"There´s something about Africa..." by Pieter11

There is something about Africa. Africa has something mystical, Africa is so different from the other continents, it is by far my favorite continent. Why? Because of a lot of reasons. Reasons that can be explaned by the four Pan-African colours: red, gold, black and green, also mentioned in the wonderful song by Steel Pulse:

"Red for the blood that flowed like a river."
The red stands for the wars, the natural disasters, the corruption and the poverty.

"Green for the land of Africa"
The green stands for the natural beauty of the African continent.

"Yellow for the gold that they stole"
Yellow, or gold for the natural wealth Africa has, and for the hope.

"Black for the people it was looted from"
Black stands for the people, who are proud to be African, and proud to be black.

The problems make me sad, make me angry and sometimes make me loose hope in the continent. Situations like the wars in Rwanda and Congo, the starvation in Niger, the corruption in Zimbabwe and the AIDS-epidemia in Botswana. Always it is Africa that is hit the hardest.

And what makes me even sadder is the fact that most Western countries -governments better - don't seem to give a *** about Africa. When Iran experiments with nuclear weapons, or when Iraq cuts off its oil delivery, all the countries are aware. But when millions are dying from AIDS in Africa, hundreds of thousands are slaughtered in Rwanda, and children are abused everywhere in Sierra Leone, nobody seems to care. And these are only a few examples of how the Western world is closing its eyes.

Unless the fact that Africa has many problems, it is a fantastic continent. Not in the last place because of its great natural beauty. Africa has a great variety of natural environments and nowhere in the world these environments are more pure then on this continent.

From the enormous and dry Sahara in the north to the impressive Victoria Falls in the south of the continent. And from the white sandy beaches at the Indian Ocean coast to the green and pure jungles in the centre of Africa.

Every single African country has its own beauties: weither it is dry or wet, mountainous or flat and green or red.

Yellow stands for the enormous wealth that Africa possesses. The gold in South-Africa, the diamants in Botswana, but also the cocoa in Ghana or the coffee in Tanzania. If only Africa would be able to reach the Western markets with their products it would make a big difference already.

But yellow also stands for hope. Hope that is very important for Africa. Hope can be built by donating money to help the Africans, by going there to help the people, but the most important is that the Africans can give eachother and theirselves hope. By creating solid, trustable governments, by ending long-lasting conflicts like in Sudan, by reaching economic growth and by improving the level of education. With a good education and a peaceful environment every African can hope for a better future.

African people may be poor, African people may not have a hopeful situation to look forward to, and African people may have a lot of problems in their environments, but African people are proud people. Proud to be black, and proud to be an African.

Africa needs this self-confidence to have hope for the future. Black power like Nelson Mandela has, like the African football teams like Nigeria, Cameroon or Ghana have, or like African (rooted) musicians like Youssou N'dour, Culture or even Bob Marley have/had is very important for the local people. For an African it is not necessary to copy the white people in the western world. The strength they have inside themselves can to great things too.

Since 2006, I finally started exploring the African continent. After dreaming about it for many years, I travelled through Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, South-Africa and Ghana in one year. In Ghana I even spent 2 months, while I was working there as a volunteer.

In the time I spent on the continent I learned a lot about the culture, the people and the life in Africa. I have seen great things in the countries I visited. Great cities like Cape Town, Swakopmund and Cape Coast, great wildlife reserves like Etosha, Chobe and Mole, great natural beauty like the Victoria Falls, the Sossusvlei or Kakum N.P. But most of all I have met great people. Curious people that want to know everything about the "white" culture, welcoming people that offer you something to eat or drink even if they don't know you at all, enthusiastic people that proudly show you everything they have and can.

Although the situation in Africa is impossible to be solved by just donating money, there is a lot you can do help the people. Sending food and other goods in times of big needs is one thing, but it is even more important to help the people on longer term: preventing them from getting ill and teaching them how to provide themselves in their own needs in an easier way.

Only that way the children can be educated in a decent way, and only with a well educated youth the continent can develop. Organisations like Plan International and Unicef understand that and put their main focus on this part of help. Children like my own sponsor-child Sayiton from Malawi are helped in a long-term way of which the whole community profits.