The two stories to Africa

I was talking to a friend a while ago and I was lamenting on how Africa´s dirty linen was always front news but was quite happy that things had changed now. Then he said I should be realistic twenty years ago there wasn´t great news coming out of the continent. There were dictators, civil wars, famine and apartheid. So basically it would have been magic if there was any good news emerging from Africa.

Nowadays with the growth of most  African economies, the achievements of Africans in the diaspora and the return of skilled labor to third world countries things have changed. Every now and again there are stories of hope, achievement and innovations springing out of our continent. The year 2012 marked a huge increase of African culture being exposed to the western world whether in arts, music or culture. In the Fashion industry, great names like Jean Paul Gautier and Dries Van Noten were experimenting with African textiles called ‘ankara’ or ‘maksi’ in their collections and it was not strange seeing haute couture inspired by these prints. But these textiles have existed for years and were worn by our grandmothers or mothers to church, weddings and funerals. Also,  in the music industry there has been an increase of collaborations between African singers and western ones. This can be seen in Dbanj’s latest video Oliver twist with Kanye West or even Beyonce’s use of Mozambican dance styles in her ‘Who run the world, girls’. But these beats and fashion styles have been used for ages on our continent, why the sudden buzz?

In my opinion it has to do more with the positive economic status Africans are enjoying. There has been an awakening to our uniqueness. A lot of information has been given to the younger generation; they have come to see that the grass is not greener on the other side. The same opportunities that others have in the West can also be seized here but through the sweat of your toil. Also, a lot of Africans are schooling outside either doing the undergraduate, masters or Phd in Ivy League schools in Britain or US. According to recent studies African immigrants are one of the most educated groups in the United States.

These same people are returning to their respective countries and are opening companies that are trying to tackle issues in their country.  An example of a lady in Ghana my country who is doing just that is Deborah Ahenkorah the founder of Golden baobab an  organization whose aim is to encourage African authors to write children illustration books so that the kids who read them can relate with the characters in them.

This is not the end but the beginning of these stories there would be better stories coming out Africa because people like Deborah are deciding to write their own stories. Although western media has more interest in publishing dooms day stories about Africa.  We have to ask ourselves ; are these stories wrong? No, they are not but they concentrate on just one part of the story. With that I leave you with this TED video by Chimamanda Achidie who explains the concept so succinctly.