Rooted (sipho)

Publication No. 1

Photo by Mika Scoeman

R o o t e d

15 October 2017

Contents Editiorial 3 It’s C Fashion and Beauty 4 - 6ulture, Not a

Religion 7

Culture 8 and 10

Education 9 1

Meet the Team An artistic individual who loves to sketch and photograph the world around her. An aspiring journalist who hopes to travel the world and work for National Geographic one day.

I am inspired by people around the world and the simple beauty that is often overlooked.

Mika Scheoman

ROOTED has taken shape through the hard work of the dedicated team. Our magazine travels through topics such as education, fashion and religion while maintaining the focal point of culture and the question of reclaiming it. I hope that the magazine both answers and raises questions around culture and its everyday effect on our lives.

Dylan Byrne

There is a difference between womanhood and feminism.

There is a difference between African feminism and black feminism. We are in Africa, let us liberate African womxn and queer bodies in these oppressive spaces. Not only an activist but a reformist. QAWEKAZI! IMBOKODO! IZWE! Sisipho Ntsabo

I am an aspiring television and radio presenter.A lover of fashion and beautiful things.I love travelling and would love to visit paris one day.

Yolanda Kunene Young upcoming photographer, radio and television personality. Interested in the field of advertising and marketing. I believe one man can change the world.

Sipho Monakali

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Rainbow Nation or Rainbow Notion ?

By Sisipho Ntsabo There is no better time than now to claim culture in South Africa. Identity politics and cultural wars have been in our postdemocratic society. In 2017, what does rainbow nation mean in relation to culture and representation of silenced cultural identities?

Like Sifiyya Goga, this publication asks the question, “What is it about culture that makes it so crucial to claim, define and defend in post-apartheid South Africa?”

Goga goes on to say that race and racial distinctions were not just simply extinct in culture or identity in South Africa. We need to speak and analyse the perceptions and realities of culture and identity in 2017.

The common mistake when speaking about the rainbow nation in South Africa, is the confusion of integration and desegregation.

South Africa has been successful in racial desegregation; with one of the best Constitutions in the world. Yet, we fall short when it comes to integration of cultures.

Culture means the ideas, customs and social behaviour that a society holds. Pumla Gqola argues that “rainbowism” was central in shaping identities in post-apartheid South Africa, yet decades after 1994, the rainbow nation has almost disappeared from public agenda. The identity and cultural issues highlighted in contemporary South Africa are xenophobia, tribalism, African feminism, cultural appropriation, decolonisation, transformation and African Renaissance.

There is a stumbling block towards the goal of Thabo Mbeki’s African Renaissance. The National Plan, 2030 speak about dismantling the white dominated economy, eliminating poverty and reducing inequality. Yet, these cultural issues aforementioned, threaten to halt this 2030 plan.

Perhaps, the argument that Rhodes University student Zoe Mafoko provides that “The rainbow nation is history, not reality” is sufficient enough to start the call to define our own identities in South Africa.

It is important to speak about cultural politics in South Africa as we are a postcolonial country. Many ideas and ideals were imposed on the country and its people. Today, the people of South Africa have redefined those imposed Western and Eurocentric ideals and have defined their own ideals and attached their own meanings and values these ideals.

This publication sees culture as an emancipatory tool. We investigate the ideas, customs and social behaviour that inform culture define South Africa. Issues of tribalism, religion, decolonisation and transformation will be critically analysed through profiles, interviews, features and opinion pieces. The stories and narratives are yours, we the publication dare to tell them

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Illistration by Mika Schoeman

It’s culture, not a fashion accessory!

By Mika Schoeman

S

he wrapped her lips around the end of her cigarette, as she exhaled white smoke filled the space between us. She held an air of confidence, crossing her legs and intertwines her fingers she said, “What was once a symbol of protest against societies disrespect for Africans has now become as insignificant as a simple fashion accessory”. Georgia Carter has been to her fair share of festivals, from trance parties to Oppi Koppi, she has never failed to be amazed at the variety of cultural fashion accessories that are worn without any knowledge of their meaning or purpose.

