A VOICE OF A REVIVED AFRICAN – SOUNDING THE AFRICAN GONG

After an eventful meeting of intellectual discussion on a chilly night, I stood under my hot shower and pondered over things spoken during this meeting. Deep thoughts! Deep issues!!

 Characteristic of most African meetings I have attended, there was a lot of passion in these thought – provoking issues discussed. In trying to write this piece, I reminisced one of my childhood events. Growing up, one fascinating thing that always tickled my mind was the teacher’s remarks on my terminal report. After the term had ended and the results of those who excelled are announced in front of the entire school and these excellent pupils applauded; I always find myself eager to see what my teacher had written as his concluding remarks for my performance during the term.

I was always baffled by the concluding remarks “Excellent performance, but there is more room for improvement”.  These words always left me wondering “What do they expect from me?” Having topped in almost all my subjects and placing 1^st in class, I had the feeling of accomplishment, but my teacher’s words were “You haven’t arrived yet”.

It is in the light of afore narrated memories, I write about sounding the African gong. The African story had always not been written by Africans. Although, these stories about Africa were tangentially skewed towards the negative side of Africa, they were widely acclaimed as the whole African story.  In the awakening of the new African, it has become imperative to retell our own story by using the symbolic African gong to REJECT ANY DISINFORMATION, CORRECT ANY MISINFORMATION AND PROPAGATE THE TRUE INFORMATION ABOUT AFRICA TO THE WORLD.

To the world, we tell our own stories. We sound the African gong of success in Leadership. We talk about the great Leaders of the past, the ‘Nkrumah, Nyerere , Kenyatta, Nnamdi Azikiwe , Haile Selassie and many more.

We talk about the Leaders of today, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Ellen Johnson etc.  We talk about the great leaders of tomorrow, the Okello,  Okenna , Nuer, you and I. We could talk about the many successes chalked by Africans in the past and in the present in the fields of academia, science, sports etc.

BUT IS THAT ALL WE CAN DO? -  Like my primary school teacher, I say “THERE IS MORE ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT”.  There is room to strive not to be among the best, but to be the best. To strive not to settle for mediocrity! Thus, while we try to rewrite our history to the world, we should introspectively tell ourselves as Africans that “WE HAVEN’T ARRIVED YET”

Although, we sound our African gong to the world, we cannot be assured that we will win all to unlearn, learn and relearn about the African Truth. We cannot be assured that all people will have a renewed perception about Africa. WE CAN CONTINUE TO SOUND THE GONG, BUT WHEN THE STICK USED TO BEAT THE GONG IS BROKEN, WHAT DO WE DO?

We can sound the Africa gong in a different way. We can do this by re-echoing Maya Angelou’s words “You can trod me down with your bitter twisted lies, but still like dust I rise”.

This, we can achieve by building on the success stories of Africa and taking responsibility towards the development of Africa. AFTER SOUNDING THE AFRICAN GONG WITH OUR WORDS, WE SHOULD HIT THE GROUND RUNNING.

AND IF OUR WORDS DO NOT REWRITE OUR STORY. OUR ACTIONS WILL!!

  

THE VOICE OF A REVIVED AFRICAN – the African I know

A few days ago, I was invited for a UCAS meeting.  I had to cross – check my schedule for the set date to be sure there wasn't any clash in events I had planned for the day.  My friend rhetorically and sarcastically replied in these words “African like you. Do you know how to make a schedule? Just 1 month in Holland you don dey talk schedule.” These words were taken lightly. However, they got me thinking, scratching my bald head and pulling the few beards I had.  Has Africa changed? Has the African remained the same?

To answer these questions, events of the past years came rushing through my empty barrel.  I had flash backs of the Africa I knew.

The Africa filled with poverty, diseases and war.  The Africa, whose dusty roads created a rain of environmental pollutants flying through the nooks and crannies of every home. But, this Africa had her strengths. The Africa, where lessons about life were picked by the fire side. The Africa, where everyone was accountable not to only his family, but to the community.  The Africa, where communal living brought the best out of everyone. ….

These notwithstanding, the African metamorphosed into a new person, the contemporary African. The new African was a hybrid; a hybrid of a western culture and the indigenous African culture.  Although, this hybrid African learnt a lot, he needed the right balance of these cultures. Otherwise, he forgets his cultural heritage, which a lot have.

Fortunately, not all have been lost. The new African could not only dance the ‘kpanlogo’ but could blend it with salsa and any form of gesture to call it Azonto. The new African could not only sing his highlife and palm wine music, but could fuse it with hard core raps and call it ‘Hip life’.

The new African can not only grow lime, but make it into lemonade. The new African can do e-banking, e-learning and even send e-flowers and e-kisses to their love ones.

So to answer, my friend's question, I could prepare a 5 yr plan before I came to Holland.

In conclusion I will say

The African I know is inspired and challenged by his past.

The African I know is enlightened and motivated by his present

The African I know will be victorious tomorrow.