I’m interested to find out the views and knowledge and wisdom available to share that may be out there on “Africans for Africa - African solutions to African Problems” and whether this is just a lofty idea or something worth pursuing and what we can do about it.
There are a number of ways to go with this but to start things off I think there is substance and wisdom to it. So most of the time we hear people ask about what are the solutions to our problems.
I believe that in order to arrive at the solution, and although we talk about the problem/s a lot that we have as Africa and as Africans, we need to understand how the problem operates.
So, as a start, a few examples could be the following:
1. Do we understand how colonialism, global history, (mis)education, global and local political systems and economies and governments operates?
2. Do we understand the difference between religion and spirituality?
3. Do we understand and know of and practice our African identity/ies, lineage, ancestry, history, language/s, heritage, beliefs, customs, indigenous and sacred lands, cultures and traditions?
4. Do we have the necessary skills, institutions, industries and businesses that will directly benefit and uplift black and African communities, economies and people?
5. Do we have a grasp and an understanding of how prominent issues and topics such as the LGBTQI+ community, mental health etc. impact or find relevance or expression in Africa and African communities.
Once we understand how the problem or issue operates and manifests itself then we are in a position to understand and solve it. A lot of the time our people place so much reliance on what others will do for us in order to return to us or give back to us what was once ours. The things that our people suffer from which include physical poverty, poverty of the pocket, poverty of the mind and poverty of the soul are not new. It’s a fixed construct. We won’t get rid of it but we can and should be focused on getting out of it. The so called ‘frontlines’ have never only been on the battlefields but have long been in our minds, souls, hearts and spirits.