 In the book The Color Purple. One of the sisters (Nettie) goes to live with a family. They are missionaries for their church. They go and live in Africa with the Olinka Tribe. Nettie and her family teach the Olinka tribe how to read and write. They aren’t allowed to teach the girls. Nettie and her family try to change that but the elders do not want the girls to become smart. So Nettie teaches one girl named Tashi in secret but soon her dad finds out and she has to get scarred. Nettie’s little “brother” Adam wants to get married to Tashi and go back and live in the United States but Tashi is ashamed of her scars and doesn’t want people to stare at her. Adam decides to get the scars too and then Tashi goes and lives with Adam in the US.

 The Olinka believe that women should not be educated.  They also believe that women are not as important as men.  The women must serve their husbands and they stay at home doing chores: cleaning the house, washing clothes, and cooking meals that will be ready for the husbands when they get home from working in the fields.  The Olinka Tribe believes that the women should always feel ashamed. The women are not supposed to make direct eye contact with anyone and they must always listen to their husbands.

 The Olinka worship the “Roofleaf” as their God.  They believe that it protects them from harmful weather.  It goes on to their house as the roof. That is how it got its name.  It is very sacred to them. They have ceremonies for it.

 Missionaries are people who are sent by their church to help the people of that country.  Missionaries that travel to Africa are usually trying to preach the word of God, help with the diseases, teach kids and adults how to read and write, and get clean water and food to everyone.  The Olinka Tribe was very surprised when Nettie and her family came. They were surprised that they were black. They were used to white missionaries. Nettie was surprised at how black the Olinka Tribe was. She started to call her self brown.

 The scars are marks that are made on faces, backs, chests, and their arms using spears, knives, and pieces of glass.  The Olinka tribe usually scars the women’s faces. They do this so that they feel ashamed.  Sometimes men will be scarred but they only get scarred if they have done something very wrong.

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