Part four of the 10 things I wish I knew before I landed in Australia

From time to time I write a post that is not specific to the African community but is more general and a lot more far reaching. Consider this one of those posts.

We begin with the age old question:

Who Are You, Really?

Who are you? What is your identity? How do you define yourself? There are numerous ways that you can answer this question. Considering that you are reading this in a website known as the Displaced African, you’re first reaction may be I am an African. You would be right. If you are living in a foreign country you may say I am an African Australian or I am a Kenyan Australian and you would also be right.

If you have a 9-5 you might tell me that you are a custodial services manager. Your friends may call you a janitor, but you know what, you are right. If you are a blogger like me, you may chose to define yourself as a a blogger or Lord of the blogosphere and well, you would also be right.

The Labels are Infinite

The fact of the matter is there are infinite ways and combinations of ways that you can define yourself. You can define yourself based on:

1) Where you live

2) What you do for a living

3) What you do in your spare time

4) Your religion or faith (or lack thereof)

5) Your sex

6) Your sexual orientation

7) Your friendship circle
etc etc etc

There’s Nothing Quite as Powerful As Knowing Who You Are

Usually once you have defined clearly who you are, half of your work is complete. If you are a Christian missionary then your life’s path is chosen; you shall spend the rest of your life preaching the gospel to people and will travel to the far ends of the Earth in order to do so.

If you are a millionaire playboy, then you’re life will be about the pursuit of women and money.

If you are an African, then for every single thing you will ever do for the rest of your life, you will always think about its effects on the continent and act accordingly.

This…..is absolutely fantastic! The best selling book in history says that without a vision we will perish, and ultimately for a lot of us, our vision of the future comes from how we define ourselves. Our identity and definition of ourselves gives us our values, beliefs, codes of conduct, social circles and friends. Our identity is our life.

The Dark Side of Identity

The dark side of identity comes when we feel that any part of our identity is under threat. Case in point is the current turmoil that is gripping Kenya. Now for those who may not be aware, a vast majority of the Kenyan people who live in the diaspora grew up in cosmopolitan, inter-tribal settings. It’s very rare to find people in the diaspora who did not spend extensive periods of time interacting with people from other tribes, whether it’s as a result of living in cities like Nairobi or going to mixed tribe schools.

Then why is it, that after years of many of us growing up together not thinking much about our tribe that it all of a sudden matters. My belief is that it’s because we perceive that a certain part of our identity is under threat. Kikuyus feel threatened by other tribes and feel scared of losing their homes, their loved ones, their lives and their possesions and the same applies for the Luos, Kalenjins, Kisiis and the other 42 tribes of Kenya.

Now granted, people back home ARE attacking each other on the basis of tribe. What strikes me as odd is that majority of these tribal-hate rants that have spread through the Internet have been written by middle to upper-class Kenyans who have lived in cosmopolitan, blended societies for years if not decades. The battle that is taking place in Kenya right now is the poor killing the poor with a lot of the killing being on behalf of the ruling class.

Though things may change at any moment, the turmoil in Kenya has very little to do with the middle and the upper classes. That is why I think that the only reason that people in the middle and upper classes have taken the battle so personally is because all of a sudden a part of their identity that lay dormant for so long, their tribe, has all of a sudden been ignited by a perceived threat.

The Truth About Identity

I think the simple truth about identity is that in this day and age, the typical person, has very many roles. Take myself I can define myself as:

a) A Kenyan b) A Nairobi citizen c) An African d) An African in the diaspora e) A Kenyan in the diaspora f) An African Australian g) A Melbournian African h) A blogger i) An internet marketer j) A Christain h) A protestant i) A heterosexual j) A single heterosexual h) A man and on and on and on

The thing we must realize is that this world is so complex that there will always be a part of our identity that is under threat. My heterosexual status is under threat depending on how you look at it. My African identity is under threat depending on how you look at it.For those of you who know about Australian politics, my African Australian identity was recently under threat from the former government as are many of the other ways I chose to identify myself.

Keys to a A Strong Identity

There are a few of things that I think are important to do if we are to remain sane and maintain a balance between all of our various identities.

1) Realize that not all of the parts of our identity are important and chose the parts of your identity that are important: I think this key alone is probably as overlooked as it is important. I can define myself in so many ways that I can’t possibly give all of them the same weight and be as willing to defend all equally. If I did that, my life would be nothing but constant battles.

For example, personally, I don’t care about the whole issue of gay marriage. This isn’t out of homophobia or support for homosexual causes but it’s because it simply isn’t my issue. If you begin to talk to me about how my country is undergoing turmoil right now and solutions to that, the Kenyan in me is all years. If you want to talk to me about the World Trade Organization and the effects of subsidies upon the economies of Africa, the African in me is all years. Chose the parts of your identity that are the most important to you and focus on those and you will be happier in the long run: You will no longer have to jump from defending one part of your identity to the other all the time and you can concentrate your power around a few key areas of your identity that will bring about the greatest results and cause you the most joy and emotional richness.

