Collin Banda
OUR calendar is packed with national holidays, some of which we do not even take time to understand and research on.
One such day that has turned into a day of just no work and no school is Africa Day. Africa Day is celebrated annually in various countries in Africa on May 25. Let us go down memory lane to try and find out really where it emanated from.
On April 15 1958, in Accra, Ghana, African leaders and political activists gathered at the first Conference of Independent African States. In attendance were representatives of the governments of Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon. This conference was significant in that it represented the first Pan-African conference to be held on African soil.
The Conference called for the founding of African Freedom Day, a day to “mark each year, the onward progress of the liberation movement, and to symbolise the determination of the people of Africa to free themselves from the foreign domination and exploitation”.
Five years later, after the First Conference of Independent African States in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, another historic meeting occurred. On May 25 1963, leaders of the 32 independent African States met from the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).
By then more than two-thirds of the continent had achieved independence, mostly from Imperial European states. At this meeting, the date of the African Freedom Day was changed from April 15 to May 25 and the African Freedom Day was declared African Liberation Day.
As we celebrate Africa Day the question that should run through our minds is: What does it mean to us as young people? Is it still relevant and if so, how do we commemorate this day as young people? To get views on this, on behalf of Dot Youth, I recently held a round table discussion with a few young leaders and entrepreneurs in the city.
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Among the invited guests was Yemurai Nyoni, who is the director at Dot Youth, which is a child-led organisation in Bulawayo; Paula Viviana Phiri, a Finance student from the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) and president of Enactus; Lizwilenkosi Malila, a student at Nust and a member of Enactus, Portia Zivamba and Faith who are members of Dot Youth Organisation.
From a youth perspective, Africa Day is the day that we are supposed to take time and celebrate who we are as Africans and discover more of our roots. It is a day when we can discuss African problems and put forward Africa solutions. Africa Day is also a day set aside for us to celebrate African uniqueness.
It was actually amazing to hear young people express such a positive perspective about Africa. Our uniqueness is not defined by our poverty, but by who we are. We are cultured and we have a strong background. We are a loving people, a welcoming people. Africa is still one of the few places in the world where you can bump into someone and ask them for directions without fear.
Our large numbers also go on to show that show that there is great potential in Africa to grow and expand. The relevance of Africa Day is twofold. It has become irrelevant because most youths have not really been drilled into the African culture and so there really is nothing to celebrate. Putting it in the words of Paula Phiri: “We youths are African because we are in Africa and not the other way round.”
As the young leaders and entrepreneurs we feel there is really nothing to celebrate besides getting a birth certificate which is just the right to be ourselves and we have not done much ourselves. We have not grown beyond being mere infants in the development landscape.
If we look at countries like India, Malaysia and Indonesia and you look at the amount of innovation and development in those countries, you cannot say the same about a continent as big as Africa. We are still playing around with petty things like complaining about, for example, battles that we fought over 30 years ago when our focus should be on the future.
Right now we do not need independence for anyone, but ourselves. We need independence from poverty, from HIV and Aids, unemployment and other challenges that we face. I think once we have done that and really taken responsibility for our continent without looking outwards, then we can begin to celebrate. For now, we have no reason.
When we look at Africa as young people, what really pains us is that we are the richest continent in the world — talk about gold, oil, diamonds, platinum, manpower and all the other resources, but we have nothing to show for it. God gave us enough resources.
Almost each country in Africa has a natural resource — look at Zimbabwe, look at South Africa, look at Nigeria, but the painful part is we fight over those resources. We thus owe it to ourselves as Africans to do something that will change the face of Africa. Most of the problems we face today as Africa erupt from the fact that as a people we have failed to define ourselves. What defines us as Africans? Is it culture or religious or our experiences?
Responding to this question, the Dot Youth director Nyoni said: “We are not defined by religion or experiences or even culture, as culture continues to change. I think we have lost a common culture as Africans and this is because of our low self esteem as a continent.
If you realise, we are always trying to grab something from someone else. If you ask the average African if they want to stay in their continent, most will say no. What defines us currently are the resources we have. It is like that boy at school who had the big soccer ball. The only thing that makes people care about Africa is the fact that we have resources and unfortunately also because of the problems that we have had.”
On the other hand, African Day celebrations are still important as it is an opportunity for us as young people to get to know more about who we are, what defines us and what we stand for. As young people, the question to ponder on today is how we can redefine Africa day so that it becomes relevant to us? They say charity begins at home and so it begins with me and you.
As individuals we must internalise and take time to understand what this day is really all about. One of the main ways that we can also celebrate this day is changing the story that people hear and read about Africa and the only way that can be done is with partnership with the media.
Instead of our own media houses selling a negative story so that they can get approval and support from people outside our continent, they need to start to brand us and sell us as an investment hub, a hub of progress.
The thing that have pulled us back as Africa for starters in laziness to think. We think the solution will come from someone else.
This is the reason why daily we continue to put pressure on politicians and complain about companies and talk about other countries without talking about ourselves and what we can do. We think the world owes us something, but the truth is, the world owes us nothing at all.
As young people we can celebrate by the small things we do. Malila put forward the notion that as young people, we can dress like Africans to try and connect again with who we are. She further went on to say that we can also have African foods on the day, which is the food that defines us like umxhanxa and amangqina.
We can also use the social platforms that we have to connect with the world and celebrate Africa.