In today’s society, particularly amongst the festival-goers, wearing bindis, headdresses or dashikis has become a common practice as well as a fashion statement. Often people are unaware of the meanings behind these accessories or what they symbolise for the people of its cultural origins. “People don’t understand the meaning of what they are wearing, to them a dashiki is as mundane as the jeans we were almost every day” says Carter. Cultural designs are recycled, plagiarised and imitated by the large majority. In fashion in particular, individuals now argue that certain African cultural symbols and commodities should be off limits to non-Africans or persons who are not apart of the represented culture.

Carter explains how she used to wear bindis and tribal face paint at festival, as it seemed to be the latest trend. However, while sitting on the beach watching the sunset at Earth Dance, an annual trance festival, she was confronted by a silver haired Indian woman who asked her why she wore her bindi and what it meant to her. Carter was unable to give the woman a proper answer, as she suddenly felt ashamed of her fashion accessory in front of the woman whose religion she was imitating. She asked the woman what her bindi means; “I wear my red dot as a symbol of my marriage and respect to my husband”.

Carter was absorbed in her conversation with the wise stranger on the beach. “I learnt what the bindi meant to the Indian woman and her culture, to this day I will not wear significant cultural items unless I properly understand what they represent” said Carter. There is a fine line between appreciating and celebrating the cultures we understand and immerse ourselves in, and appropriating culture out of ignorance. Danica Davis explains how she feels that wearing items of clothing or accessories from African, Indian or Native American cultures is completely acceptable as long as there is an understanding and sense of respect in what you are representing.

“There is a key difference between ignorant imitation and informed acknowledgement of an individuals culture and religion,” Davis says.

Supporting Carters argument, Davis suggests that celebrating other cultures should be encouraged to bring about awareness and enthusiasm in growth of the diverse traditions and beliefs of the people around us, particularly in South Africa, as it is such a multicultural country. African cultural accessories are not left out when it comes to festivals. The Dashiki, a brightly coloured printed top, is often worn, as well as traditional Zulu beads and other African printed clothing. People see these elaborate designed tops and are amazed at the new fashion trend, however very few actually know what these prints and colours mean. The Dashiki was worn during the 1960’s in a trying time of political injustice against black culture. The dashiki was an affirmation of “black is beautiful”.

a beauty

Photo by Mika Schoeman

There is so much more meaning to the clothes we wear than what meets the eye. Zulu beads, patterns and colours are used as symbols for status, communication and spiritual mindfulness. Green is the colour of content, red the colour of strong emotions such as love and white, the colour of purity and spiritual love. “I know so little about African cultures, I am saddened by my lack of knowledge,” says Carter. She smiles and reiterates with enthusiasm that the beauty of African dress and its meanings should be celebrated and taught as very few know what it means. There is nothing wrong with wearing a dashiki at a festival as long as the individual is aware of its meaning and respects it origins. Carter suggests that perhaps the festival community should start educating people on the essences of meaning and significance of the common items people wear.

Perhaps cultural appropriation in the form of fashion accessories will then change to celebration and encouragement in the restoration in the mélange of culture. In Carters opinion it’s blessing to be exposed to the of many.

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TAKING THE PLUNGE GOING NATURAL

By Yolanda Kunene

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or the past decades if not centuries, black hair has been protested, ridiculed and appropriated. Black women are utilising their hair to redefine Afrocentrism from Eurocentric standards of beauty.

Freedom of expression of the black woman’s hair is restricted in institutions such as the workplace. The challenge on the relationship of hair and decolonisation has been pertinent over the past few years.

Black women need to be offered the choice to keep their natural hair or wear synthetic hair. The freedom to choice and agency to do what pleases them.

Mapula Maponya who is a lecturer and PhD student feels that as a black child, she has not had an identity because she is often told what to look like. “As much as apartheid is over, a lot of its ideals still exists and it is a mental kind of apartheid because you still carry a lot of it. Our minds are still imprisoned in a way.”

The fight for the freedom to embrace natural hair has been significant globally. The natural hair movement challenges Western imposed ideals culturally and institutionally. In 2016, the protest for the liberation of black hair at Pretoria Girls High, where a student was told that her Afro does not look neat. This displays the attitudes and negative perceptions on black hair in South Africa.