And Of All The Commandments They Gave the Greatest Was Love

2) This one is for the people who chose to define themselves on the basis of their faith, religion or spirituality: Another key thing that is as overlooked as it is important. Why isn’t it that religions have ever competed with each other on the basis of who can love their neighbour more? The key principle of all religions and spiritual movements that I know is UNCONDITIONAL (i.e. it doesn’t matter if you’re black,white, Hindu, Jew, killer or a lamb) love, caring or respect for your fellow man. Why is it that when people feel their religion is under attack from people of an opposing faith they go against the very cornerstone principle that defines their faith; don’t they realize that in so doing they are spitting in the face of their beliefs? This tip is a difficult one to follow, but nothing of value is ever easy.

If you define yourself on the basis of your faith or religion and you feel it is under attack then as Martin Luther King said, “Overwhelm your enemy with your capacity for love,”

3) When your identity is under threat, be clear on who is threatening it. I won’t even bother explaining this one. I will ask one simple question: “Are all the Kenyan people who are attacking each other on the ground and throughout the web responsible for the mess that the continent is in?

To the people hurting each other: Will the displacement or the belittling of the people you attack bring about anything other than a temporary feeling of importance and significance? Be clear on who the threat is and act accordingly.

My hope is that this article has not been too abstract and that it has sparked some thinking, dialogue and debate. To all who have left comments and sent me words of support thank you. If you have something you want to add to this discussion then either leave a comment below or email me and let me know what’s on your mind. If you think that this article is worth sharing with others, then please click on the logo below labeled ‘Bookmark’. This allows you to share this article through social bookmarking sites all over the world. If you need help with that, again don’t hesitate to contact me at masmilele@thedisplacedafrican.com.

As always, be blessed and be a blessing unto others,

The Displaced African

This post is a little winding, so please bear with me and I hope you get the nugget of truth that I was aiming for.

Part five of the 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Landed in Australia

Today’s story is one of transition. How is it that I went from a place of being deeply ashamed of my race to a place where it became one of the cornerstones of my identity? The story is not a linear one and a lot of the time it wasn’t very logical. As you read this I hope you see not only a glimmer of yourself in the past but also have a greater understanding of where you are now and perhaps begin to dream up who you could be in the future.

Stage One: Apathetic to Being African

Growing up in Nairobi I really didn’t think too much about the fact that I was African. This was for a couple of reasons:

EVERYONE is African

When everyone around you is African you rarely have time to stop and classify yourself as an African because there is nothing you can compare yourself against. There is no Asian against whom you can compare your protruding forehead or eye creases (If you don’t know about the Asian community’s fixation with eye creases, you must study it, it’s absolutely fascinating). Sure there was the occasional pancake-behind Caucasian, and the one Asian every 5 years and of course the Indian community, but I interacted with them on such few occasions that the times I stopped to compare races were few and far between.

The Utopia of Television

The one place where exposure to other races was frequent was on television. The message on television though was pretty clear; your race doesn’t matter. Martin Luther King fixed all that and we are now, just people: all members of one big bright human race.

So as I headed into the land down under, I was pretty clear on the fact that I was a member of the human race; then of course as with almost everything else in my life, there was a complete 180 degree shift.

Stage Two: Awareness that there are People Who are not Africans

This stage was very very short. I came here and began to see people with pink and pale skin everywhere. It was like I was Charlie in the Chocolate Factory. I wanted to look at them, they were just the most interesting looking things. Unfortunately I didn’t get much of a chance to interact with these strange creature because the first group of people I met when I landed, Kenyan. The second, Kenyan. The third, Kenyan. The fourth, Kenyan. Before I knew it I was basically part of a Kenyan community within a foreign country.

Now this didn’t make sense to me: My fantasies when I was back home was of my swooping in as the great African conqueror who would be adored by all because I had a monopoly on the African thing. I didn’t know there were thousands of us in Australia already. I didn’t know we hung out with each other so damn much. I wanted to leave. I wanted to go out and sow my wild oats in the land of Caucasia. Within a month of landing here I got my chance when I was dumped in a boarding school smack down in the middle of country Australia.

Stage three: Shame

Fast forward six months and there I sit all alone in the middle of a dark room in some boarding school around Christmas time listening to the Neville Brothers (the dude actually sounds like he drinks Helium for breakfast; great singer though). I felt like no one even wanted me. The African conqueror had turned out to be nothing but a piece of trash that nobody wanted. I was alone, lonely, scared and very, very confused.

