Africa: My Story, Your History

I shared this piece in 2002 with my junior secondary one social studies students in Lagos, Nigeria, whose ignorance of basic African history had shocked me. However, their defense was as sincere as it was telling: "We do not know because no one has taught us." Their response reminded me of an African proverb which says, if you don't know where you're coming from, you'll not know where you're headed. So, I decided to awaken in my students (10-11 year olds) a passion for Africa. And for three years I made sure we grounded every topic we discussed on Africa and African examples.

Here's the first piece I shared with them:

Africa my Africa…

Africa of whom my grandmother sings…

I have never known you

But your blood flows in my veins…

Africa tell me Africa

Is this your back that is bent…

But a grave voice answer me

Impetuous child that tree young and strong

That tree over there

Splendid alone amidst white and faded flowers

That is your Africa springing up anew…

(David Diop)

Today most of my grandchildren know very little about me.  Their parents who should tell them my story know no better.  But you, Grandchild, have to know my past that you may face your future with a determined hope.  So, I decided to tell you my story myself.

Funny enough, there are many versions of the origin of my name. An earlier one says that “Africa” is derived from the Latin aprica, which means “sunny.” A later version maintains that the name came from Ifriqiya, an ancient area in modern day Tunisia, Ifriqiya which, in Tamazight (a northern African language), also means "sunny place." 

Indeed, I am the sunniest continent in the world.  I am the world’s second largest continent.  With my size of 30, 221 532 sq km, I occupy 23% of the world’s land area.  My 840 million population is shared unevenly among my 53 countries [now 54], with  Nigeria being the most populated (about 130 million [currently over 170m]) and Seychelles the least (about 77 000).  Sudan is the biggest of my countries by landmass [Algeria now holds that record, with the recent creation of South Sudan in 2011] followed by the DRCongo.  Tunisia lies at my northernmost boundaries and South Africa at my extreme south.  Somalia and Senegal occupy my farthest eastern and western borders, respectively.

I am bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the north, the Atlantic Ocean in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea in the east, and the mingling waters of the Atlantic and Indian oceans in the south.  The Suez Canal separates me from the Sinai Peninsula of Asia.  However, many islands are considered part of me.  Among these are Madagascar and Comoros (in the Indian Ocean); Equatorial Guinea, and São Tomé and Principé (in the South Atlantic Ocean).  The world’s biggest desert (the Sahara) lies within my north, scorching a quarter of my landmass.  The equator cuts me almost equally from north to south, while the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn make their journey through me.

Presently, I am a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, and multi-religious continent.  Although I am peopled by about 650 ethnic groups that speak more than 1000 languages, I still struggle to harness the potentials within this diversity.  The Yorubas live in my west and the Kikuyus in my east.  Hausa and Kiswahili are about the most widely spoken of my languages; however, due to colonization, English, French and Portuguese have become my official languages.  African Traditional Religions (ATRs), Islam, and Christianity are my major religions.  ATRs have always been part of me.  The Arabs brought me Islam in the 7th century from the north, while the Europeans brought Christianity to my south in the 17th century from the Atlantic. The Indians brought their Hinduism and Buddhism during the colonial era.

Certainly, I boast of humanity’s most ancient civilization.  My Egyptian Civilization dates back to 3,

100 BC!  It produced the world’s first writing formula (hieroglyph) and the first 365-days calendar.  Today you hear of countries like Liberia, Libya and Lesotho.  These are modern creations, originating from the 1884-85 Scramble for Africa (when the colonial powers in the Berlin Conference partitioned me among themselves).  But before then, I had had great empires and dynasties like Ghana, Mali, Sudan, Zulu, Benin, and Egypt.

Some of my encounters with the outside world still bring tears down my cheeks.  In the fifteenth century, my most able-bodied sons and daughters were forcefully taken away from me in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.  In their millions they were bought with the collaboration of some of their relatives and taken to America (and Europe).  Those who died in the dehumanizing journey are estimated to be more than those who survived it.  The survivors and their children struggled for, and achieved their partial emancipation.  Today, they form the bulk of my children in Diaspora.  The likes of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Mohammed Ali, Michael Jordan and Oprah Winfrey have made me proud.

While that first encounter drained me of human recourses, the second—colonization—milked away my natural resources.  The colonial powers of Europe used the rest of my strong sons and daughters to extract these resources for their industries back home.  For almost 100 years, they remained masters over my children.  It took the determined efforts and sacrifices (with their lives in some cases) of the likes of Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Julius Nyerere, Samora Machel, and Nelson Mandela to restore my political independence, dignity, and freedom.

Nevertheless, my agony at the moment is the most unbearable.  I wept when foreigners plundered and raped me.  Now, I wail as my own children render me impotent.  Struggle for power among my children has meant my neglect.  Some of them steal the little money I am left with for my development and stash it in foreign banks.  Consequently, I am left with poor health care and educational facilities, and other basic amenities.  I cannot fight the rampaging HIV/AIDs that endangers my future because I am already weakened by poverty and hunger.  Even at that, the little resources I could have relied on are used to finance ethnic conflicts and wars among my children.  As a result, most of my grandchildren have become refugees, orphans, child-soldiers, child-prostitutes, child-laborers, street-kids, and drug addicts.

Victoria Falls

Despite all odds, I still remain a wonder.  The pyramids of Egypt perpetuate my tradition and the Victoria Falls (the smoke that thunders) symbolize my enduring strength.  As long as the Nile and the Niger continue to flow, life will still remain in me.  But above all, my future lies in you, Grandchild.

Dear grandchild, the truth is told that you may learn and grow.  I told you my story so that you know your history, a history you would in turn tell your own children and grandchildren.  But before then, you have to impact positively on my development for your effort to be part of the story.