Third year accounting student Nonceba Bhebhe shares a familiar experience, “I had my Afro out in high school and my teacher said that I look like I am going for a disco. I was told that I had to cut it or relax it, otherwise they were going to cut it. I did not understand why she was saying that because she was also black. Somehow, that made me realized that as black people we have been channelled to think that our hair looks neat when it is straightened or relaxed.”

Rhodes University honours student Belinda Magadani, adds, “I was told that my hair looks hideous and that I needed to do something about it. At that time I did not see a problem in what was being said but when I look back I realise that the person who was saying that was insulting me in a way.”

Society perceives straight hair as beautiful and natural hair as not.

Maponya has had an experience where she was judged at a hair salon because of having natural hair, “I was told that my hair is too big and I had to cut or relax it. It even came to a point where they said they were going to make me pay extra money because I have an afro.”

Companies are also using this movement to further their profits.

Natural hair products are being globally marketed and produced on a daily basis. Many times, these products are not organic they process our hair in a harmful way. They use this symbol of freedom for people as a way of exploiting them. L’Oréal’s SoftSheen-Carson operates the Dark and Lovely hair-care brand, which is known for its hair relaxers. Thus, “That brand has also keyed into the natural hair movement with its Au Naturale line, which includes natural hair products such as a mango-scented Knot-Out conditioner and a curl defining crème glaze.” stated Nana Sidibe who is a writer and editor for CNBC. In addition, with the increased demand for natural products, which help consumers care for and maintain their hair’s natural features, larger chains and beauty product companies are trying to grab market share. Thus, this is due to the fact that Walgreens, Target and Wal-Mart now offer a greater range of options to African-American women with natural brands such as Shea Moisture, Curls and Miss Jessie’s on their shelves.

People should be proud of who they are because natural hair is beautiful. They should do whatever it is that they are comfortable with and they should be proud of who they are. People need to learn how to accept instead of tolerate, Acceptance is very importance because having natural hair is not easy. It is hard work and it requires a lot of time and patience.

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“I had my Afro in high school and my teacher said I look like I am going for a disco.”

FIGHTING COLOURISM RECLAIMING BEAUTY

By Sisipho Nstabo

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he documentary named For Dark Girl investigates deep-rooted issues of colourism. Released in 2011, directors D. Channsin Berry and Bill Duke uncover the discrimination and bias dark-skinned women are prone to.

This is relevant in contemporary South Africa, where issues of colourism are still rife.

assimilated to whiteness were given preferential treatment. Not only do the directors educate us on the history of colourism but analyse how these whiteness and white domination has reinforced itself.

The problem with the film was the inclusion of men on commentary on the female body

Numerous dark-skinned women, psychologists and experts share their lived experiences as dark-skinned women in America. Yet, what the documentary does very well is explore colourism issues around the world. These women share their experiences from early childhood through to their adolescence to illustrate how colourism has affected their self-esteems and perceptions of themselves.

These effects are shown when the 1939 Clark Doll Experiment was displayed.

The problem lies in the mere fact that black students (the . Berry and Duke interviewed what seemed like ignorant and uninformed men to share their preference on which shade woman they prefer. Now this takes away from the issue and involves men on the issue that dark-skinned women experience. The men commented on their sexual preferences, not on how the issue is further perpetuated by men and masculine culture.

The Clark Doll wexperiment which was conducted in 1939 by a black couple, where two identical dolls (one black and one was white) were placed in front of children of all races .The children had one task: to decide which one was more beautiful. In almost all of the instances, the white doll was chosen. This experiment was repeated in 2009 and warranted the same results. Questions like “Show me the doll that you like best or that you’d like to play with,” “Show me the doll that is the ‘nice’ doll,” and “Show me the doll that looks ‘bad’,”. 47 percent of black girls reported that the white doll was pretty.

The film sheds light on the immense psychological trauma that colonialism had on the global standards of beauty.

Berry and Duke aptly trace back the roots of colourism.

Slavery and colonialism.

Colonialism was rooted in white domination that those who approximated to whiteness and

Photo by Sisipho Ntsabo

Secondly, shaming. When commenting on issues like colourism and women who bleach their skin, one should be careful not to dare to shame. Yes, explore the roots and the perception of colourism. But, do not shame young dark-skinned women who have made the choice to undergo skin lightening treatment.