Out of the muck of this confusion crept in an idea; being dark skinned is a curse. I don’t know exactly how I arrived at this place, but all of a sudden I was deeply ashamed of being a dark skinned African.

I wanted to get rid of the dark skin and was convinced that as soon as I became lighter, my life would be brighter and would make sense and I would all of a sudden be happy. And so I visited the dermatologist.

Stage Four: The Guardian Angel Who Doesn’t Even Know How Much He Matters

I was anxious but excited as I waited to see the dermatologist. Then the nurse called out my name and ushered me to what I knew would be the rest of my bright, beautiful, light skinned life.

I sat down next to this Indian man who shared exactly the same complexion as me. He hardly looked up at me as I anxiously explained my problem:

“I want to get rid of these dark marks on my skin.”

He hurriedly grabbed the back of my hand. Looked at it for half a second and said:

“You were born like that. It’s in your genes. There is nothing I can do.”

He threw back my hand dismissively! I paid $70 the appointment was over. Believe it or not, from that day onwards I took everything he said on board: It’s who I was meant to be. It’s part of my genes and there is nothing I can do. I was never ashamed of being dark skinned again. Go figure.

Stage Five: This African Team Is Filled With Losers

So I was now a permanent, card carrying member of the African team. I began to look around to understand and appreciate my team. After a short time observing and reflecting I came to the conclusion:

“Wow I am in a team filled with losers.”

Now my thinking has evolved a great deal since then and I see more and more beautiful things about our club everyday but back then all I had was the media and my observations.

According to those two, most members of the African team were either poor or ignorant or violent or hungry or cold-hearted and callous and the existence of any positive human characteristics was the exception rather than the rule. So what should I do?

Stage Six: I Begin to Give Birth to the Displaced African

Now I know I am not the only person who has ever come to the above conclusion while living in the Diaspora. Some people upon coming to this fork in the road make the following choice:

“You know what? I am now in the West. I am now in a land flowing with milk and honey. I no longer have to deal with the African nonsense on a day to day basis and I can now create my dream life. Forget them, I’ll do me and I’ll let Africa do Africa.”

I wasn’t wired like that. My reaction instead was:

“A man is only as strong as his weakest link. I feel pretty strong in a lot of other areas but this African part is definitely a weak link. I guess it’s on me to fix it and make it stronger.”

And so that is one of the reasons that the Displaced African came to be: It was my attempt at trying to strengthen what I felt was a weak part of my identity.

Stage Seven: Appreciation and Love of the African Team

I love it when things come in seven!! This is where I’m at now. At the moment, my eyes are ever peeled for areas where Africans have excelled and areas where Africa needs to improve and how we can improve. This drove me to begin to study the Ashanti Kingdom, Timbaktu and other former African civilizations. I began to read the works of Biko, listen to the music of the Apartheid freedom fighters and watch films about revolutionaries like Patrice Lumumba.

There is no doubt we have a long way to go before we restore the equilibrium in our African community. However, if you get nothing else out of this article, please begin to look for the good in the African community. If for no other reason so that it can help you walk with your head held high as you wander through a diaspora that at times can feel like a wasteland.

Bring it home, Displaced African

So let’s say, you are like me. You show up in a Western country and you go from seeing yourself as just a person. All of a sudden your African race and your African roots matter and affect how people treat you and how you treat others.

Or let’s say that you just simply hate being African, or being a dark skinned person or any aspect of being a descendant of Africa. My advice to you would be the epiphany I had a few years back:

“If you don’t like a particular aspect of your race or being African, then be a part of the solution, not the problem.”

Sadly, for those of you who want to escape the fact that your African, everywhere you go, your skin acts like a huge advertisement blaring, “Made in Africa.” Now don’t get me wrong, there are people who can transcend the race and no doubt there are even people who have escaped from it.

However, what I would propose to you is, the highest form of human life and human expression is service to others. Why not kill two birds with one stone? Why not strengthen the weak part of your identity and live the best way a human can live by being a part of making this whole being-African thing beautiful. Some ways you might be able to do that:

1) Support and solidify African forms of art and expression.

2) Create an African fashion label. Great way to support the African textile industry that is being creamed thanks to Western subsidies

3) Begin to educate yourself and others about the wonderful aspects of African history and being.

4) Create pieces of art (paintings, books, plays etc) that make little African kids feel special and unique and lucky to be a part of the African club.

5) Watch Oprah (don’t ask. It just jumped at me so I wrote it down)

etc etc etc etc. The ways to do this are endless. If you have any ideas, you are free to leave a comment below, or send the Displaced African mail at masmilele@thedisplacedafrican.com. I hope to see you as a part of the solution to this someday.

