Tuesday, July 10, 2007

HEART SHAPED AFRICA

Have we forgotten what Africa is? Africa is our dreamland, is our spiritual homeland. There is a realm inside every human being that is Africa. We all have an Africa within us. And so when the Africa outside is sick with troubles, the Africa inside us makes us ill with neuroses. The sheer quantity of neuroses, of anorexia, of inexplicable psychic illness in the world is possibly indirectly due to the illness, the troubles in Africa. We have to heal the Africa in us if we are going to be whole again. We have to heal the Africa outside us if the human race is going to be at peace again in a new dynamic way. There is a relationship between the troubles in a people and the troubles in the world, in the atmosphere. The troubles of Africa contribute immensely to the sheer weight and size of world suffering. And this world suffering affects everyone on this planet, affects children and their health, affects our sleep, our anxiety, our unknown suffering; for it is possible to suffer without knowing it.


Above is a an excerpt from an article that was written by a brother called Ben Okri which first appeared in Ode Magazine. You can read the whole article here.

What Ben Okri says carries a lot of truth,at least that is what I think.After all isn't Africa known to be the cradle of mankind?If then why shouldn't we think in the direction that Okri wants us to? However, the big question then erupts;what happened afterwards?

3 comments:

Patrick G. Kamera said...

Jeff,
Let me check out the article and then I'll be back for this thought provoking discussion on Africa.

Patrick G. Kamera said...

I just read the entire article and I must admit the man has a way with words, he certainly is a poet!

Now on to your question, "what happened afterwards?" Well, let's see, what happened after what, really?

I mean it's not like Africa was exactly paradise before the coming of the Arabs or the Europeans.

I am of the opinion that Africa was not as united nor were Africans living as harmoniously as many today would have us believe. If the reverse were true, then the Arabs or the Europeans wouldn't have been able to plunder, divide or rule Africa. I am not letting them off the hook by any stretch, all I am saying is that they more than likely capitalized on our weaknesses such as tribal conflicts and the like to achieve their ends.

Today we have pretty much the same scenario, albeit a bit sophisticated, they come in as "investors", and their aim is still to make mega-profit, and that, at the lowest cost possible.

My question is, when are we Africans going to decide to take charge of our own destiny?When are we going to start being responsible and not let everyone else define and confine us?

I mean even the word Africa, didn't originate from Africans, I think it's the Arabs or the Romans who came up with it, they called our continent Africa and us Africans and we just went along with it, the ancient Egyptians called the continent Kmet(not sure about the spelling, though).

So there you have it, nothing much has changed, we are still dancing to everyone else's tune but our own, and then we wonder why we are where we are today, go figure!

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