On Africa and being for Africa - A Missive
( Written by an esteemed member of the Dartmouth College ‘Students For Africa’ group,comments in italics are mine )
Dear All,
I love traveling. Each of my travels is an invaluable opportunity for a significant paradigm shift in the way I view the word, various issues, and mostly about myself.
I see that I have learned a lot about myself through travel too
Traveling as an African, particularly, has really given much insight into how most of the world views Africa, Africans and Africanity. It is surprising how many stereotypes and notions of Africanity exist out there.If you have ever been asked whether you live in a real city with real buildings, holla
At airports (let’s not even discuss the nightmare of attempting to obtain visas), my documents are checked and rechecked– lest I am attempting illegal entry in a bid to escape poverty of Africa. Once entry has been achieved, albeit with difficulty, I most likely will be viewed on the streets as an illegal immigrant— barely human as far as the masses are concerned. In offices and jobs I have in many of my travels encountered people who are surprised that I am not one of the cleaners or support staff. Let us not forget academic fairs and symposiums
I do not deny the problems of African immigration (especially with the current situation in Spain and the canaries), or the reality of poverty and hardship in Africa and most of the developed world; but whatever happened to basic respect of human dignity? If for nothing else, I, and Senegalese, and Mexicans, and every other citizen of the so called “Third World” should be respected for their humanity, for their ability to think, feel, love, share, and just be.Especially in this country!
But even beyond that, I stand in awe of the demonstrated innovativeness, persistence, and strength required to survive within a world system that enslaved you, exploited you, and then has the audacity to frown on you and berate you, whilst continuing to exploit you by implementing and maintaining global systems of trade and commerce that drives you and your people into deeper poverty and ensures that your odds of transcending these challenges are greatly diminished.
Telling us we need more aid. “We need that aid like a bowling ball dropped on our heads, which means, not at all” Lyric not mine
But enough with this negativity. The poor of the world do not need pity. Let us instead celebrate their humanity and all their deeds that deserve two thumbs up. Remember Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Of course, we cannot ignore the fact that even such outstanding peoples are capable of much evil–greed, and corruption and the like; but I believe that the Western media has done quite a job of propagating such information. So for a change, let’s take a moment to acknowledge the good, the beautiful; those things—big and small— that are worthy of mention. Can you think of any such things? I would love to hear some. Please feel free to post any thoughts, feelings, reactions, objections–anything!
More on the group that inspired this missive. Students For Africa is committed to promoting open dialogue and to creating a space within which the holistic discussion of African-related issues can be discussed. We also strive to avoid the tendency to compromise the complex realities of what we have simplistically named to be Africa and Africanity. At the same time, however, we must recognize that as humans we are limited in our modes of reasoning and require some level of simplification in order to bring multi-faceted, multi-dimensional complex issues down to our level. Despite this, we must always be cognizant of the fact that things are much more complex than they appear.
BOOK REVIEW Learning To Love Africa: My Journey To Harvard Business School and Back
Author: Monique Maddy
Year of Publication: 2004
Publisher: HarperCollins
Summary:
This is a story about a unique woman, Monique Maddy, whose heritage, education, experiences and achievements to date are admirable and worth a second look. She leads the reader through a series of life events that call her to look within herself and try everything that she can to succeed. Her trip to the point of Harvard Business school is a witty account of her birth and early childhood in Liberia, English schooling and American collegiate exposure.
There is more to this lady than just her studies. She illustrates in lucid detail the sacrifices that her family made to ensure that she was a recipient of the best opportunities that life can afford. In her welcoming style, she pays homage to her late father, Emmanuel, whose vision for his children transcended the borders of Sierra Leone, where he was born, and Liberia, where he raised a family. Her story about her father is a doorway to the acumen and sterling business traditions of his ancestors. This insight is reinforced by the description of Ma Kema, Monique’s maternal grandmother who was a stoic example of the strength that people in rural Africa possess in the midst of upheavals and changing culture.
