More often we are defined as African not just because of the skin pigment of melanin that we are so gifted with, but because of the spirit of Africanism often referred to as Ubuntu. We should take note that we are a continent of different races, cultures with different traditions.
We, however, have an innate code that distinguishes us.
In spite of our differences, we have managed to coexist for a long time. However, most recently we have seen a spate of xenophobic attacks in South Africa, an attack of black people by fellow blacks. In Zimbabwe, we have watched in despair and helplessness yet our deep thoughts go out to the people of Kenya who experienced gross inhumanity when at least 147 people, mostly students, were killed by al-Shabaab.
Militants carried out a 16-hour assault at Garissa University located about 200km from the Somali border in the north-east of Kenya.
Reports say initially the al- Shabbab shot indiscriminately, but later hunted down and killed Christian students while sparing Muslims.
The young lives that sought education for a better society were killed like they were not human beings.
The brutal and gruesome violence has so far been the deadliest by the group after the 2013 attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, which left at least 67 dead.
After shooting the students, execution style, the killers showed no remorse. But we ask, how do you kill your own brother and sister and not feel the pain?
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How do you repeat the same act without remorse?
Our mothers taught us everyone was a relative, which is why we do not have distant cousins as the English would say — we have sisters,
brothers, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces and they are never described as close or distant cousins. So how then do we fight and kill our own brothers and sisters.
Now in all of this, we begin to question if the world is coming to an end as the Bible elucidates.
According to reports, just last week our beloved country’s President Robert Mugabe, together with his South African counterpart President Jacob Zuma sent their condolences to the families of the students who lost their lives in the Garissa University College campus attack last week.
United States President Barack Obama, who has his roots in Kenya, is said to have expressed his sentiments on the gross attack, labelling the killings “terrorist atrocities where innocent men and women were brazenly and brutally massacred”.
Obama assured Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta that he would still visit the “strife-torn nation” in July, despite the recent devastating terrorist carnages — where he is expected to co-host the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, an indaba which brings together business owners, educators, policy-makers and investors to support the growth of new enterprises in developing regions aimed at empowering marginalised groups, particularly women and youth, through entrepreneurship.
Kenyatta pledged to fight terrorism to the end, saying his administration would respond in the fiercest way possible.
Last year, Africa experienced another black veil after about 279 female students were kidnapped- by Boko Haram, an Islamic Jihadist and terrorist organisation based in north-east Nigeria — from a government secondary school in the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria.
The incident left Africans shocked. Reports say initially the al- Shabbab shot indiscriminately, but later hunted down and killed Christian students, while sparing Muslims.
The Women Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) strongly condemns the patriarchal tendencies, cultural and traditional prejudices haunting the girl child and women in both Islamic and Christian religion.
These developments have tended to disregard human life, leading to faith-based wars that result in deaths and abduction of numerous children, particularly girls and women. It is surprising, however, that these religions all converge to worship God yet their distinct doctrines implore them to inflict violence against each other.
WILD believes that human rights should be observed and governments in Africa should unite and prove the power of Ubuntu.
Ubuntu is a gesture showing human kindness and encouraging collectivism and solidarity.
WILD strongly advocates for the adherence to the values of Ubuntu that will allow Africans to desist from violent acts emanating from ethnic, racial or religious differences.
WILD advocates for peaceful environments where women can participate in public spaces without fear of being hurt or attacked. In violent environments, development is stifled and women are the most affected by lack of development.
Bridgette Bugalo is an information and communications officer at the Women Institute for Leadership Development (WILD)