Be blessed and be a blessing unto others,

Mwangi

Hey,

Today I thought I would share with you all two great resources all revolving around answering the same question: What’s wrong with Africa? Is it Africans?

The first is a great article written by my great friend and fellow administrator of the African Dream’s Group. I have posted it below word for word. Great article by a great thinker.
The second is a discussion I had on the forums at www.mashada.com. You can find the discussion Is Africa the Problem? Or Is It Problem Africans by clicking on this link. I post under the name t.D.A. (the Displaced African). Enjoy and I hope it serves and teaches.

Be blessed; bless others,

Mwas

The Poverty of Leadership by O. Tongoi

Africa. That one word has come to be synonymous with social strife, suffering, poverty and myriads other negative connotations. Yet Africa has always been and continues to be the richest continent as far as natural resources are concerned. Why then does it continue to lag behind in terms of development? Why hasn’t it been able to jump on the bandwagon of industrialization?

Many excuses have been offered so far in an effort to explain this phenomenon and make sense of Africa’s current predicament. Many culprits have been named over the years. Among them are poverty, corruption, insufficient foreign aid among others. Yet these challenges have been overcome by other countries, societies and nations the details of which are beyond the scope of this paper. Very rarely is the underlying issue addressed however, that of poor leadership. And when it is addressed it is never done so in a conclusive manner.

“Africa has long been saddled with poor, even malevolent, leadership: predatory kleptocrats, military-installed autocrats, economic illiterates, and puffed-up posturers. By far the most egregious examples come from Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zimbabwe — countries that have been run into the ground despite their abundant natural resources. But these cases are by no means unrepresentative: by some measures, 90 percent of sub-Saharan African nations have experienced despotic rule in the last three decades. Such leaders use power as an end in itself, rather than for the public good; they are indifferent to the progress of their citizens (although anxious to receive their adulation); they are unswayed by reason and employ poisonous social or racial ideologies; and they are hypocrites, always shifting blame for their countries’ distress.

Under the stewardship of these leaders, infrastructure in many African countries has fallen into disrepair, currencies have depreciated, and real prices have inflated dramatically, while job availability, health care, education standards, and life expectancy have declined. Ordinary life has become beleaguered: general security has deteriorated, crime and corruption have increased, much-needed public funds have flowed into hidden bank accounts, and officially sanctioned ethnic discrimination — sometimes resulting in civil war — has become prevalent.” Robert I. Rotberg could not have put it better. In his article titled “Strengthening African Leadership”, published in the July/August issue of Foreign Affairs, Rotberg summed up the single most important issue facing Africa; Leadership…or lack thereof.

This failure of leadership is by no means a recent predicament. It dates back several centuries ago to the time of the slave trade. It is a known fact that the Arabs who facilitated the trade did not acquire the slaves through force or conquest of any kind, rather, they approached the leaders of the communities with beads, cowrie shells and mirrors and offered these in exchange for human beings whom they would later sell as slaves.

Paul E. Lovejoy wrote the following in his article, “Transformations in slavery” published by the Cambridge University Press: “Between 1450 and the end of the nineteenth century, slaves were obtained from along the west coast of Africa with the full and active co-operation of African kings and merchants. (There were occasional military campaigns organized by Europeans to capture slaves, especially by the Portuguese in what is now Angola, but this accounts for only a small percentage of the total.) In return, the African kings and merchants received various trade goods including beads, cowrie shells (used as money), textiles, brandy, horses, and perhaps most importantly, guns. The guns were used to help expand empires and obtain more slaves…”

I had earlier stated that the Arabs did not acquire the slaves through conquest of any kind. Allow me to retract that statement because they in fact pulled off a great coup by obtaining slaves in exchange for mere objects, and that is in itself a great conquest. Sadly, this conquest continues even to this day; African leaders continue to sell their people into slavery.

The slavery of which I now speak, however is not the traditional form of slavery in which people are held in physical captivity and made to work for others, rather I speak of an economic form of slavery in which people are bound by debt and kept in servitude by the chains of high interest rates.

Sample the following article by Susan George titled “A Fate Worse than Debt” published in the January 2006 issue of the NewAfrican magazine. She writes, “Debt is not a financial problem. It is a political problem. If you cancelled all the debt of the poorest countries tomorrow, the international financial system would not even notice. However, debt is extraordinarily useful for the [lenders]; it is much better than colonialism as you don’t need the people. But you get tremendous political advantage because you have continuous low prices for raw materials, everyone is forced to export at the same time, and you have political control over the government because of structural adjustment.” This article by George sums up the predicament Africa is in-economic slavery.

But who is to blame? For many years Africans have directed their blame to external parties especially Western powers while in fact the blame lies upon our leaders themselves. It would only make sense for the leaders of the lending countries to seek to improve their economic strength and the financial position of their corporations by creating markets for them. What doesn’t make sense, however, is why the leaders of the borrowing countries would agree to such terms and continue to dig their people deeper into debt.

One of the things that saddens African intellectuals most is the fact that about 40 years ago, at the time when most African countries were gaining independence, they were at par with most Asian countries in terms of economic and social development. However, since then the Asian countries which have come to be known as the ‘East Asian Tigers’, have realized tremendous growth and industrialization and have propelled themselves into the elite class of first-world countries. One can be quick to conclude that their planning was superior. The truth is quite the contrary; the master plans used by the East Asian Tigers borrowed heavily from those developed by the Kenyan government of the time. Why then is Africa lagging behind? Perhaps this excerpt from a speech by Nigerian president Olesegun Obasanjo can help shed light on the matter: “…In 1960, whatever parameters you look at, whether social or economic indicators, Africa has declined compared to the rest of the world, particularly when measured against those parts of the world that were comparable to us at that time such as Asia and Latin America,” he said. “Why are we failing while the rest of the world is succeeding, yet Africa [is not any less endowed compared to other parts of the world?] I believe one word answers that question: Leadership,” he said.

Later on in the speech he went on to give his solution to the challenge. He mentioned that “…it lies in doing things right, and in having the right leadership. The difference between doing things right and doing things wrong is enormous…Africa cannot continue on the same negative road (of having poor leadership) and expect things to work for the better.

One might ask the question, “How and when did this failure of leadership start?”

In my opinion, it all started in the colonial era when the Europeans empowered a few Africans and gave them some sort of education with a view to using them to govern their own people. As a result, a culture in which leadership was imposed on the people began. In this new culture, leaders governed using the divide and rule principle. They oppressed the people placed under them rather than empowering them. They had their own interests at heart and ensured that they kept their fellow Africans oppressed because that way they would remain relevant to the European colonialists and ensure that no other Africans could rise and take their positions.

The greatest tragedy was when Africans came to not only tolerate but accept such leadership, much in the same way as a terminal patient accepts their illness-without a fight and with a sense of defeat and helplessness. I must, however at this point mention the ‘Maumau’ freedom fighters as an exception because failure to do so would be a great injustice to them for the sacrifice they made in their efforts to repel the colonialists. Other than for the exertions of those few brave and fearless souls, the general norm of behavior was inaction.

Returning to my argument, allow me to fast-forward to the first few years of the post-independence era. This was indeed a decisive period in the formation of the continent’s political future. On the one hand we had excellent leaders such as Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah and Tom Mboya of Kenya who were totally committed to the greater good of their people. By a sad twist of fate these great men were assassinated either by foreign powers that were against their ideologies or by their compatriots who considered them a threat to their own power.( At this point another great tragedy occurred, for no one rushed to the frontline to take up the fallen heroes’ battle cries, condemning the African dream to the graveyard.) On the other hand, however, there emerged a different breed of leaders. These considered themselves as heroes and rewarded themselves with large tracts of land and other public resources and set off along the path of self-aggrandizement while ignoring the greater good of their people. These sought to create economic empires and political dynasties by surrounding themselves with their tribesmen and appointing sycophants into political office regardless of their level of qualification or lack thereof. Unfortunately, the latter breed of leaders comprised the majority, thrusting Africa backward and in most cases erasing the gains of the newly-acquired independence of the African states they led.

Another category of early African powerbrokers is curiously missing from the aforementioned list. It is not without intention that I left military dictators out of this equation. These cannot be categorized as leaders but rather as tyrants. For this reason and for the purpose of focusing on the main points of my argument, allow me to exclude them from my argument altogether.

Two score years after the first generation of leaders had taken the reins of government from the Europeans, a new generation of leaders had taken over and these too seemed intent on carrying on the legacy of their predecessors. They continued to widen the rift between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ as a new political and social class system developed.

While I have noted that the first generation had taken over from the Europeans, the next generation was mainly composed of the preferred successors of the first generation. As such they had been groomed to take over and, reminiscent of the colonial eras, they were proposed if not outrightly imposed upon the people.

At this point yet another tragedy occurred; it took the form of the emergence of a new political system based on personalities rather than on issues. The stage was set for the elevation of certain people-mainly sycophants-into “great” political personalities despite their lack of character and/ or competence. Politics became a mere game of words and wordplay. Semantics blurred the underlying issues. Promises were broken almost as soon as they were made, if not sooner. A mockery was made of the justice system and some people turned out to be more equal than others. The mess continues until today.

