africa!
so i sent this to bbc's "why i love africa" stories twice...but eh yeah that was about it. anyway, figured i'd make use of it in the blog. figured it'd feel very much at home...
It's in Papa Wemba's mellow voice, Yvonne Chaka Chaka thanking the D.J. for playing her song. It's in the rumba, the Swahili rap, the kwaito and the unforgettable tune of a local guitar that takes me to a sunny day in Africa, sipping on orange Fanta.
It's in our jokes about everything from a minister responding to the Queen of England's fantastic treatment as "cocalistic" to jokes between tribes amidst evident tension sometimes. It's the way we take life as it comes. The way we stare on the roadside at occurrences, be it the preacher telling us about the gospel or the street kid being beaten up by a policeman. If we are “lucky,” the truck carrying beer or milk overturns and we get the beverages for free.
It's in the love of our rich food from groundnut sauce, to plantains, to nyama choma! Our fresh fruits: the mangoes, the jackfruits, and the bananas…
It’s in the way, we support our football teams and still believe that one day, yes, an African team will win the world cup.
It’s in the way that despite our admiration for the west from the music to the fashion that has somehow found its way to Africa, we still celebrate our own. It’s in our movies, which do not always meet Hollywood caliber yet make us laugh, be it for the low quality and sometimes unrealistic storylines to the rich African humor itself. It’s in our storytelling, our proverbs and may I add local gossip, which make us laugh and bring us together. It’s in our morals, our wise parents, who discipline us by the rod and we respect them and take care of them when they are old. I love Africa for this and so much more. Thank God He made me African.
1 Comments:
I can see why they didn't print this.. too much african pride and appreciation and the hope of things that may not satisfy teh western reader. I love it though
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