Embracing Africa’s Silhouette By Robbin Peterz
As I grow old, one thing is clear. No one has a monopoly on wisdom. All we have is a cauldron of thoughts and facts which constitutes why we passionately believe Africa’s silhouette has changed and is continuing to change. I regard Africa as a beautiful painting on canvas, each stroke done by a different painter. So, allow me to add to my stroke of paint to the African canvas for you to fully grasp the perfect picture of her silhouette.
I will begin with a story of a beautiful young girl by the name Mutheu. Mutheu had always had big dreams and aspirations of becoming the best at what she did. Born in Matuu constituency in Kenya, the first words she had to learn were in her mother tongue. A few years rolled over and wreathed with a good education system, Africa produced an immaculate girl ready to join the busy Nairobi streets full of the never-ending razzmatazz.
Securing an 8-5 job was not an easy task but the gods of matuu were in her favour. She was called for an interview as a customer service sales agent at one of the leading telco giants in Kenya. The only demand was for her to sell herself in her native language, a language that defines her very core, a language that speaks to her soul, a language that if it so happens, a cut through her arm will see Kamba blood ooze saying I am a daughter of the soil. But she couldn’t, she couldn’t because she had transitioned to the city’s demands.
Africa’s New Look
Africa is slowly transitioning to the city’s demands. The international markets have never regarded what we offer but what they can gain from us. We are slowly transitioning to what other cultures demand. We are slowly bringing down our culture and putting on a mask that has never looked good on us and will never represent us. Look at our celebrations on the international scenes, they mostly involve dancing, music, traditional fashion, and other cultural artifacts. Don’t get me wrong I have no problem with this. It’s just that they never showcase Africa’s originating economic ideas, social ideologies, or intellectual theories.
It is not that they don’t exist, but the world has successfully convinced everyone including Africans themselves that everything African is inferior. That is why we dress Italian, drive German, spend like the Arabs, and kiss French.
Unpacking Africa
But today I am here to debunk that Africa too is the son and daughter of the soil. We can also dress like the SAPE community in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We can dress DASHIKI from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We can dress in the FASO DANFANI from the land of the upright known as Burkina. We are very capable of driving the LARAKI cars of Morocco; the KANTAKA cars in Accra Ghana or even the INNOSON VEHICLES in Lagos, Nigeria.
The West and the rest of the world believe that their culture is the only way to modernity. But is it really? Modernization of Africa by the rest of the world has made us believe that the only way she can progress is through her self-sufficient segregation. That is why we have ECOWAS in West Africa. The OCAC in Central Africa. The EAC in Eastern Africa. The SADAC in South Africa. The MAGHREB in North Africa and not forgetting COMESA.
As much as there is this cosmetic segregation, we should not ignorant of the fact that a regional block cannot be the basis of mobilization. This is because if you travel across the world, they don’t care about your Tanzanianess, Ghanainess, Kenyaness. In their eyes, we are all Africans and maybe perhaps, they could be right. Perhaps, that is what we should use as a building block to speak as a UNITED AFRICA.
Africa has always been on the menu in the international scene. Her beautiful silhouette has never escaped the mind of her oppressors. They continue to hunt and haunt her with luring gifts to deter her from waking up from this perpetual never-ending slumber. How will the future be if she continues to sleep? Her fore founding children are turning in their graves at the sight of their own mother, her current children do not know anything about their mother’s bosom. How will the future be if they continue to stand with other countries during catastrophes but can’t stand with their own when faced with hunger, drought, or any imminent danger? How will the future be when they are learning a foreign language while they can’t even construct a prayer from their own mother tongue?
How will the future be if they still celebrate when your grandchildren mama Africa are speaking a foreign language and their own offspring can’t greet them in their own tongue {what a shock}. How will the future be if your beautiful daughters still apply toxic skin care as though the skin does not care to change its colour?
How will the future be, I ask? I am rallying the troops, beating the drums, and sounding the gongs. I am calling to the future Mghoi’s, and the future Obiros. I am standing on the hills and calling the future Gichui’s and the future Guthera’s. Not forgetting future Munyao’s and the future Nkirote’s just to mention a few. The future is bright for those whose parents are building beautiful African Manyattas. They are telling me to tell you this; before you travel to MALDIVES, make sure you have visited the MAKARECH city in Morocco. Before you travel to Sydney, make sure you visit the LUXOR THEBES IN EGYPT. Before you go to offer prayers in Rome, make a visit to the ROCK HEAVEN CHRUCHES OF LALIBELLA in Ethiopia. And as you fall in love and make plans to go to PARIS, please take your lover, to the MAHE Island in Seychelles or the NASEY BA in Madagascar.
And if you do not take anything away from this article, remember this. That when A RIVER REACHES THE OCEAN, IT LOSSES ITS NAME. We are different rivers and when we come as one, we make one big beautiful…… The African Ocean. Africa’s silhouette.
Robin is a lover of our motherland – Africa, and an entrepreneur passionate about delivering operational efficiencies to businesses. He is the Director of Operations at Send Easy Logistics.
By Robin Peter Odongo
