes to the Oberleutnant?

6. How do Khalifa's parents die?

7. How do Hamza and the other recruits spend their afternoons?

8. How do the Germans end the Maji Maji uprising?

9. In Chapter 5, what duties does Hamza perform as the Oberleutnant's servant before seven in the morning?

10. How does Hamza take to the harsh regime in Chapter 3?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

As Afiya matures, her world becomes smaller and there are more rules and regulations she has to follow. How and why does Afiya’s world become smaller as she matures? What does her life as a young woman reveal about gender roles in East Africa?

Essay Topic 2

The last weeks of the war are a nightmare. Why do the carriers and askari desert?

Essay Topic 3

Hamza has seen a great deal of brutality as askari. When he is injured and after he recovers, he finally experiences compassion. How would you contrast the brutality Hamza experiences with the compassion and kindness he later receives? Does the compassion heal the scars he received emotionally from the brutality?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 900 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample