The
African continent from its time of existence is on records and evidently an
amazing one. Dating back to the time when socialization was as smooth as it was
and constituted uniformly accepted norms, values and way of life. People
behaved ordinarily, eat healthy food wore decent cloths and lived simple lives.
The good old days as some may call it was a time when parents and the elderly
were the same time iconic role models and so mentoring was direct, easy and
efficient. The Africa of Yesterday as I call it was a time where you wake up to
the early morning sunrise to see every single person you were dreaming about
around. The day begins with smiles and a rejuvenated souls that went to sleep
in the cold but yet had pleasant dreams. People wake up to duties and
responsibilities passed on to them for centuries; farming and hunting. They
come back from daily work to eat the same food, wear the same cloths and talk
to the same old people. Nothing seem to change, but no day has ever been the
same. It looks boring compared to activities of today. Can you imagine a world
without internet, cell phones, computer games, clubs and dancehall? It is
however fascinating to realize that the Africa of Yesterday had a better
alternatives to making better lives for people. They had no television but they
see the beauty of nature, they had no luxury houses but they had beautiful
homes, they did not need internet to reach elsewhere because they already had
each other, they had no swimming pools but they had all rivers and oceans to
themselves.
To
help understand this better, a motivational philosopher once said that; the
paradox of our time is that we aim for higher income but we have lower morals.
Unlike the Africa of yesterday, where strength, wealth and power was of less
influence as against morals, wisdom and purpose. These are the amazing stories
that descried the formidable future and harmonious atmosphere that was
projected. However, something happened. The milestones, success stories,
achievements and source of dignity and purpose forever remains in the old books
and on rotten shelves of closed libraries and places of monumental history with
no purpose at all. Time became the greatest enemy to the African people. As the
day goes by, the continent finally woke up to see new faces, curly hair and
lighter skin. As if that was all there is, we saw a stranger like never before;
one with armor and an army that struck our beaches and took away all that was
of importance to us.
And
from that time on, the ticking of the clock meant the deeming of the African
spirit like a lamp that is losing its brightness and darkness taking over.
Until today, all efforts to bring back the light of our souls by great men is
what has led us to the Africa of Today.
Today
has seen constantly one of the moment in the African space where everything
that the continent stands for make no sense anymore. Boundaries have been
created, families have become smaller, solidarity is now concentrated on a
select group, nuclear families are the only blood relation that matters and as
a result, anyone outside it relates to us on friendship, business or corporate
terms. People only care about themselves and nobody else. Today, people build
self-contained houses with high walls around them, outskirt of town and guarded
by a pit-bull or any guard dog. The Africa of today means that a mother has to
book an official appointment before seeing that very toothless and vulnerable
little soul she carried under her mercy for years all because he or she is now
a boss. The people of the African continent today crave for what is western.
With regards to entertainment, sport, value systems, beliefs and practices have
now all been adopted from the white man’s land. And so I see a fellow Sissala
man like myself and I speak in a native language and he thinks am still under
the clouds. Food and Fashion has become more unhealthy and complex to
understand. Primitive are those who decide to eat and dress simple and descent.
Even our literary education that we thrive of has nothing to do with wisdom
anymore; and as Jay Shetty- A motivational Philosopher said that; the paradox
of our time is that we have more degrees but less sense, more experts but less
solutions. Without formal education, you are now called illiterate. And
for that matter, countries attribute their slow development pace to high
illiteracy level.
The
Africa of today has seen a youth that is a total waste of time to socialize.
What matters to society does not matter to them anymore. No respect for
self-dignity, no respect for authority and there is only a negligible amount of
patriotism expressed only in soccer .
In today’s Africa, personal interest has over taken objectivity to the extent
that the ignorant elects the corrupt to empower the unjust to prosecute the
innocent, poor and vulnerable so as to satisfy the greed. To be accountable to
the people now means to satisfy one’s self. Poor people are shown no mercy in today’s
Africa, so they beg, steal and are beaten to death by blinded citizens.
A
famous racist once said that the fact that black people look like human beings
does not necessarily mean that they are. This statement never made sense to me
until I saw today’s Africa. Brothers against sisters, friends against families,
people are ready to risk the lives of innocent women and children by fighting
over a throne that is worth almost nothing. Black people today see no threat to
their lives than their fellow black men and women. I grieve over South Africa
where two black people can ignore the value of a harmonious living for decades
and kill each other all in the name of a xenophobia. If only Nelson Mandela was
alive, he would have died of grief and disappointment for the level of inhuman
behavior being exhibited by his people. The Africa of today has seen black
people who have discovered the enemy within now taking shelter on the white
man’s land. They stay there all their live as nomadic people moving from one
country to the other. The very few who after going through the hell of hustling
on the streets come back to their indigenous homes as different creatures. They
now have lots of hair with pony tails, they wear ear rings and lots of chains.
They put no belts, smoke cigar and can’t speak their native languages. The few
who can, develop an ascent with the English language. Its however funny and
quite sad to know that some people have lived on the continent all their lives
but have lost their indigenous culture more than these Afro-Europeans. As a
matter of fact, it is very normal to find people prefer American and Chinese
movies to those of local characters and content. The love that African women
have developed for Mexican soaps and telenovela’s baffles me.
It’s
a total visionless and senseless way of life exhibited by the Africa of Today.
A wise man once said, that the past is history, today is past and the future is
now. So the question now is, if the Africa of today is like this, what happens
to the Africa of tomorrow?
Mohammed
Abdul Hamid Babangida
Deputy
Director - PPF Research and Peace Institute.
+233
(0)268253275
hamidmohammed402@yahoo.com
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