It would indeed be a sad state of affairs and the greatest of tragedies if we concluded that Africa is beyond help; that it is too late to recover from its past. There is indeed hope for Africa-hope that is vested in a new breed of leaders. You may at this juncture be inclined to think that I am in the advanced stages of plotting a coup attempt; and if you are so inclined then you would be right to some extent.

The leadership which I envisage, however, is far from the traditional quest for coercive power and control of common resources that is as common today as it was in the past. I envisage a form of leadership based solely on unselfish ambition; as opposed to the familiar form of leadership where leaders strive to merge their own selfish ambitions with the common good of the people and attempt to strike a sort of balance between the two. I speak of a leadership style founded in the greater good of those it hopes to serve, such that the leader would spare no effort nor avoid no sacrifice which would result in the greater fortunes of those that it serves. A leadership so deeply rooted in the principles which give it its mandate, that no entity can question its sincerity. Indeed, such leadership has been sought after and striven towards by many whose efforts, sadly, came to naught. The reason? I cannot claim to posses the depth of insight required to provide the answer to such a question but allow me this modest attempt…

The reason why this style of leadership and the success it promises has eluded Africans is based on a number of factors influenced mainly by our perception of leadership. From our up-bringing, lessons on leadership have been focused on the wrong attributes of a leader, concentrating more on what the leader is rather than on who the leader is. We look at the leader’s public lifestyle rather than seeking to know what the leader does when he is out of the lime-light. We place a lot of emphasis on the major decisions made by the leader while failing to see the minor decisions that the leader makes, or rather, ignoring those minor decisions and passing them off as irrelevant. This pattern of selective attention may be attributed to our fascination with the romance of the larger-than-life image created by the media and the fuss over major news-breaking events, oblivious to the fact that today’s news began falling into place yesterday, with the daily, routine and apparently ‘un-newsworthy’ actions and choices that were made in obscurity.

Africans tend to look externally for leaders rather than looking internally and taking initiative to lead in ways which are open to all of us. We have become so accustomed to passing the blame that we fail to see our own failure to make a difference. We each must strive to invest in our own capacity as positive influencers of those around us. We should not only search for virtue in others but must also vow to uphold it in ourselves. Africa is in dire need of people who can lead themselves. Africans have indeed been plagued by poor leadership. But in the end, we cannot blame the leaders who hold certain titles or positions in society. The buck stops with every individual African who is looking to blame external sources for their current situation. Personal leadership and accountability is the key to Africa’s woes.
You dig?

Part three of the 10 things I wish I knew before I left Africa

You know it’s absoloutely amazing how ‘coincidences’ (is there really such a thing) occur at just the right time. As I was sitting down to right this article I noticed a great post from the Whispering Inn which ties in pefectly with what I want to talk about in this post. Please go to this page and listen to the audio of Mzee Jommo Kenyatta’s speech

I Am His African Child and I Feel Betrayed

Beyond the political implications, today I want to talk about how I feel betrayed on a cultural level.

Now I don’t know if I am alone in this but I feel absoloutely ashamed about how little I know about the history of my tribe, my country and the nation in general. It took me a few years of wandering in the Australian wilderness to get to this point but I feel so ashamed that growing up I used to sit there for literally days on end watching Disney movies, Mr. Bean and Mr. Bogus (for those who don’t know who this is, you better ask somebody, because once you’ve seen and experienced Mr. Bogus, you never forget ) when not even a moment was spent emotionally connecting to my history and reading exciting stories about the exploits of the Ashanti Kingdom or watching films about Wango wa Makeris (personally I would put Nikki in this role in really skimpy tribal attire), the Kwame Nkrumahs or the Julius Nyereres.

I feel ashamed because here I am sitting in a library in the middle of a country that is not the place of m birth and at times I have no idea what I am. Am I:

a) A Kenyan – I could probably tell you a lot more about Martin Luther King and Malcolm X than Harry Thuku or even my own Guka (my grand-uncle apparently according to my cousins) Dedan Kimathi.

b) An African – What I have just said about Kenyan history is even worse for the continent as a whole. I didn’t even know what the tribes in Nigeria were until sometime last year. Except for a few historical stories such as the Maji Maji rebellion (which will make a great movie someday, it’s a story about unconditional faith and hope I think) consider me dumber than a lactating hippo on this one.

c) A Kikuyu – You know it would be a nice label, if I even knew the language. My whole life and I never remember having a single thought in Kikuyu. The fact that I even know sheng is a fluke much more than it is a result of circumstance and choice.

Problem Defined. Bring on the Solution

I am yet to really begin acting on the solution but I think below are the steps I will take to ‘reclaim’ the identity that I never feel I had.

1) Learn African languages

Step one is I have to go and learn the languages of Africa begining with my own language of Kikuyu, followed by Kiswahili, real Kiswahili.

One of the important things being in the diaspora has taught to me is the impact that language has on the human experience.

