My team and I have now visited two African countries on our World Race journey. I’ve gotten to see first hand what Malawian and Zambian life is like. And oh my is it different from what I thought it would be. There were certainly things I was prepared for (i.e. squatty potties, bucket showers, and unreliable electricity). But I’m embarrassed to say that I had a lot of incorrect generalizations and stigmas of Africa. I’ve never once looked down on Africa as a whole. In fact, I’ve always wanted to visit here, but I definitely didn’t understand Africa for what it really is. Keep reading to find out just a few things I think you should know about Africa.
I learned a little bit about Africa growing up in public school. What I remember most is the colonization of Africa and the effects that has had on African culture. We primarily focused on the effects it had on tribal confrontation. I grew up pretty much thinking that Africa is just a war torn place that can’t seem to move forward. And, the movies that portrayed Africa didn’t help this stigma either.
P.S. The American public school system does a lot of things great, but teaching on Africa is not one of them.
While there is still some confrontation existing in Africa (especially in the north), there is a lot more to Africa. Oh, and that’s another thing we cannot continue to generalize Africa. Africa is not a country! It’s actually the world’s second largest continent. There are 54 countries on this continent and a non-self-governing territory known as Western Sahara. And, the majority of people here don’t speak in clicks and whistles. In fact, here are some of the most common languages spoken in Africa and an estimation of how many people speak them: Arabic (170 million), English (130 million), French (115 million), Swahili (100 million), Berber (50 million), Hausa (50 million), Portuguese (20 million), and Spanish (10 million). By some counts there are over 3,000 languages spoken in Africa, but I don’t think I was ever taught in school that English was the second most spoken language.
In recent years I’ve studied a little more, listened a little closer, and paid more attention to conversations, articles, and TV shows about Africa. There are definitely poor countries and regions. In fact, my team and I visited the poorest country…in the world, Malawi, which is in the southern central region of Africa. But what most Americans don’t know about Africa is that it’s home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies. It’s also the youngest continent with a median age of almost 20.
One of my favorite facts (as a movie lover) is that of Nigeria’s Nollywood. Nollywood is the name given to the booming film industry in Nigeria. Nollywood produced 872 films in 2005. It is believed today to produce approximately 1200 movies annually. That’s huge! Let me make something clear, we aren’t talking about the quality of movies produced we’re talking about the quantity. It’s a testament to Nigeria and Africa’s ability to create business. Not everyone is still walking around the Bush here.
Another common misconception of Africa as a whole is that wifi doesn’t exist! Not true. In fact, Facebook has over 100 million active users in Africa. Wifi is certainly not as readily available, but it’s not impossible to find either. While here in Livingstone, Zambia my team and I have been teaching computer classes to students, and they have a hunger for more information about them. I think that speaks to Africa’s readiness and desire to keep moving forward technologically and in industry. The irony of this situation is that I’m posting this blog in Zambia where there is plenty of wifi to go around.
I think that’s a good place to stop for this blog. I don’t want this to turn into a school lecture. I just wanted to shine a light on some of the misconceptions I’ve had or that I’ve heard in the past. I hope this does the trick and sparks your interest in learning a little more about this wonderful continent and the 54 countries that comprise it.
