THE BLACK CONTINENT

For a long time, Africa has been called the black continent. The name has carried a lot of meaning over the years; most obvious of them being that Africans are majority black. Some of the connotations behind the term 'Black', however, have been most derogatory. Africa and its blackness have been associated with illiteracy, poverty, disease, strife, archaic lifestyles, basically everything negative your mind can conjure up.

These narratives have been repeated for so long that we have internalised them. We have made them true to us and to everything around us. We have allowed the enemy to fight us from within. While we live believing we are poor and illiterate and lacking; those who can see what we truly have take it from right under our noses while we watch and cry foul. Often times we even don’t know and if we do, we don’t care. We have been so deluded into thinking what we have is not ours that we let it slip from our hands.

Africa has an untapped potential that I don’t think we as Africans are properly privy to. We walk around on our streets and look at development taking place, buildings going up, roads being constructed and I hardly think anyone takes a moment to ask, “What does all this mean for me?” We see it and we like it. We post it on social media and share with everyone. The question I want to ask all Africans if I could is, “Are you prepared to take your place in the midst of all this?” We have so much in Africa, yet we don’t seem to be keen in harnessing the power we have for our own good.

Tactics of old have been used to divide Africans and make us strangers to each other. Yet when a Kenyan walks into Uganda, we essentially have walked into our relatives house. A relative whose pot we can eat from and share pleasant company with. When A Ugandan walks into Rwandan’s compound they will find a brother who is always ready to help. When A Rwandan crosses the border to Tanzania they are sure they will not go hungry. When a Tanzanian travels to South Africa they find themselves at home again. Then there is our crazy big brother Nigeria who has kept us entertained. We all are connected but we find it so difficult to come together as countries when policies that will bring about the changes we need is discussed. We have been divided so that Uganda can not call The Democratic Republic of Congo to order when they plunge into unexplained civil war. We shall stand back and watch as the DRC engages in the most senseless war and turn a blind eye while their wealth is being looted to build countries far away.

Africans need to stand up for each other and realise that no one will come to save us but ourselves. Not the United Nations with their peace keeping missions who come to watch and give reports. Not even the rich countries that blind us with aid that only bandages the problem but not fix it. Until we understand that it is not in their best interest when there is peace and harmony in Africa then we shall never tap into the greatness that we have in us.

What is most insulting to us as Africans is when our own propagate the narrative of poverty and lack so as to drain funds from unsuspecting donners from Western countries. Greed has made us enemies of our own progress and development. We are the first to take photos of ourselves in the most pathetic of situations to sell a sob story in exchange for aid funds. It irritates my soul to no end when we become the creators of our own problems instead of genuinely being part of the solution.

Africa can rise up. We will. The only question is will you be part of the progress? Yes, you. It is not their job, that person over there’s job or that group of people we hear about. It is my job. We all need to say it collectively, “It is my job.” No one is coming to save us. No one is coming to clean our mess. No one will come to arrange us and show us the way forward. We have to do it ourselves and do it well. Because in all honesty, what we have here is not ours to indulge in and hoard. It is ours to grow and develop. It is ours to protect and keep safe. It is ours to make sure it makes it to our future generation better and bigger. When it gets to them, we need to teach them the same thing we know ourselves. Nothing in this world is for us who are here now to partake of recklessly. We have a duty to those who will come after us, as a wise person once said, “We did not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we are borrowing it from our children and grandchildren.” So, like everything borrowed we need to make sure we return it in better state than we got it.

For all my African brothers and sisters, let us understand this and pass it on to those who will come after us. A gem of knowledge from those who were here before us, “A wise man is he who plants a tree whose shed they know they will not enjoy.”