When you learn a language, you basically learn the culture and lifestyle of a people because language always reflects what’s going on in people’s lives.

The Spam Example 

For example, do you know where the name Spam (which for those who don’t, spam is the junk emails you get trying to sell you Viagra pills, porn among other things) comes from. Some might say it was a term created by the linguists experts to describe the new phenomenon junk mail being sent via emai. You would be wrong!

The term Spam apparently came from the play Monty Python, a very popular play in the Western world. Therefore everytime you hear the word spam, it kind of acts like a ‘cultural dictionary’ telling you just how the speakers of the language live, and in this case they ways they entertain themselves.

For this reason beyond, a merely superficial understanding and speaking of the language I will go into the history of our African languages: Where the words came from? What type of world and what type of context they were created in. What I intend to do will be language learning at its absolute peak so stay tuned for that.

2) Record African History Before It is too Late

I recently watched a presentation at the TED conference and I believe it was a man by the name, Wade Davis said something to the extent of:

Everyday, in some country in the world, the last elder of a particular culture dies, and with him dies the language, history and an entire civilization.

The number of times this event happens in a day was beyond staggering. One of the things I intend on doing once this blog has achieved a certain level of success and is ‘running itself’ for the most part is to get involved in recording the wisdom of African elders throughout Africa before it’s too late.

I am yet to research deeply into this but apparently, there are a number of initiatives that are already doing this such as Sage Philosophy and my intention is to collaborate with them and send their efforts into overdrive. Can you imagine how many cures to diseases some of these sages have? How many solutions to interpersonal conflicts? How many great stories and fables that can be turned into stories and books and films that will ignite the minds of tomorrow’s African leaders?

3) Join the Dialogue to Create a Pan-African Culture

The reason I am committed to doing this can be summed in one great soundbite: As Africans and people of colour worldwide we share problems. We are looked at the same, and since the white man came and took over our land we have pretty much shared the problems, give or take a few. So let’s sit down together, as Kwame Nkrumah and other leaders proposed in the 60s, and share solutions.

I hope this post ignites people who will join me in making this happen (For those who need clarification, I am dead serious. These things are going to happen)

Be blessed,

Mwas

Part two of the 10 things I wish I knew before I landed in Australia

I know some of you are probably wondering why I released Part 7 of the series before I released Part 2.The reason is pretty simple: I couldn’t write part two. This is my fifth attempt at writing this article. For some reason, I just couldn’t seem to write this post in a way that ‘felt real’ to me and that I felt would serve at the same time.

Eventually, in the middle of the night, I had an epiphany: I have two younger sisters who have grown up in a world dominated by hip hop. Therefore, I decided I would share with you the conversation that I as a big brother would have with my little sisters.This post will basically be some quick superficial observations on the negative effects that gangsta rap/hardcore rap and it’s message have had on young African women of today.

First up a video that basically sums up a lot of my attitudes regarding hardcore rap.
(NB: A lot of profanity in this video. Please bear with it in order to hear the message. He is pretty on point in terms of getting my point across)

Gangsta Rap Disrespects Women

The MASC: The Men Aint S… Club

I couldn’t end this article without talking about the MASC. If any of you have been around long enough you know what I’m talking about. This is the club where women get together, usually single or just out of a relationship, with the intention of drinking like alcohol is being banned tomorrow.While in a drunken stupour they talk VERY LOUDLY about:

1) How men “aint worth a damn thing”

2) How men are dogs

3) What’s wrong with men? Also: Why aren’t there any good men?

The next phase of the discussion is the equally loud independent women encouragement session:

1) You look Good girl

2) You are the prize. They don’t deserve you

3) Hell yeah you look God with your hair like that. Wear that weave with pride girl

Then the evening ends with them swearing off men as children of Lucifer before walking off as strong, independent women. Until they meet a smooth-talking, gold-tooth brother down the road. Then, it’s rinse and repeat…..

Now it is quite unfortunate that majority of women that I have known in a variety of age groups have had similar discussions at some point. What sets the MASC apart is that when they are having man problems, EVERY ONE has to know.The inner drama queen has to come out and let the whole world know that for the next few weeks, men are lower than slugs swimming in bile because she just made another man find his stuff, “to the left, to the left.”

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What Does All This Have to Do With Hip Hop?

In my observation and experience, almost all women who are members of the MASC listen to two types of musical artist:

1) Hardcore hip hop artists or other artists who have pretty misogynistic messages in their music.

