There was a time in Africa where  a man had to prove himself worthy of a bride and could not marry unless he had a piece of land to raise his family; in fact there was a proverb across the continent " A man shall not marry unless he has land". Imagine what a difference this would make for a our current over-population crisis. In most African cultures, the age sets worked as a guideline for the society and everybody had a role to play in the community, may it be individually or as a group. The elders were considered as gold, for they carried with them wisdom that they would pass down from generation to generation. When the elders spoke, they mostly spoke in proverbs, keeping it simple and no idle gibberish. Most of the wisdom I carry with me today is derived from my childhood, through the interaction of the elders in the village especially my grandmother.

Where have the elders gone anyway? Why are we sitting on this ancient wisdom that can change our way of life for better. Africans need to stop looking everywhere else away from the continent for greener pastures and realize that the grass is the greenest in the mother land. I know that may seem a bit silly considering the current drought situations going on across the continent, but that too can be reversed if only we can have faith, come together as one people to save and re-activate the land. One place we really need to focus on is agriculture, growing crops that grows best in the local areas and focus on food to feed our people and not too much on the cash crop. We need to learn how to cultivate rain water, how to irrigate on small scale to save some crops in case of rain shortages and most importantly, how to earnest solar energy for cooking and lighting. If there is something we have in abundance in Africa, it is the SUN, and with so many new inventions, and great minds, we can make solar cooking available so we can stop cutting down trees for charcoal and firewood and concentrate more on re-planting and re-activating our soils.

One thing I know of us Africans, we are sharp, driven, ambitious, we have a lot of energy, we are a happy people for the most part, but our downfall is our stubbornness. Many Africans are stuck on very backward way of thinking that we undermine our own power. There is a wise man from Senegal that once said "everything that is of value is being exported out of Africa, and all the imports we get are mostly empty".  The idea of possessing things of no substance has ruined Africa so much that we have lost sight of what's important. Looking back at Africa in a time before the so called "civilization and westernization', everything used was biodegradable, from our shoes, to our house and everything in between. The whole green movement leaves me amazed that the rest of the world is just now catching up while over in Africa,  this green way of living is becoming more scarce as we suffocate ourselves with material things and mostly made of plastic.

So what do we do? If you look across Europe, to Asia to America, in every University, most of the top students are from all corners of Africa and in every field you can think of. The question is, why aren't most of us going back to Africa to better our continent with all the knowledge that we are gathering form abroad. I know many Africans, including my mother, who are working hard to give back and to improve the way of life in Africa, but with a population of for example over a million Kenyans in the USA alone, I can easily count how many people are going back to do their part for their communities back home. Many of us go back home  as though we are tourists in our own land. I am not saying there is anything wrong with going home to visit, but I think we need to do more than that. It is time for each and everyone of us to take personal responsibility of our continent. Now for many decades, so many people have come and are still coming in the numbers in the name of "saving Africa", but I say, as wonderful as that may sound and as good of intentions the foreigners have for Africa, only Africans can help Africa. I could easily argue that a lot of the outside help has been great, but just like the welfare system here in the US, many of these programs do more damage than good. Africa needs to be independent on it's own resources and people not on the outside world. We have all the answers, resources, we have everything we need, from man power to wisdom and knowledge. All we need is to believe in our greatness, our potential, to open up our minds and hearts, to UNDERSTAND our worth, our treasures, our rich cultures,  the dreams of our ancestors, and our part as the future ancestors. We need to be fully informed and be aware of what is at risk for our continent, our children and our world.

Africa needs a lot of healing, and it starts with each one of us acknowledging the need for that healing and when this happens, my brothers and sisters, YES WE CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS!
It is time to ACTIVATE AFRICA to it's original state of  abundance!

I would like to hear your thoughts if any, and I encourage to keep these conversations going as it is the only way towards positive tangible change for our planet. Tune in later to read  more about my thoughts on education, farming, the arts and much more. Remember, we are all one people, we are all connected.........................and we ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR------

Sending you Love and peace!