The African Country and My Pan African Dream
Charles Akpom
There is no escaping it, Africa has many well-known challenges; so
well-known that a view of Africa’s problems often eclipses other ideas
about the continent. Our challenges are well documented and, many times, incorrectly reported in the global media. Many who have never visited Africa have formed ill-conceived ideas about the continent: that Africa is only about poverty, famine and war, that Africa is a dark, uncivilized and underdeveloped continent, or simply that all of Africa is one country.
But in the four years I’ve spent running Afroterminal.com, a pan-African social network, I’ve been struck much more by the view that Africans have of Africa: the vast majority of Africans (including those in the Diaspora) are fiercely proud of their home, culture, and values; regardless of the challenges.
This pride comes through quite clearly in ‘Communities’, forum discussions, chat rooms and other content members post throughout the site. And though our members come from all of Africa’s 54 countries and reside all over the world, sometimes the notion that ‘Africa is a country’ doesn’t seem so far off.
As a Nigerian, the more I communicate with my brothers and sisters from Tanzania, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Gambia, Egypt and other parts of the continent on Afroterminal.com, the more I am convinced of our socio-economic and political commonalities. On the one hand, there is a deficit in infrastructure and the quest for honest political leaders who will address the issue of corruption. On the other hand, there is substantial progress being made in entrepreneurship and technology.
Again and again, I have seen members from different countries voice similar points of view about the places they grew up: the feeling that Africa is not truly free from colonialism, attitudes towards marriage to people from other ethnic groups, respect for the elderly, the sense of community, extended family ties, the high regard for moral and spiritual values, and even the culture of hawking and informal markets. It is also interesting to note the similarity in countries like Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana, for example, that have more Muslims in the north and more Christians in the south.
At Afroterminal.com, we wanted to create a platform where continental and global Africans can establish new social and business relationships, based on common heritage and interests. For example, members can chat instantly with each other, share files (photos, videos, music) and create new friendships. Also, by posting a ‘BusinessCard’, a safari business owner in Kenya, can network with complimentary businesses in Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda; or promote his services to visitors from Cote d’Ivoire, Angola, Senegal etc.
In the way that Facebook is a place for old friends, Afroterminal.com is a place to discover new friends, develop new business relationships, and pursue new opportunities for change and development.
