Why we must rekindle true spirit of Africa

Kochia traditional dancers entertain guests during the Kisumu National Marathon at Sports Ground in Kisumu Town on December 13, 2015. Being African is in the beauty, meaning and history behind every name we are given. PHOTO | TONNY OMONDI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The African spirit remains resilient in us despite the number of times the world has brought us to our feet.
  • Being African is in the way we greet each other with vigorous handshakes, applause and ululations.

Africa Liberation Day was celebrated a few days ago and, shockingly, most young people didn’t know about it or its significance.

To most of us, the African history we are taught is largely distorted.

When the African continent was “discovered” by the white man (whatever that means), they told us in simple words that we were lesser people.

CIVILISED PEOPLE

The gods we worship, the way we dressed, the food we ate, our way of living, the way we spoke and that melanin made us “dirty”.

It was thus their prerogative to rectify what seemed to be the biggest mistake they’d ever encountered.

Africa was covered in darkness sinking deep in backwardness and someone had to shed light upon it.

And yes, decades later, we are “civilised” beings with cultured modern lives, enforcing a democracy we are yet to understand.

'WHITE' LIFESTYLE
We speak English with the articulation of our master’s pronunciation.

We eat with forks and knives, have napkins lay delicately on our laps with champagne chilled in tall crystal flutes.

We drive automobiles with names we still can’t fully enunciate.

We were taught that anything from Africa should not be acquired, admired and emulated.

I must admit we are diligent students because we have walked behind shadowed lines of what we perceived as superior beings taking second or third position with grace.

SPIRIT OF CONFORMITY
There is a sense of doubt in us that still deceives us, that we are inferior before others and sadly even before ourselves.

This is the spirit of conformity that we must fight completely.

Africans have tried to escape the “perceived curse” of being African for decades but like the saying goes; no matter how fast you run, you can never run away from your buttocks.

The African spirit remains resilient in us despite the number of times the world has brought us to our feet.
AFRICA'S POTENTIAL
The only “dark” thing about Africa is the collective lack of knowledge of it and this is why Africans need to learn their history and tell their stories for themselves before telling it to anyone else.

The one challenge is many still believe an African story should revolve around poverty, disease and ignorance, which limits Africa’s potential.

There’s so much we could achieve together but ‘together’ is a word we miss in our socialisation, hence the purpose of wokenisation.

We must rekindle the true spirit of Africa.

PROUD TO BE AFRICAN
We should envisage the bona fide ardor of Ubuntu, the togetherness that our ancestors dreamt of.

An Africa united without borders or divisions caused by decisions.

“I am not African because I was born in Africa but Africa is born in me,” words of Kwame Nkurumah.

There’s a precise thing about being African that can never be verbally explained rather it can only be felt.

It’s something deeply profound that uniquely makes us who we are. So what does it mean to be African, you may ask?

AFRICAN CULTURE
Being African is an experience, a feeling; it’s a way in which we speak without words. 

It’s in the way we laugh leaning on each other tipping forward as if we are about to fall.

It’s in our rhythm when our afro-beat comes on.

It’s in the way anklets, chokers and bracelets jingled in harmony around bonfires.

It’s in the way we prepared our food with love from clay pots in small kitchens with natural herbs and ground spices.

HUMOUR

It’s in the colours we wear from the prints of animal fabrics in symmetry or abstract, to the floral decadence and the bold bright shades.

Being African is rooted in the melanin that we thought made us dirty only to learn that it actually bonded us to the essence of the earth.

It’s in the way we danced swaying hips to clapping hands and shaking shoulders.

Being African is in the way we greet each other with vigorous handshakes, applause and ululations.

Being African is in our riddles and “wise” sayings and proverbs.

Being African is cutting edge humour; it’s in our distinct raspy voices, our gravity defying hair, full lips, and bounce we pose when we walk.

BEAUTY
Being African was in the way we told our stories of battle, of conquests, humorous adventures, and horror tales of ancestral spirits not forgetting love stories that occurred long, long ago.

Being African is in the beauty, meaning and history behind every name we are given.

From where I stand, the future will be African and Africans are the future, that is why I ask you to find your inborn African spirit because, you know what, Africa misses its people.

The writer is the Programme Officer-Civic Engagement at Siasa Place @scheafferoo