Africa Unite!

Perhaps because of the African in me, I get so annoyed whenever TIA (This is Africa) is mentioned, especially by people of non-African descent and in a bid to rationalise the inconceivable events that take place in this continent, but really, quarrelling over such disrespect is sometimes overtaken by very ugly events.

Since I refreshed my Facebook browser this morning, the greater part of news updates appearing on my timeline are crises relating to this continent; from religious confusion, xenophobia to political stampedes, and is like everywhere has its own wahala, from Timbuktu to Abyssinia.

Still, I am trying to convince myself that this continent that is said to be the birthplace of humanity and civilization can do better if she wants to, that she’s not a continent of firefighters who only fight fires they willingly fired up, that Africa can be more willingly proactive than reactive, but not when all I can see right now is a manifestation of a continent that is as reactive as a brigade of firefighters and as late in resolving emergencies as the police in horror movies.

I hate to think that sights are too low that we can only act in response to issues after they have happened and damages are done, and mostly by praying to a God that we think is probably black or exclusively ours, and then we sit and wait for His intervention, whilst blaming foreign or condemning the issues and absolving the architects, or using more devastating solutions like opening a certain can of worms and eventually making bad things worse.

It appears to me that we are yet to overstand that whatever we may intend to accomplish as a continent or race, or whatever we are going prevent from happening or cause to happen tomorrow will naturally be a consequence of our actions or inactions of today.