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By Noah Arre
The other day, I was in an international science and technology conference/exhibition in one of the major cities in the Middle East and I was truly amazed how far man had gone in utilizing science and technology and applies it toward his developmental needs. I was especially impressed in one occasion when a Chinese company had shown me in its stall a new solar energy harnessing module that would supposedly store sun’s energy for all future needs. Huge horizontal silos with tinny cylindrical cellular attachments in vast geometrical arrays would, according to the exhibitor, absorb sun’s energy, store it indefinitely and avail it for a myriad of uses whenever and wherever needed. Hence the need for fossil fuels will become a thing of the past soon. “What a scientific marvel and a success of humanity!” I whispered to myself.
However, though amazed of that human success, naturally as an African I was truly embarrassed since there was no African nation there. And so, thousands of questions excerpts of which are the following immediately came to my mind:
- Now that man had taken such huge strides in that new and spectacular frontier, will nations soon fight for supremacy over outer space as each nation scrambles to grab its “fair” share of sun’s energy for its national developmental needs?
- Could world’s top research scientists already be theorizing how to place huge dishes that would deflect ALL sun’s energy to centralized stations that would absorb, process and store it in huge storage facilities for commercial purposes?
- Will a vast new niche of satellites be placed in our already crowded skies soon for that purpose?
- That realized, could technologically advanced nations take a lion’s share of our sun’s abundant energy, commercialize it leaving behind tribal-strife torn Africans in the cold?
- Could this resource which the whole continent of Africa always had in abundance and taken for granted for centuries be monopolized by those who had already “rightly and/or wrongly” grabbed all world resources and utilize it for their better economic gains?
- Will those developed nations all of which fall outside the perimeters of mother earth’s tropical hot climate again colonize poor Africa by stripping it out of its legitimate last resource?
- Will destitute Africa again end up in begging and waiting for handouts even for sun’s energy despite being the sole continent that lies within the tropical hot climate?
- And could it even possibly one day snow all over pathetic Africa simply because it will have no access to already “commercialized sun’s energy” and its people freeze to death?
- Is not amazing that man’s superb intelligence never runs out of innovations, ideas and inventions?
- But is it not embarrassing that Africans are beaten in every field of life and yet shamefully continue to fight over trivial issues?
Despite these disturbing and horrific thoughts, I was impressed how flawless the exhibition was; how amazing the high niche technology on the exhibit was; how inspiring and precise the innovations on display were and how magnificently the show was organized, how remarkable man’s intelligence is and how amazing the myriad of technological supplies and that were on display at the center were!
So, this short article is an appeal to my fellow Africans, and let me say that while it is a fact that the African continent is the second largest in the world; while it is also a fact that it is the birth place of mankind and while it is a fact that it is unbelievably rich when it comes to natural resources, how behind and backward it is painfully mind-boggling and extremely bewildering!
It is too hard to understand that we Africans do not realize that developments such as those described are only the product of man’s innovative imagination. It is too hard to understand that we Africans do not realize that today’s technological advances are the product of man’s superb intelligence. It is too hard to understand that we Africans do not realize that while our intelligence is not inferior to that of any other race because many of us excel in distinguished international universities graduating with honors, we have yet to contribute any thing of value toward civilization, science and technology!
Rather, our contributions are: tyranny by despotic leadership, public incivilities, nepotism and greed that breed civil strife, corruption which robs our continent of its developmental resources and continuous wars that result only death and destruction all of which only contribute toward our peoples’ misery!
For Instance:
- Consider strife-torn Somalia in where Africa’s main killer disease…tribalism nightmares sink that nation into mayhem and blood-shed that has yet to end despite over 16 long years.
- Consider the daily hostage taking of oil workers by Nigerian untamable tribal gangs, who despite that nation’s high literacy rate and educational level, refuse to respect law and order!
- Consider Zimbabwe’s strife and economic down slide since independence due to Robert Mugabe’s nepotistic tribal ideology that drove out the legitimate leader of that nation… Mr. Joshua Nkomo whose sacrifices liberated his country from colonialism…. simply because Mr. Joshua happened to be of a different tribe!
- Consider Sudan’s thirty-year civil war between the South and the North and its new demonizing civil war in the Darfur Region caused by the Janjaweed tribal militias and the resulting misery despite that nation’s huge natural wealth including oil and gas.
- Consider Liberia’s ugly civil wars in which hundreds of thousands died and hundreds of thousands more were maimed forever!
- Consider Siera Leone’s long civil war in which thousands died and hundreds of thousands more suffer despite having one of the richest diamond fields of the continent.
- Consider the Republic of Congo in which rape, death and destruction bleed the resources of the nation and force millions to live in local refugee camps despite being the superpower of Africa when it comes to natural resources!
- Consider the Rwandan genocide and the ugly slaughter in which close to a million people were massacred overnight simply because they were of other tribes!
My fellow Africans, this is a shame but that is what we are. And it is a shame that these miseries cause the mass exodus of our people to the unknown. It is a shame that these miseries force our people to die on the shores of Europe, a Europe that is not willing to accept us let alone offer us sanctuaries. It is these miseries that make the African inferior in the eyes of others. It is our inherently pathetic indifference that keeps our continent behind. And it is simply our inability to accept one another, abandon hate and let our people live in peace and harmony.
The African continent is wealthy. It is rich in wildlife that roams in the wild in its multitudes. And only developing that alone could significantly make our continent an economic power. Africa is rich in gold and diamonds. It is rich in culture and climate and it is rich in the Sun’s Energy because of its geographical local… an energy that is the new target of today’s science and technology which will soon exploit it to help wealthy nations to monopolize. In fact they are already striving to take a lion’s share. Let us wake up to realities and it is now or never!
It is therefore, incumbent upon us to heed the following expressive poem by a prominent Somali Poet!
Niman yohow addoomaha illaah kala ayaan roone! Or “Ow people, some humans are luckier than others”.
Afrikaanka moyee ma jiro ruux itaal yarie. Or “And only Africans are weak economically”
Inkaar inay qabaa iyo waqtiga inaanay eegeenin. Or “They (Africans) may be either cursed or else they do not look to the challenges of time.”
Arrintoodu meel bay aqoon iin ku leedahaye. Or “Painfully their being must have some weakness somehow somewhere!”
I personally think that that “weakness somehow somewhere”, has something to do with the deadly effects of killer tribalism that harbors despotism and corruption followed by wars that hamper Africa from progress and rob it from its natural resources that could be utilized for all its developmental needs!
Despite this, I am not giving up hope because good thing, Africans excel in forgiving and forgetting the past and it is due to that natural God-given gift of the African that President Nelson Mandela forgot and forgave those who aggrieve him for 27 long and lonely years! Brothers and sisters it is a high time that we hold shoulder to shoulder and move our continent, the sole natural resources superpower, forward!
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