Monique was sent at the age of six to boarding school in England as there was no other British education available, to her father’s specification. Her feeling of alienation is tangible as she navigates the all-white system. Her family returns her and her brother to the fold after a few years, as the separation proves daunting for their normal life together.
Later, however, the same feelings of belonging to Africa prevail in her high school and college studies in the United States of America.
Monique provides us with a familiar backdrop to the developments in Liberia that led it to its present turmoil. Lacking the strong government needed to drive infrastructure development, Liberia arms itself with multinational investment in the form of companies such as LAMCO, a mining company with which her father works. LAMCO is the sole provider of school, hospital, road and job for many of the employees and residents of Yekepa, their small village. The small village echoes the growth of other company towns in Africa and other developing countries. However, tribalism mars co-operation in the village as the growing discontent between the indigenous people and the Americo-Liberian population.
However, by far the most significant role that Monique has played was as the initiator of the ACG Company, later named Adesemi, whose role in defining entrepreneurship in Africa leads the field of developing country investment initiatives in the late 1990s. Monique’s Harvard Business School experience came after five years’ experience in the lower ranks of the United Nations organization. Maddy, who had firmly believed in the development mandate of the organization, becomes disenchanted with its bureaucracy and results, thus she decided to return and obtain a Harvard MBA with her memories of the business needs of the developing world as her eventual emphasis.
Starting a business in Africa is not for the faint hearted. Monique Maddy marshaled some of Harvard’s most brilliant minds and watched them abandon the project midway for safaris. It was only after this mutiny that she linked up with Come Lague as her saving partner in the initiative. His enthusiasm for the project and his commitment spurred a longer commitment, renewed enthusiasm in Monique, and went on to be the beginning of their commitment to ACG and a lifelong friendship. While the project did not last, the lessons of its development from investment to local partnership did. The lessons continue to feature in classrooms at business schools over the world.
Of interest to sports afficionados is that Ms Maddy has actually trained and ran marathons. She trained with some of the great Kenyan runners of the last decade and even credits Paul Tergat, a Kenyan indoor athlete turned marathoner for inspiration.
This is a book not to be missed by any, whether or not you have ever been to Africa.
Fall - Launch of a new blog season.
So far the best thing that could have possibly happened did. I chanced upon a copy of a good book called “We’ve Got Blog”, which is a collection of thoughts about blogging from people who regularly maintain their own blogs. I will try and live up to the ideas that have been placed ahead of me, with a view to creating good content and a sizeable readership.
The challenge for me is to create content that truly reflects my interests as an African woman living in diaspora as well as a child of a vibrant community that is scattered across the globe. Women in my situation face the challenges of academic rigor as well as the changing attitudes towards them in their homes, schools and work places. May our work accomplish something greater for all the women who cannot be where we are for various reasons. Vive la Femme!
Regular readers of this blog have grown accustomed to reading many things about my childhood experiences and my current interests. This will continue as I strive to balance work and school in tandem with the demands of living life to the fullest.
Note the new blogs that I am reading as I go along and cultivate wider interests in the fields of economics, political science, business as well as web developments. Who ever thought that mathematics could pique my interest as much as it has over the last couple of weeks? The classroom of the fall is amazing, so much to learn and do. Impressive.
Welcome to the Fall, a season of mixed weather, new readings and the promise of a hearty semester to come.
The only B-log I trust is my own
Twas the summer before this fall, not a cloud was in sight, not a trace of pant leg nor a soggy boot leg. It was the hottest time, for the best of reasons. An item was added to the list clutched in my fist, one to make each skirt twirl, and each cool soda drink last. But those are wanton feelings about the summer that ended with the onset of the rain, and the brolleys( umbrellas ) and no more walks without jackets ( jumpers, wind breakers, jerseys et al)
I had a blogger mentality over the summer, and vowed to post everyday. Hmm, no small wonder the entries so far in a 4-month summer. What can one say about those warm summer days without stealing memories from a fresh plate you just put to dry on the rack. I could almost swear and say, the only b-log that I trust is my own. Updated to reflect a changing musical mentality, i find other blog rolls fascinating.
Do update sometime soon Blog, pweety pwease!
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