To say one is conflicted about Africa is an understatement. How can one not love ones land and people? What’s more, consider its rolling hills and cascading mountains, its waterways and forests, its dignity and humanity, its benevolence and its eternal potentials. And in spite of its humiliation and exploitation at the hands of Middle-eastern and European marauders, she continues to love and to forgive.

Despite the continent’s real and latent wealth and possibilities, the Human Development Index of the United Nations Development Program paints a people and a continent at the bottom of the human development ladder: high mortality rate, high incidence of poverty and disease, limited access to quality education and health care and other basic needs, and an inconsequential gross domestic product.

Africans, according to available statistics, are damned! But beyond the statistics are the every day practical realities of the continent and its peoples. True, there are hope and hopeful signs. Botswana has been a perennial example of a hopeful and progressive country. Ghana, South Africa, and Uganda are some of the countries said to be on the upward swing.

Nonetheless, it is better not to be unduly optimistic. After all, as the great Chinua Achebe once said, Africa is “not viewed as a serious continent. It’s a place of strange, bizarre and illogical things, where people don’t do what common sense demands” In the same vein, one cannot be overly pessimistic about this potentially great land.

To catch a glimpse of the continent, one only need take a peek at the media images from and about Africa and Africans. Such images can be grisly and demoralizing. The images one see of the continent in the western media paint a picture of a continent and a people that are incapable of governing themselves, incapable of self-sustenance, and incapable of providing the most basic of all fundamentals without western tutelage.

Newsletters and promotional materials from Non-Governmental Organizations also paint dire and ravaging conditions. In this regard and speaking in generality, there are four types of Africans one see in the western media: the hungry and the diseased; a war-torn and war ravaged people; naked and bare-breasted maidens; and a people that are always dancing even in the face of deprivation. Africans, according to common parlance, are happy and joyous even in the face of misery.

Most, if not all of the images, are condescending. They portray a miserable people living in a forsaken land governed by brutes and savages. What one sees are child-like people who constantly needs assistance and direction in all spheres of life. Rarely does one see images of a truly happy, content, and advancing people.

One sees images of old and aging women with sickly children: women, who are mostly tired, dispirited, with hollowed eyes in receding sockets. And the children are usually near death. And rarely does one see images of a people going about their normal life. No; it is mostly about wars and famine and hunger and want and fetidness and hopelessness and death -- death on the streets; death in refugee camps; death on highways or carcasses strewn in desolate tracts.

One sees pictures of infants and flies and maggots jockeying for space, and for access to food, water and medicine. Just about every image one sees about the continent saddens ones soul. The continent is associated with any and everything bad about human nature.

When most western media speak of wars and excesses, they point to Africa; when they speak of dastardly acts, they point to Africa. Nothing new and positive seems to originate from the continent. It is also sad to note that most westerners cannot differentiate one African country from another; they speak as though the continent is one big country -- a continuous mass of nothingness and miseries and want.

News anchors and reporters are of little help in this regard. If there is commotion in Tanzania, Benin, Uganda, or Cape Verde, these media personalities will simply say “there was….in Africa.” There is usually never a mention of the particular country. Just Africa! But with Europe, Asia or North America, these media houses are quick to point out the specific country (and even the city).

The world knows very little about the African continent and her people; and the little they know is clouded by prejudice, ignorance, and racism. And even those who should know -- scholars, students and Foreign Service Officers -- usually speak of the continent in insalubrious terms. Yet, these are the same people who sit in their offices in London, Washington DC, Paris and elsewhere and write development policies for Africa.

These are the same people from whom African Presidents take orders. For instance, some of the World Bank, WTO and IMF officials who jet into African countries know very little about the real situation on the ground. These officials mostly sit in their offices and posh hotel rooms tossing out policy papers and recommendations based on computers analysis or some hocus-pocus development theory.

Consider also scholars who spends1-3 months in Lesotho, Mauritania, or Cameroon then become authorities on African affairs. A few returns to Africa every so often, pen a book or journal article, then goes about the lecture circuit or media outlets claiming to be experts on African Affairs.

At this point, the pain and the conflicting feeling about the continent set in again. This is so because, in spite of the western prejudices and the gory images, Africa truly has colossal problems. I cannot and will not pretend to know what all the solutions are.

