Swahili Mom: Africa Day

Photo source: http://tnot.es/Africa

Today is Africa Day May 25th. African Day dated back to 1963 when the Organization of Africa Unity (OAU) was founded. The significance of the day was to reflect the aspirations of people to break free from the chains of colonial bondage. The value of Africa Day is in the unity it enjoins and a moment for reflection.

I was born and raised in Tanzania and what can I say…there is no place like home! Africa is beautiful and her dignity is being restored to her with each year, decade that passes by. Everyday on the media there is a story about a crisis somewhere in Africa. Cartoonish caricatures and a Western media penchant for reporting on Africa's disease, hunger and war -- rather than the continent's successes.

The African continent is so diverse geographically and culturally, unfortunately, many of the countries have faced so much hardship, mostly due to predictors who attract their own surrogates and now greed leaders but still Africa has more goods than bad to offer. People tend to believe what they read and see in the media because they have never experienced it firsthand but what I want to tell you today is that “Don’t judge Africa before you even go there”

As an African I think it is time to help ourselves to get rid of this ignorance and we can do this through knowledge. We can use whatever platform we have to promote the “Other Side” of Africa. With the media being in favor of “bad publicity" is "good publicity" whose job is it to make that right.

Here are some interest facts about Africa

Africa is a continent not a country.
Africa is not all a jungle.
Africans generally do not live in trees or hunt game with spears.
Africans do not have wild animals at home?
There are 54 countries and a couple of disputed territories (Western Sahara and Somali land)
Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria are both in Africa. (I always get shock when I hear an educated grown up person says "I have visited Egypt before but never been to Africa)
The Tallest stand alone mountain in the world is Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Equator runs along for almost 2500 miles, passing through 6 countries: Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya and Somalia.
Africa has one of the oldest universities in the world is in Timbuktu, Mali.
Lake Victoria is the world’s second largest fresh water lake.
The Nile is the longest river in the world – the 6,670 kms takes you through Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan and Egypt.
About half of the world’s diamonds come from southern and central Africa.
Africa possess 99% of the world’s chrome resources, 85% of its platinum, 70% of its tantalite, 68% of its cobalt, 54% of its gold plus significant oil and gas reserves.
The hottest place in the world is recorded at Al’Aziziyah in Libya.
Three of the world’s largest gold producers have their primary operations in Africa – Harmony Gold, Gold Fields and Anglogold Ashanti.
Almost 100 species of lemurs are found in Madagascar.
African elephants are the largest living land animals
The world’s biggest frog comes from Cameroon. It is over one foot long.
Four of the five fastest land animals live in Africa. The cheetah is the fastest and can run at 60 mph.
The Fish River Canyon in Namibia is the second largest canyon in the world.
Lake Malawi has the largest number of fish species in the world – over 500.
There are about 2300 bird species in Africa.