The Sunday Mail
Vanessa Hodza Chisipite Senior School
By “Africa”, I’m referring to the youth and future leaders of all its nations. It seems we live on a sleeping island of buried wealth and potential. We hold so many treasures in us that could lift all nations if we collaborated with each other by fostering more indigenous trade patterns and solutions. Natural resources that can be mined, natural wonders that can be toured, intelligent minds that can be cultivated and fields that can be sown in. It would be unfortunate if all our potential remained that, Potential. Muhammad Ali once said, “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”
So where do we start?
Democracy? The post-colonial governments that took over the leadership and managerial role of our nations served its purpose in instigating a much needed reformed approach to leading African nations that inspired peace and democracy. Democracy itself is a myth created to give the people of a nation a sense of importance and the idea that they are authors of the fate of the nation. Giving uneducated vengeful people the power to elect the leader of a nation does not seem wise but promoting tyrants is not either.
“A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and their culture are like a tree without roots.” These are the words of Marcus Garvey. Marcus Garvey is a Jamaican entrepreneur, publisher and journalist known for Black Nationalism and Pan Africanism and was responsible of repatriation of slaves to Africa. This highly esteemed man puts emphasis on knowledge of one’s own past, origin and culture. I know many young people in this country who aspire to make a difference in this country and be the leaders Zimbabwe needs to solve problems in this nation.
I say this having been one of the naïve members of this group who thought “hey, I could totally be president.” Until I realised I have not studied African history beyond my grade seven general paper examination which was one quarter social studies. How can we as the next generation solve the problems of our respective countries without any knowledge of its history, origin and the culture of our people? How do we create solutions when we do not understand the nature and timeline of the problem and how people have fuelled the problem or attempted to diffuse it? How unfortunate it is that African history is not a mandatory course in all high school institutions as European history is around the world. The first step for us as the future resurrects of Africa is to learn what brought us to ruin, what people attempted to do about it and then we try to figure out how to solve it. “Solutions will not be found while indigenous people are treated as victims for whom someone else must find solutions,” said Malcolm Fraiser.
Over 72 percent of Africa’s population is in their twenties. According to an article published by BBC on African youth demography the median age for sub-Saharan Africa is 19 years old. Let me re-iterate; in the following countries which make up sub-Saharan Africa; Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Senegal and Zimbabwe, and 45 other countries their 0-19 year-olds are about equal to 20-100-year-olds. So we definitely know who has to wake up the sleeping giant with a zest and zeal that will take the rest of the world by storm and alter the political and economic standing of the continent dramatically forever. Us.
If we come together and help each other forgetting the Americans and Asians and Europeans and brewing solutions and strategies for African appraisal amongst each other as Africans, nothing can stop us.
Not by making a collection of descendants of the powerful colonial leaders we have, but passionate strong-willed educated and intelligent minds focused on a fresh and well-founded approach to problem solving, creating of opportunities and a better standard of living for all inhabitants of Africa as a unified nation. “The problem with the world is that all the intelligent people are full or doubts while the stupid ones are full of confidence” says Charles Bukowski. Similarly, Margaret J.Wheatley said, too many problem-solving sessions become battle grounds where decisions are made based on power rather than intelligence.” This is the approach that we must irradiate.
First we must find a solid base on which to rebuild African nations by inviting God into the semantics of government. Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. “For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.”
Secondly we must groom ourselves for the position of leadership through study of our origin, history and culture where important matters like politics and economics are concerned and prepare the future generation of leaders to come after us. “For success is not successful without a successor,” as Tom Deuschel once stated.
Lastly to be united, independent of other continents and self-sustainable, we must realise that “true intelligence operates silently. Stillness is where creativity and solutions to problems are found.”
In conclusion the wakeup call isn’t for the ministers of youth of the African nations because soon a greater call will be upon their lives. I call upon you, fellow African children, sons and daughters of this soil to take on your responsibility and wear your country’s name as a badge of honour. Let us stand together, as a unified heart and body to bring to completion the work of the current leaders with a fresh perspective and God centred strategy. The world is not ready for Africa’s awakening, but she is rising as the sun to take her place. Her time is now!
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