Africa's gift to the world

Taleni Shimhopileni writes: Recently, I was in South Africa’s busy and bustling city of Johannesburg, seated in a lovely Ethiopian café called 'Little Addis'. All post-apartheid young adults, two of my friends and I, were having a late lunch while seriously discussing Africa, specifically what Africa's role in the world could be. I was struggling to come up with a satisfying answer for my proud African self. While pondering what Africa’s future reputation would be, the reality remains that, at the mercy of the 'greater' regions, we might receive minimal acknowledgement of influence but nothing more. The main narrative of the African continent is that of historical slavery, poverty, and potential strangled by corruption and nepotism .While other regions of the world are known for having brought industrialisation and having begun the wave of technological innovation amongst many others. From the great struggles of Africans across the continent to obtain their political freedom, to the fight for our economic independence – which has influenced the premature deaths of many of our great African leaders – the question amongst many forward-thinking Africans is: after all that’s been said and done, what do we want to be truly known for and, more importantly, how do we achieve our desired ideals? Moment of Inspiration So while we sat eating injera (and delicious atkilt-wot), my friend said: “I read somewhere that Africa’s contribution to the world will be giving the world a more human face.” My whole world stopped. My brain froze. My heart smiled. My mind was still a bit confused but... here it was, the most apt answer I had heard in my (not so many) years of living! I became excited because the answer held so many realities and truths in just a single breath. What is the battle that hasn’t been won? What have the “great” nations, though cloaked in questionable humanity and superiority through acquired wealth (mainly obtained by the stripping of a people and a continent of their dignity and wealth), not yet achieved? The battle we could claim as our own, could be giving the world a more human face. Yet what does that really mean? “It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. We must dare to invent the future.” – Thomas Sankara My hope in defining what “a more human face” would be is what led me to write this piece. I might repeat words of truth and endorse motifs from previous African legends, yet I think my writing, as a 24-year-old Namibian woman, will remain relevant as truth needs to echo down from every passing generation until the full manifestation of glory has come to pass. As said by Franz Fanon, “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it”. I wish to be one of the many voices from my generation as we draw closer to Africa’s glorious destiny. "We are convinced that the risen masses must stand at the heart and in the vanguard of the great historic process to eradicate the legacy of slavery, colonialism, apartheid and neo-colonialism." – Thabo Mbeki Mbeki's words leave one with a desire to fulfil the actions he so beautifully lays out in captivating metaphors, with a well-defined end result. If only the implementation process was not so metaphorical. What are the practical manifestations of “standing at the heart and in the vanguard”? Can we truly eradicate the legacies Thabo Mbeki speaks of by continuing to play the 'Game of Thrones' with rules dictated to us and hope to come out victorious on the other side? Can Africa rise above her masquerading friends and, at the end, proudly proclaim herself as the continent that gifted the world with a more human face? I want to say yes. I believe we should say yes. All whilst defining for ourselves what this human face really means. Revolutionary Truths Firstly, I believe it begins with genuinely loving ourselves as Africans. No revolution ever survived without a people who loved themselves enough to believe they were worthy of the fruits the revolution would bring forth. Franz Fanon said, “The oppressed will always believe the worst about themselves.” The relevance in that statement rings loudly as there appears to be a façade of us, as Africans, having reached the fully developed stages of self-love yet there’s much evidence that still remains to prove the contrary. Acknowledging that we have progressed, we also have to simultaneously admit that with perpetuated poverty, disunity and some questionable self-enriching leadership at the cost of our people, we have not yet completed proving to ourselves and the world that we are stronger. We, as Africans, need to choose development and progress while observing the anecdotes of others’ successes, without designing our success by questionable hegemonic systems too easily embraced by many of our present African authorities. I strongly believe that such proof can only come from us progressing to the next stage of self-love, as an African people. Such a progression would manifest itself in several ways and I’ve selected a few. Proud African Civilisation Loving ourselves begins with defining our own Africanised definition of civilisation. It took loving ourselves above anyone else for us to