2) Other women who are members of the MASC and promote the messages of the MASC. A typical MASC album:
Song 1 – We met at a club
Song 2- We left the club together
Song 3 -We made love and fell in love
Song 4 – I was shouting from the rooftops that, “I am so in love.”
Song 5 – I heard that he was creeping……
Song 6- Busted! Found him cheating on me
Song 7 – Oh Lord, the world is coming to an end. He cheated on me
Song 8- To hell with him, I am going to slash his tires, insult him all over the Internet and then all will be right with the world
Song 9 – So I’m back in the club with my girls…………

How to Leave the MASC

If you are reading this and you are a member of the MASC, let me talk to you on a serious tip. Here are seven little steps you can take to get rid of your MASC membership:

First: Almost all members of the MASC pick up their ‘no good, lousy, cheating….’ brothers in clubs. Now, in case this wasn’t already clear, men do not go to the club to have deep intellectual conversations on existentialism with their soul mates. As far as most men are concerned, and most women if they are honest, clubs as butcheries and meat markets where you go searching for body parts to fulfill your carnal desires. So, if you are going to the clubs expecting to meet the next Steve Biko or find the black  Confucius; probably not the best place to look.

Second: A lot of women will go for men who are not good for them because, well, ‘bad boys’ are pretty damn exciting.My advice: find other ways to fulfill your desire for excitement WITHOUT having someone steal your pride. Below I have listed a few things you can do to bring excitement to your life:

a) Become a high school teacher b) Go skydiving c) Go work on bringing peace to the Palestine-Israel conflict d) Go to Kenya and assist those displaced from their homes e) Kayaking down rivers with rapids f) Bungee jumping g) Go to a theme park h) Go work in the ghettos throughout the world to educate the youth i) Go to the local arcade and  get in touch with your inner child by playing video games j) Go climb a mountain,(Hint:The taller the more thrilling) h) Go try to become the first woman to penetrate an area that is male dominated-my mother is a building foreman to give you a clue of the possibilities i) Become a day trader in the share market j) Join the circus and on and on and on.

Thirdly, I have been around long enough and seen enough to know, 99% of the time that a man comes to talk to you, especially in a club or party, he wants to sleep with you. Might not be politically correct to say, but I think if you adopt this belief it is much more in line with reality. So, basically ladies, you have all the power to chose from all those men who come to talk to you expecting a piece of the pie.Please chose wisely.

Fourth: Raise your standards regarding the type of people you will associate with. Then, make sure you rise up to meet those standards. If you only want a well educated man, muscled up man with an IQ above 130, you had better not be dragging around  XXXL love handles and have on your resume that the most interesting thing you can talk about is how, “Asian women wish they had this behind.”You want quality? Then step up and become quality.

Fifth: Women are 100s of times more intuitive to this stuff than men so I know there is very little I have shared that is new. I know that most of you can tell pretty early on when you have a good one and when you have a ‘low down, dirty, cheating…….’.So please go for the good ones. Don’t sell yourself short,alright?

Sixth: In my experience and studies, almost all anger in the area of relationships, even when we direct it at other people, ultimately comes down to feeling hurt. Chances are that by the time you are getting together with your girls to reform the MASC, you are feeling a lot of pain and have beaten yourself up a lot of times on the inside. So, should you basically make the wrong choice and chose someone whose no good, don’t beat yourself up for it. Learn from it. Accept it as a divine gift or lesson; your are being taught who and what to avoid in future. Acknowledge that you are hurt and take time to heal yourself. Then go out there and help heal a few other women who are also going through pain in this area. I have heard it said that any problem you are going through quickly fades when you help other people solve it.

Seven: Finally, to tie it all back in. Switch off the garbage. Stop listening to music from bitter, angry misogynistic men or heartbroken, lonely women. If you want love in your life, listen to love music (What a concept?) If you want peace, listen to the Lucianos, the India Aries, the Bob Marleys, the Kirk Franklins and the Lucky Dubes of the world who preach messages of peace and togetherness.

Four Keys to Life:Fix One 

What you put in your mind on a regular basis? Who you spend your time with? What you think about regualrly? Where you spend your time? These four things tend to be pretty good predictors of the type of life you will live. Change just one of these four, what you put into your mind on a regular basis, and you get the ball rolling and you won’t even be able to imagine where this one change can take you (more on this in later posts).

(WOW! You know I have just realized that I never have a clue what I will write until I write it.) So, that’s basically the big brother discussion I would have with my little sisters. My hope is that this article and all the other articles I write are of benefit to you. Whether or not they are contact me at masmilele@thedisplacedafrican.com and let me know what’s on your mind so future articles can be more in line with the information you need. If you want to share this article with others please click the ‘Bookmark’ symbol below to submit it to social bookmarking sites. Otherwise, you can link back to my article from your blog and write your thoughts on it. If all that is too much work just leave a comment at the end of this article and let me know how this article has affected you.

Till then be blessed and go out and be a blessing to others,

Mwas