Whatever the solutions might be, it is time Africans find solution to their own problems. While most countries in most continents are generally experiencing growth and human development, most countries in Africa are stagnant or regressing. AIDS/HIV and other diseases, hunger and starvation, bad governance, corruption and clientelism, and a host of other African-palavers have become a feature of the African landscape.

There seems to be no end in sight in terms of the rubbish that pervades the continent. What is true of Nigeria is also true of three dozen or more countries: weak institutions, poor leadership, and an apathetic populace. Where is the anger? Where is the revolution? Where are the movements to rid the continent of its garbage?

Have you ever been to Chad and Niger and Mauritania? The conditions are pitiable. Have you been to Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, and some parts of Nigeria? The state of affairs, I must say, is subhuman. So the next time you see images of Africans on CNN, The Washington Post, BBC, FOX, the Economist, the New York Times, and other news outlets, do not turn your gaze, do not be shy, do not pretend you didn’t see it. Go ahead, look at it and think about what should be done. We are, for the most part, what you see.

No one can deny the predatory and exploitative nature of the west. No one will deny the fact that free market is not amenable to the African way of life. And indeed no one will deny the fact that our continent is at the receiving end of globalization. And indeed, our continent is not ready to compete in the global marketplace of ideas, goods and services. We are capable of, but we are not ready. We don’t yet have the fundamentals right.

All the same, we are no more disadvantaged than the Asians that we can not hold our own. We could compete. We should compete. But first we must make our institutions stronger, educate our women and children, reshape our national culture, and disavow third-rate leaders. We should be serious about our selves and about our future.

Damn, it must be tiring. It really must be. Or, it ought to be: this high mortality rate, high incidence of poverty and diseases, limited access to quality education and health care and other basic needs and an inconsequential gross domestic product. It must be tiring.

Sabidde@yahoo.com

Robot  Villager

# 1 To say one is conflicted about Africa is an understatement. How can one not love ones land and people? What’s more, consider its rolling hills and casc...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 29.09.2008 00:55

truthsayer33  Villager

# 2 I was watching CNN the other day and I could not believe my eyes.Western experts were in Africa drilling bore holes for water,supplying bed nets to fight malaria and making improvements to wood burning stoves. With all our Universities and Colleges why can't we apply our brains to these basic issues? We have indulged in mass hypnosis and arrived at a state of learned helplessness. Posted by truthsayer33| 29.09.2008 03:46

ujup79  JJC

# 3 This is is a great article. God bless the writer. I must confess that my heart aches whenever i think of Nigeria and other African countries. We must stop looking at the western world for aid; rather, we must begin to form our own solutions. I have prayed so much for God to wipe off all the leaders like he did in the holy scriptures. I have also prayed that God send a "Moses" like he did for the Isrealites so that we the "African refugees" (which is what we really are-living in a foreighn land) can return home. When my mother-in-law talks about Nigeria and her problems, she weeps and you can see pain and anguish written over her face. The question is, Where do we begin? How and with what do we sart with? God be with us.. uju Posted by ujup79| 29.09.2008 04:53

katampe  Villager

# 4 =ujup79;274845>This is is a great article. God bless the writer. I must confess that my heart aches whenever i think of Nigeria and other African countries. We must stop looking at the western world for aid; rather, we must begin to form our own solutions. I have prayed so much for God to wipe off all the leaders like he did in the holy scriptures. I have also prayed that God send a "Moses" like he did for the Isrealites so that we the "African refugees" (which is what we really are-living in a foreighn land) can return home. When my mother-in-law talks about Nigeria and her problems, she weeps and you can see pain and anguish written over her face. The question is, Where do we begin? How and with what do we sart with? God be with us.. uju We have people praying everyday in Nigeria to the extent we have exported prayers overseas. I hope our prayers catch and strike the thieves dead. :D Abi, no be prayer make we dey pray sumtin go happen one day one day. Posted by katampe| 29.09.2008 05:41

