Jan 05 2009
Welcome to Africa
Throughout my living in Cameroon, I came up to realize that there were many challenges to solve. I also realized that the stereotypical view of Africa was wrong so I came up to view Africa this way through my short story.
Have you ever sat down to listen to the conversations of some foreigners before they come to Cameroon, “Beware, brother that country is dangerous, even the miserable are poor”, “Don’t worry about the shopping or the good life, there is nothing”. I mean Africa has always served as the bad example of the world. People come to Africa already preconceived with a definite image in their head. For them Africa is in total misery with so many poor and ill people. They also believe in a country with no roads and only jungle tracks, a country with high rates of violence and primitives.
I know that, that was the same feeling I had when also moving to Africa. I too thought that Africa was some sort of Doom land but since then I have changed. I have come to see that Africa is instead a mine of opportunities and challenges. People say “Ah, Africa, the place where people sleep in trees”. At first, I would feel bad but today I can now respond to that by saying that there are the same trees we use to give you paper.
A few years ago when I came to Africa, I felt punished by my parents. They kept on saying that they wanted my best but I didn’t think that coming to Africa was the best for me. I too was afraid of Africa and with my friends comments in my head, I kept on being reserved to myself. But then, I started asking myself some questions as I came to realize that things could be done. One of my first questions came after my first encounter in school. I realized that they were no computers in school, so I felt bad. Then I asked myself what could be done to remedy the situation and I thought about building cheaper and affordable computers. However, the Negroponte project was already working towards that.
In, school I forged on becoming a leader to get things done in which I excelled. I started as a Senior Prefect ending as President of Student Council which has taught me on how to get things done which in my opinion is vital in helping bringing a change to Africa. In my own way, I have helped in bringing up solutions to the challenges Africa face. With my mother, we offered a conference to the youths in which we were offering them solutions to the scarcity of technology in Africa.
Once we shall able to conquer all these vices, we would have half done with the development of Africa as the rest shall move on quickly. All we will need to do is to come together and offer solutions to the problems Africa is facing. Like I have worked towards finding solutions, I think that if many people but their heads together we would solve the problems Africa is facing.
