Africa-bearing The Brunt Of The World’s Groans Website
Some say ours is a cursed race. Tony Blair, the ex-British Prime Minister, once said that “Africa is a scar on the conscience of the world”. These assertions might not be far from reality. This is because almost every bad news that hits the world comes from Africa and since the advent of the white man on our soils we have never known any good. First it was slavery and colonialism, when the white man who thought he was less endowed in terms of physical strength and thus could not work on plantations saw no other race brawny enough to work on their plantations in the new world except the African. And so we were carted away like animals to sweat and work in the plantations of America. It was our sweat and tears that built the economies of present –day America. But then the sun shone on our faces and by dint of hard work and a stroke of fortune, we gained our independence from our tormentors. However the joy of this epoch-making story was short-lived as the long years of colonialism left in its trails, wars. The struggle to fill the vacuum created by the departure of the colonial master resulted in people who had hitherto been living together in peace and harmony fighting for dominance. Africans are butchering one another in a vain attempt to impose their will on the vanquished. Maybe our miseries should have ended there, but as fate will have it, poverty, the half-brother of war, reared its destructive ugly face in our society. Thus the once prosperous continent which was peaceful and self-sufficient in terms of food, now imports everything it eats. A continent with vast and fertile lands and good climatic conditions capable of supporting every food crop that could be grown on this earth and with able-bodied men now imports food in order to feed its own people. Countries like Senegal imports over 60% of its food from outside. This is happening to us not because we are too lazy to feed our own selves but because we have been deprived of the opportunity to live in a fair and equal world. As if no one listens to and wants to wipe the tears from our faces. Added to our woes is the devastating HIV-AIDs epidemic. Our continent is inhabited by just over 12% of the world’s population but it is estimated that more than 60% of HIV infected people in the world live in Africa! Why are the sexually promiscuous Americans, French and the overpopulated lands of India and China still having low HIV-AIDs infected populations? If the figures they put out coupled with all the suffering we are enduring now are issues to go by, then no wonder some say that the claim that there is an old bearded man up there watching over us might be nothing but a cosy myth aimed at making us hopeful. If the fabric of existence is really seamless, still the weavers must go to bed, but it seems we are not going to bed yet, as a new trouble has been added to our tall list of fears. Can someone educate me on why a continent with scarce factories and industries producing little or no harmful gases like carbon dioxide (the gas that is the main cause of the depletion of the ozone layer) be at the receiving end of destructive effects of the climatic change that the develop world has caused? We are told and it seems to be true too, that Africa will bear the brunt of the very extremes of climate change that will befall the earth as a result of the reckless development by the rich nations. Already, we are feeling the impacts of this climate change; floods in West Africa, droughts and famine in East Africa. Why must we always be at the wrong side? A friend once said that when the world coughs, Africa catches cold. Definitely, he is not far from the truth. A comparative look at the demographics of the world should tell us that, we are indeed a cursed race, forgotten by the creator. If not we should at least be spared the misery of living with all these troubles. It seems we are racing against reason to maintain the unenviable record of being the most trouble-torn continent in this world.
Source: MJFM