ujup79  JJC

# 5 LOL you are funny!! :) Posted by ujup79| 29.09.2008 05:49

katampe  Villager

# 6 Lesson one :The smarter folks don't end up in world bank , but in wall street or in offices on the high streets of most developed economies. So you end up with half baked policies that really lead nowhere. Lesson two: Not that they are not smart, but they are ideologues that see the world in a specific way and many have used the canopy of those institutions to build careers for themselves.Take the case of Iweala, and with a bachelors degree in economics, and postgraduate degrees ( Masters and PH.D) in urban and regional planning graduate from MIT, she has become the poster economist that talks at IDEAS parroting failed policies that is now sinking America , policies that need a BAILOUT THAT SARAH "DUMMY" PALIN could not articulate well enough , these are the same policies that are rammed down our throats with funfare. Lesson three: the statiscal data for all their projections are fake and can't provide accurate conclusions. How do you get data in Africa . Lesson four : Aficans think with their feelings not with observation, inference and conclusion. Take the case of churches that have taken over the Nigerian country. isn't t time asked why? I mean the reason they are popping up in every street corner. While at the same time our economy continues to tank. Isn't time someone questioned the man hours wasted at night vigils when they should be in factories producing goods? Some lady up there advised we pray our way out of the probem :D Lesson five : The white folks can't like us more than we like ourselves. Few folks don't get it. Baring all problems , Obama may likely become POTUS, yet one of his siblings by circumstances of birth live in squalor. When you listen to the interview of the guy, and his mannerism, you realise that the guy might even be smarter than Obama, but circumstances of birth would never if there is no timely intervention allow him achieve his full potential. It is symptomatic of the problem with Africa. So many things to say, but where man one start and even end, it is so overwhelming. These are the same people from whom African Presidents take orders. For instance, some of the World Bank, WTO and IMF officials who jet into African countries know very little about the real situation on the ground. These officials mostly sit in their offices and posh hotel rooms tossing out policy papers and recommendations based on computers analysis or some hocus-pocus development theory. ------------------------------------------------------------ Madam, please continue to dey pray o! It is very important :D =ujup79;274856>LOL you are funny!! :) Posted by katampe| 29.09.2008 06:04

katampe  Villager

# 7 Madam, please continue to dey pray o! It is very important :D =ujup79;274856>LOL you are funny!! :) Posted by katampe| 29.09.2008 06:05

akuluouno  Villager

# 8 =truthsayer33;274835>I was watching CNN the other day and I could not believe my eyes.Western experts were in Africa drilling bore holes for water,supplying bed nets to fight malaria and making improvements to wood burning stoves. With all our Universities and Colleges why can't we apply our brains to these basic issues? We have indulged in mass hypnosis and arrived at a state of learned helplessness. TS and Concerned Vilagers, Thanks to SA for a wonderful artilce. I have seen Chinese men mounting street lights in Abuja near the fire service adjacent to Louis Edet House, Whitemen mounting billboards opposite First Bank Coomassiee House. Let me not bore you with the petty works being done Julius Berger and other petty construction jobs. Do not worry, they will soon start polishing shoes and doing our barbing for us. That is when we may realise that the situation is critical. Happy 48 natiional day jare and Sallah greetings to our Muslim brothers and Holy Yom Kippur to our Jewish Friends and Holy Gbosa to our Traditional Worshippers:D:D:D:D Posted by akuluouno| 29.09.2008 07:23

Ewuro  Villager

# 9 Not that they are not smart, but they are ideologues that see the world in a specific way and many have used the canopy of those institutions to build careers for themselves.Take the case of Iweala, and with a bachelors degree in economics, and postgraduate degrees ( Masters and PH.D) in urban and regional planning graduate from MIT, she has become the poster economist that talks at IDEAS parroting failed policies that is now sinking America , policies that need a BAILOUT THAT SARAH "DUMMY" PALIN could not articulate well enough , these are the same policies that are rammed down our throats with funfare. - by Katampe Katampe, What has Iweala got to do with this? She was called to do a job. She did it creditably well. She was undermined by Obasanjo and PDP fraudsters and eventually moved out of the finance ministry. She demonstrated decorum, candour, intelligence and integrity by resigning. What are you jealous of? Posted by Ewuro| 29.09.2008 08:06

katampe  Villager

# 10 No mind me jare, I jealous no be small. If you being care read me sef you for notice that I be dey talk say we really don't have the right people in the right places as such, but the few we manage get wey deliver job creditably like Mrs Iweala we go celebrate to high heavens, e just remain make we worship dem. Please help join the prayer movement for Africa. Abi, please pray, =Ewuro;274881>Katampe, What has Iweala got to do with this? She was called to do a job. She did it creditably well. She was undermined by Obasanjo and PDP fraudsters and eventually moved out of the finance ministry. She demonstrated decorum, candour, intelligence and integrity by resigning. What are you jealous of? Posted by katampe| 29.09.2008 08:20

---

The conversation continues in our forum. Click here to read all comments

---