#THEAFRICAWEWANT

IMAGE BY EMMA COLLISON

I have always loved Africa. Being a kid in America I remember both of my parents working really hard and going to school at the same time. Sometimes I would hear them talk of what to me, at the time, seemed like a fantastical land called Africa. This was a magical place where interesting aunts and uncles (many of whom I later found out were of no blood relation) would come and visit from. My parents would be so excited! They would switch to a language I proudly called "my language" even though I could not speak a single word of it. These aunts and uncles would come bearing interesting gifts like: the hugest bath soap I had ever seen called Geisha which was too large for my little hands to carry; grainy cornmeal that would be mixed into boiling water to make a African dish that would be eaten with the tiniest fish I had ever seen with their heads still intact. I would be so excited and proud of this culture I knew nothing about. Asking my aunts to give my white dolls legit Shona names,  listening in on the big peoples conversation on how things were back home and stories about the home my dad had bought for us back in the capital city.

It was the land where everyone from my African church came from. I never really knew what specific country they came from, being so young, but I called all of them uncle and auntie. I'm supposing the concept was: "If they are African, they are family".  You can imagine my excitement when my parents told us we were moving back. Although we were not returning to Zimbabwe, we would be in Kenya, and that was still a part of my fantasy land! I was so excited I did not even shed a single tear and believe it or not... Africa did not disappoint!

We moved to a university campus where my parents were lecturers and there where kids from literally every corner of the continent and beyond. It was amazing, we had the strongest bond ever! running to school together, playing in the rain, sleepovers, all sorts of mischief and drama but we were soo happy. Our friendship was the kind that lasts forever, It was perfection and everything I imagined my African Fantasy Land would be.

UNFORTUNATELY, I GREW UP... Reading widely, personal experience and a college education in development quickly shattered my fantasy of the Africa I thought I knew. The simplest assumptions I had were discredited like: not all African women were like my mother, in fact my mother was a part of only 50% of African women who have basic literacy, let alone a tertiary education; that not everyone was lucky enough to afford a absurdly large bar of Geisha or that there were people that slept hungry not having even smelt sadza or matemba in days because they could not afford it. Without rose-tinted glasses I could now see that my Africa had wars based on resources, greed and hate that turned 3.4 million regular citizens into refugees the majority of which are women and children leaving them eternally scared and traumatized. I never knew that people were not proud of being African and associated it with uncouthness and had a warped perception of what was beautiful which did not include dark skin or kinky hair. They had a perception that did not include a reflection of themselves. And maybe the saddest part of all was after seeing hate crimes based on issues of tribalism, xenophobia, politics and even religion, I came to realize that not all Africans were family.

The Africa I want and the Africa I believe we all want is the Africa Fantasy Land of my childhood. Where there are no stores of abducted school-girls in Nigeria. Quite contrary I would like to know young girls and boys are running happily to school every morning with educated fathers and mothers to look up to. Their little bodies are scrubbed clean with Geisha and their bellies are full with all the Sadza and Matemba they can eat. Life would be wonderful because together we would put an end to these nonsensical wars like the ones in Congo and Sudan and use our resources to serve the people, giving refugees in Dadaab and displaced people around the continent a chance at stability and normality. Nothing would make me happier than seeing a group of young girls who are convinced that Black is Beautiful! no matter how deep the hue or how tight the kinks in their hair are. That they do not have to shape themselves against a western standard of beauty because their African standard is just as good. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY the Africa want... is a family. The kind that assists each other in times of crisis like sisters would, with no issues of tribalism or xenophobia.

So if you asked me around 15 years ago the kind of Africa I want, I would have probably told you something absurd like: " I want it to be the worlds next super power!" or "we will be hyper developed with a man on the moon!" because the Africa I knew then was a fantasy. With Age has come the burden of  reality and acceptance that we have to crawl before we walk. Therefore my hopes for my future Africa are simple: Universal empowerment, Peace, Eradication of Poverty, Improved self Image but most importantly I believe the Africa we want is one with true unity where Africa is a family.