Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from September 15, 2019

Bread, Butter, and Borders: How Poverty Divides Africa Against Itself

"The only language the poor understand is bread and butter." — Mahatma Gandhi’s words cut deeper in Africa than anywhere else. They explain why a continent that bled for liberation remains mentally colonized, why brothers kill brothers over imaginary lines drawn in Berlin boardrooms, and why "South Africans" chase away Nigerians while white capital still owns Johannesburg. Poverty isn’t just empty pockets—it’s a manufactured blindness that makes us attack our own while the real thieves watch from London and Wall Street. The Berlin Conference’s Living Ghosts In 1884, white men who couldn’t locate Africa on a map carved her into geometric prisons. Today, we defend these lines with patriotic fervor. A Luo in Kenya shouts " Harambee! " while his cousin in Uganda chants " For God and My Country. " Tutsis who shared milk gourds for centuries now march under different flags. The Zulu—once a kingdom spanning Southern Africa—now bicker over which Europea...

A Letter to My Brothers

Dear brothers, By the time you read this, I'll be in Addis Ababa. Don't worry about me - I'm fine and settling in well. I'm in a new country now, one with focus and an energetic leader who stands up even to Pharaohs over Nile waters. I'm in the arms of my loving Edel and her beautiful daughter Beli, ready to start fresh. This is the land of Emperor Menelik II who defeated Mussolini's armies at Adwa. The home of running legend Haile Gebrselassie and the birthplace of Rastafari. Being here reminds me of that reggae line: "The system does not cater for me." That's why I left. I left my daughter Emily behind - that pains me. But not her mother. Tesa deserved to be left. Another day with her might have killed me. Brother Manga, you're the only one who'll truly understand. You've lived with women of this generation. You know the torture - when they throw the little money you give them back in your face, when they hurl insults that crush your ...