In My Africa/Transcript

Intro

D.W. walks down a street with French signs.

D.W.: Hi, I'm D.W. You probably know that already, but I bet you don't know where we are. There are cars, shops, signs... Could be a city anywhere, right? But it happens to be… in Africa. We're in a city called Dakar in a country called Senegal. (A boy whose D.W.’s age juggles El Boomerang.) This is my friend, Cheikh, and this show is all about him.

Cheikh: That's not entirely accurate. It's more about you and my cousin Brain.

D.W.: Well, that's true, but you're in it.

Cheikh: We should have a show just about you and me. We would call it "Cheikh and DW."

D.W.: I like it, but how about "D.W. and Cheikh?" Anyway, tell it to Arthur. He's the show hog.

Cheikh: We'll work on it. In the meantime, welcome to our story.

Episode

(Cheikh colors Senegal on a map of Africa)

Cheikh (narrator): Here's my country, Senegal.

(Flashback: Cheikh and his mother wait front of their old home in Dakar while the father loads the car)

Cheikh (narrator): And this is me a few months ago before I left for Elwood City.

Cheikh's Mother: You'll see, you'll make plenty of new friends.

Cheikh: Do you think they have my favorite foods like poulet yassa and couscous? Do they eat couscous in America? And do they have movies?

(A map shows the journey from Senegal to North America by airplane)

Cheikh: Do they celebrate birthdays? For my fifth birthday, can we go to the circus?

(Miss Morgan introduces Cheikh to her preschool class while D.W. is busy drawing a picture)

Miss Morgan: Attention, boys and girls. Let's all give a big welcome to Cheikh, our new student. He comes all the way from...

(D.W. comes to the front and gives Cheikh her picture)

D.W.: I know, I know! He's from Africa and he's Brain's cousin. Arthur told me all about you. Here, I drew this for you.

Cheikh: Thank you very much, but what is it?

D.W.: That's you and bunch of other kids getting on the hippo bus to swim to your school, which is inside a volcano. And those are lions hiding in the trees. Do you have special crossing guards that protect you from the lions?

Cheikh: I've never seen a lion in my life. Where did you learn this nonsense?

D.W.: Erm, movies and TV, I guess.

Cheikh: Well, it's completely wrong. I live in a city which is bigger than this one.

Miss Morgan: D.W., I'm sure you meant well, but you should learn about a place before you describe it.

(D.W. returns to her seat with her picture)

Timmy: Ha! You don't know anything about Africa!

D.W.: I guess not, but I'm gonna learn! I'm gonna learn about the whole country.

Cheikh: It's not a country, it's a continent. There are actually 54 countries in Africa.

D.W.: Wow! That's a lot to learn... but I'm gonna do it, you just wait.

(Later that day, D.W. stands in front of a world map in preschool looking at South America)

Miss Morgan: Africa's over here, dear.

(D.W. looks at Africa while Cheikh smiles at her)

D.W. lies on the living room rug studying various books. Arthur lies on the couch eating popcorn and reading.

D.W.: This is gonna take forever! All these books are making my head spin and I don't even know how to read!

Arthur: It was hard for me to learn about Turkey when I was writing to Adil and that was just one country. Maybe you...

D.W.: Don't say it!

Arthur: Don't say what?

D.W.: That it's too hard for me and I should just give up. That's what you were going to say, right?

Arthur: No. I was gonna say you should get a little help from someone who knows more than we do.

He picks up the phone.

D.W.: Oh, sometimes you do have a few good ideas, Arthur Read.

She throws up a piece of popcorn. Arthur snatches it away and eats it.

Brain (on phone): Hello.

D.W. sits at the table in the Powers’ house. Brain paces while numbers and letters start spinning around D.W.’s head.

Brain: Learning something about all 54 countries is a tremendous amount of information. We could assemble it in the form of a graph. Perhaps using a hierarchal approach. We'll need a cataloguing system to inventory our documents. Then we'll create a template upon which we can build our research model. It'll be as simple as learning your ABCs.

D.W. shakes her head free.

D.W.: Oh, so you mean we'll make a song? That's how I learned my ABCs.

Brain: Um, no, that's not what I meant. But that's a much better idea. Let's do it!

Brain and D.W. start singing. There is a map of Africa on the wall and Brain holds a big globe.

D.W.: Fifty-four things, fifty-four Things to see and to explore

Brain+D.W.: In my Africa. Whoa, whoa, whoa In my Africa. Whoa, whoa, whoa

A political map of Africa appears. Real-life videos and images are shown to illustrate the things mentioned.

D.W.: The continent of Africa is deep and long and wide With 54 countries to keep my song diversified

Brain: There's rhythmic beats, new things to eat, and places you can go And every day, a different way that you can say hello For instance, meeng-gah-bou is "howdy-do" when visiting in Ghana Dumela mma is how you say "Hello" inside Botswana

D.W.: The Muslims greet the folks they meet with salaam aleikum In Gambia, Morocco and Sudan's hometown Khartoum

Brain+D.W.: In my Africa. Whoa, whoa, whoa In my Africa. See this when you go

Brain: Burundi's got the deepest lake and then the highest peak

D.W.: Juts up from Tanzania just next door to Mozambique

Brain: And carving through the continent there flows the mighty Nile

D.W.: Past Uganda, Eritrea and...

Brain: ...look out! A crocodile! Namibia's wild Skeleton Coast is littered with wrecked ships And Côte d'Ivoire has chocolate fields. I love my chocolate chips Victoria Falls in Zambia, it makes a mighty sound Zimbabwe shares the falls as well, there's lots to go around

Brain+D.W.: In my Africa. Whoa, whoa, whoa In my Africa life is all aglow

(Cheikh comes in with a picnic basket in his hands)

Cheikh: Did you two just write that song? It's amazing!

