The Africa They Dont Show You

When I lived in the United States, I was constantly infuriated by many Americans’ view of Africa. I really don’t blame them though. First, their education system does not teach them other countries’ geography or other people’s histories. While I was taught about and could name most of the American presidents by 6^th grade, most Americans cannot name a single president of any African country. Someone once asked me if Nelson Mandela is a famous athlete!  A kid in 6^th grade in Kenya can tell you about the long Mississippi river but a 12^th grade in the US cannot tell where Mt. Kilimanjaro is.

Second, most of what Americans know about Africa is from movies, CNN and other narrow-minded media sources. Here is the info they have:

• Africa is one country, South Africa is the capital and we all speak Afrikaans but have other native tongues. Rumour has it that a former US president said on national television that he was visiting the ‘country of Africa.’ How sad!

• All of Africa is a jungle. We all live in the forest, King Mufasa is my neighbour. A guy once asked me if we have cities, roads or malls in Kenya. I was so tempted to respond: No, just animal trails.

• All of Africa is poor. We live in mud and thatch huts. We have no or very little food. African kids suffer from extreme hunger and starvation. But despite the poverty, Africans are content and happy.

•  All of Africa is plagued by war. We all love to kill each other with crude weapons.

• Africa=AIDS

• Africans are not bright. They have lower IQs than Americans.

•  Etc…other negative things about Africa.

Now, here is the info misinformed Americans should have about Africa:

• Africa has 54 fully recognized sovereign states, 9 territories and two de facto independent states. It is the world's second-largest and second-most-populous continent. UNESCO estimates that there are over 2,000 languages in Africa. It is the most multilingual continent in the world. Most people speak multiple African and European languages. Americans, please note that when you tell an African: “Wow! Your English is so good! When did you learn?” It is not always taken as a compliment. Most Africans learn English in Kindergarten. The English may be tainted by a heavy accent, but their written English is most likely better than a native speaker's.

My city: Nairobi, Kenya

• Yes, some communities live adjacent to the national parks and game reserves.  My village is next to the Aberdares national park and I grew up with monkeys, gazelles, buffaloes, lions and walked with leopards at night but not every African has that experience. There are huge cities in African countries. Some may be as advanced as American cities.

• Not all Africans are poor. I am not implying that we live like Prince Akeem in “Coming to America.” Yes, Africa is the poorest continent in the world. Yes, we still need lots of development aid to help fight poverty. But that does not mean that everybody is wallowing in poverty. And we are not all happy and content with the state of affairs! When Americans visit Africa, they report back: “Oh! Those Africans are so poor but they are so happy.” Please do not interpret that as lack of ambition. Those who are poor try everything to get out of it. Come to my city and drive around at 4am. Poor people are walking to work, opening their businesses, selling farm produce…at that hour! I used to take the train at 6am in Philadelphia. Very few Americans are awake at 6. And they say Africans are lazy!

• Most Africans are a peaceful people. Not all countries are at war. Yes, once in a while we fight each other but so do Americans, and Asians and Europeans! I witnessed more violence in American cities than I ever did in Kenya. But killing using crude weapons is apparently worse than using guns and bombs. CNN is usually very keen reporting violence in Africa; yet they ignore violence in Detroit, New York, Camden and other American cities.

• Not all Africans have AIDS. I don’t even want to write more on this!

• I recently wrote on the issue of Africans and brains. In short, Most Africans are as intelligent or even more, than Americans. Here is the link: http://thetrainblogger.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2013-04-15T06:19:00-07:00&max-results=7

Now, not all Americans are ignorant of or misinformed about Africa. I am proud that most of my friends know that Kenya is in East Africa and not next to Trinidad and Tobago. My American friend Brian even knows more about my country than I do. I bet you he knows that Kenyan Edna Kiplangat won the women’s Marathon in Moscow last week.

Please visit this website. It shows how beautiful Kenya is: It is part of  the Africa they don’t show you on CNN.

http://www.magicalkenya.com/