fight colonial oppression, apartheid and even the fight for African-American civil rights. With our created self-image still tainted by forced impressions of what civilisation should look like, a true love of self includes both a proudly African-looking civilisation and a deep respect for us, as Africans, entrenched into our national and even continental systems in every nature. Our Languages In 'Black Skin, White Masks', Fanon reminds us that “a man who has a language consequently possesses the world expressed and implied by that language”. The psychological and sociological effects of speaking another man’s language to the extent of adopting it as one’s own needs to be seriously considered as we pursue a more free Africa. What would it be like if there was a common, continental African language – without devaluing Africa's many languages – in the pursuit of uniting us as a people? Fellow African scholars both in the motherland and in the diaspora have been deliberating on the idea of Kiswahili as the official African language. Imagine going to Holland, meeting a fellow African sister from Malawi and being able to communicate fluently in a common African language whilst she teaches me Chewa and I teach her Oshiwambo. I’m left to propose that what is now a utopian idea of a common African language should be a consideration amongst us as Africans, as we seek our desired victorious reality. Research Realities The movement of self-love would include appreciating our own African researchers when it comes to spelling out our realities. We need to engage and respect in-house research, project implementation and monitoring by qualified Africans, as a part of the next progression of Africa’s development. Innovation hardly ever precedes the acts of research, monitoring of trends and consistent, transparent evaluation during the process of any project. Yet, we still struggle to trust the sons and daughters of our land – to the same degree we entrust others – in analysing ourselves to create our own personalised solutions to Africa’s problems. Economic Freedom It’s no revelation that with neo-colonialism comes the control of our continental monetary value and its growth. Therefore the question we should ask ourselves is what the attainment of African economic freedom looks like to us. The many answers and implementation of such an end goal would take boldness. Yet, depending on our unity, perseverance and wit in creating our own financial framework, the eventuality would emanate a shiny display of the most human face, the world has ever seen. “Inequality can be done away with only by establishing a new society, where men and women will enjoy equal rights, resulting from an upheaval in the means of production and in all social relations. Thus, the status of women will improve only with the elimination of the system that exploits them…” – Thomas Sankara As I remembered the words of Sankara on that sunny day, I asked my friends what it would mean if we were to exchange the word “men” for “the West and East” and also replace the word “women” for “Africa”. The change of two simple words in that paragraph leaves one to question what it truly might mean to obtain true economic equality in the chess game of financial power. In applying these ideas, amongst many others not articulated in this article, I have chosen to believe that Africa will be the continent that says, “They stole from us, killed us, conned and lied to us while strategically disenfranchising us from ourselves to forever weaken us. Yet, we rose up and showed them that the natural laws of redemption will always prevail. We are the embodiment of life, not just as the survivors of the fittest but as testimony of the perseverance of humanity in the face of inhumane acts over centuries of our people and our land.” This reality is possible on my foundational premise of Africans beginning to love themselves to the next required level of truth, and transforming the love of self into uncompromising actions – high quality implementation, transparent monitoring and measurable, accountable results that will boldly declare the continuation of an African renaissance. The very thought that such a scenario is an imminent reality for Africa is exciting. Africa is rising to fully take back its dignity, wealth, culture and reputation and at the end of the narrative, Africa shall sit on the throne as the Head, and no longer the tail. When they ask, “What did Africa do for the world?” We must tell them the imminent truth which, in my words, is: “Africa brought what no one could – the human face of survival, perseverance and tested might. What other can compare? Africa has won, full circle.” “We believe that, in the long run, the special contribution to the world by Africa will be in the fields of human relationships. The great powers of the world may have done wonders in giving the world an industrial and military look but the great gift still has (to) come from Africa – giving the world a more human face.” – Steve Lundin and Bob Nelson * Taleni Shimhopileni is a 24-year-old businesswoman, TV producer, educationalist, writer, speaker and an African futurist. You can follow her on Twitter: @TaleniShimho