D.W.: I'll tell you what's amazing - the smell coming from that basket!

Cheikh: It's poulet yassa - spicy lemon chicken. My mom thought you might like to try some Senegalese home cooking.

Brain: Your mom was right. Let's eat!

Brain, Cheikh and D.W. finished their picnic in the park and they lie down in the grass.

D.W.: Hey, maybe we should have a food section in our song.

Brain: Oh, definitely. There are so many delicious dishes to try from Africa. Poulet yassa is just the tail of the iceberg.

D.W.: You mean the tip of the iceberg? Tell me a few of them.

Cheikh: In my Africa. Whoa, whoa, whoa In my Africa there's lots of food they grow

D.W.: The Comoros has the coelacanth, a prehistoric fish In Congo, they eat mwamba stew...

Cheikh: That stew's my favorite dish

Brain: São Tomé and Príncipe, they like their food with spice

D.W.: The fish in Mauritius is hot and delicious...

All: ...it's really very nice

Brain: Sahara in Algeria's a hot and arid land

D.W.: Vacation in the Seychelles and relax upon the sand

Cheikh: The Madagascar aye-aye taps on trees to find its lunch

D.W.: If you like grains, then you'll love Mauritania...

All: ...they munch rice a bunch

Cheikh: The farmers out in Kenya, they raise cattle, goats, and hens

D.W.: And Burkina Faso's called "The Land of Upright Men"

Cheikh: The cotton from Benin is in the clothes we wear to school

All: There's 40 words for "camel" in Somalia—pretty cool! Hey!

Choir: Bembeya Jazz comes from Guinea Baobab trees are stout, not skinny Ethiopians eat teff, not "potator" Equatorial Guinea's quite near the equator One street in South Africa: two Peace Prize winners In Togo, they eat fufu for dinner Senegal's got a pink lake, Mali's got the Blue Men The folks in Nigeria spice food with cumin

Cheikh: They do. It makes a tasty stew!

(Brain, Cheikh and D.W. walk home from the park)

Brain & D.W.: Ha-ha! All right! Nice! Good job!

Cheikh: Do you think we're ready to be pop stars?

(They cross a zebra crossing like on the Abbey Road cover)

D.W.: I don't know about that, but we could try singing it for the class.

(Miss Morgan addresses D.W.’s class while D.W. stands right beside her)

Miss Morgan: Kids, we have a special treat today. D.W. is going to sing a song she wrote about Africa.

D.W.: (gulps) (thinks:) Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

Timmy: I can't wait for the part about the hippo bus.

Tommy: Or the part where D.W. turns red because she embarrasses herself.

Timmy+Tommy: (laugh)

Cheikh: She's not going to embarrass anyone. Not with me singing it with her.

(He walks up to D.W.)

D.W.: Thanks for helping me. And I'm sorry I made that silly drawing.

Cheikh: I'm glad you made it. If you hadn't we'd never be pop stars.

D.W.: Cheikh, we're not pop stars.

Cheikh: Not yet, D.W. A week ago you knew nothing about Africa, now look at you.

(Brain starts playing bongos)

All: Fifty-four things, fifty-four Things to see and to explore In my Africa. Whoa, whoa, whoa In my Africa. Whoa, whoa, whoa

D.W.: The world's biggest frog is found inside of Cameroon In Chad, the lungfish yawn and wake up when it rains in June Gorillas in Rwanda have a hooting sort of speech Go to Gabon to see an elephant walk on the beach

Brain: Angola's full of dino bones; museum in the ground Libya's got those Roman ruins, the coolest ruins around And Egypt has the pyramids, the Sphinx, and King Tut's tomb Malawi's got a town called "Livingstonia," I presume

All: In my Africa. Whoa, whoa, whoa In my Africa joy and beauty flow

D.W.: Tunisia's known for gorgeous gates and Swaziland makes glass From old recycled bottles that the boys and girls amass Lesotho's folks don't go outside without their fancy hats The artists in Sierra Leone weave really pretty mats

Brain: The tunes they play in Niger, hey! They're vital and alive The Hipco of Liberia, that style's gonna thrive Cape Verde's got the morna. Man, I dig that swinging beat Guinea-Bissau's gumbe just makes me want to stomp my feet

All: In my Africa. Whoa, whoa, whoa In my Africa. It's almost time to go.

Cheikh: My Africa's an ageless land, I'm glad that you could see This continent so full of life, you're all my family

Brain: And now we leave this loving place, its heartfelt family ties

Cheikh: A warm embrace...

Brain: A smiling face

D.W.: A bittersweet goodbye

All+Choir: To my Africa, Djibouti, makuge hooray Goodbye, Africa

All: Somalia,

Choir: Nabad gelyo, hey! Magic Africa

D.W.: In the C.A.R.

Choir: Gue nzoni! Hey! Lovely Africa,

Brain: D.R.C.

D.W.: Reviens, s'il vous plâit!

All: Mighty Africa,

Brain: Western Sahara,

Choir: Ma‘a salaam! Oh, yeah! In my Africa

Preschoolers: (cheer)

(D.W. and Cheikh take a bow)

Miss Morgan: That was wonderful, D.W. And now I'd like to introduce our newest student. Kids, this is Keith from Kalamazoo. A boy waves. Does anybody here know anything about Kalamazoo?

(D.W. raises her hand)

D.W.: No, but I'd love to learn.