The lack of in depth conversation of dark-skinned women undergoing skin lightening treatment was a problem. If women are educated on colourism and still make the decision to undergo skin lightening treatment, then we should support that notion, not shame them.

Berry and Duke suggest with the film that the best manner to combat colourism, is to teach girls to be confident from a young age. It effectively begins to invite not only African Americans but the rest of the world to question the beauty standards. It critical forces us to engage with the issues of colourism from history through to the role of media perpetuating these ideals.

“ I used to wish that I could wake up one day lighter.

I thought it was dirt and I’d try to clean it off, but it would not come off ”

Radical Christianity, will this be the downfall of traditional culture?

By Mika Schoeman

P

erhaps our failure to acknowledge the effect of colonialism and religions such as Christianity, has allowed traditional South African culture and religion to slowly dissipate.

We follow the ideals and beliefs of those in power. In South Africa’s case power still lies with the colonial Western views.

Once more, religion is a powerful force that influences culture and beliefs, and is key to many people’s meaning and purpose in life. Christianity first arrived in South Africa with Jan Van Riebeeck in 1652, however its stronghold was with the missionaries. Colonisation was the beginning of the end for many African cultural traditions and religious beliefs. Europeans and their missionaries built schools and churches, and encouraged - or in some cases, forced - South Africans to convert to Christianity and colonial ideals. When South Africans could not fight this new culture, their culture was grievously altered.

South Africa is known as the rainbow nation due to is large variety of culture and religion. Although the constitution protects the freedom of religion, we can’t deny that colonial power has negatively impacted ancient culture and tradition. The Nguni, Xhosa, and Zulu tribes way of life and heritage was passed down from the elders to the youth. Culture and tradition were continued through the telling of stories and myths, forming the identity of many cultural groups. Community is extremely important in cultures such as that of the Zulus, in some cases, separation from ones community was considered worse that death. When the Western invaders arrived with their Christian ideals, they slowly broke down communities connections to each other and their religions. How can children attending Christian schools

Religious power changed hands when Western Christianity arrived in Africa. Image sourced from: www.crosscatholicblog.com or being forced to attend catholic churches not become conflicted and revert to following the Christian and Western ideals? “Almost all Protestant missionaries viewed all native customs and traditions with abhorrence” says Hoschele. When the people in power view a culture as barbaric, people are going to change and adapt in order to survive.

The Zulu culture is based predominantly on their link to their ancestors and the natural order of life,

relating physically and psychologically to the environment. The forces of nature are seen as a result of natural causes or sorcery. In Christianity, sorcery is viewed as evil or the devil’s work and dismisses its existence. The Zulu religion is based on a strong connection with one’s ancestors rather one single God. Unlike Christianity they follow more than one deity such as uMuelingangi (their main God) and Ikosazan (a female God who supplies rain and fertile crops). When crops fail to grow or people become sick, the

Zulu’s consult iZangomas (spiritual healers) to consult with the ancestors, and find a cure. Practices such as these are viewed as vulgar within the radical Christian Community. Susan Wiley states, “ the idea of the Sangoma is why African cultures will never succeed, only God can save us and only those who follow God Will be saved.” Radicals such as this isolate African cultures and ridicule their beliefs making it impossible for South Africa to express is freedom in the many religions and cultures that make up its society.

Colonial power and religions such as Christianity still hold the power today and continue to negatively impact traditional African culture and religion. This is not to say that Christianity is wrong, for it is still an important culture. However, it is time for us to stand up to radical Christians who openly protest against African cultures. In doing so, all South Africans might have the chance to reclaim their cultures and traditions that have been lost, oppressed or forgotten.

Ubufazi and Motherhood are feministic tools

By Sisipho Ntsabo

The public dialogue on the Lihle Ngcobozi’s Master research paper: uMama woManyano nguMfazi presents the argument that ubufazi and motherhood is a multiplex, understanding expressing different cultural and political meanings.

“ooMama boManyano have differentiated being umfazi and being a woman as two different things,” said Ngcobozi. Her findings are based on interviews from 17 members of the Methodist Church Women’s Manyano organisation in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

On 10 August, Rhodes University invited students and lectures to discuss ubufazi outside the predominant Western, feministic discourse that labels womanhood as oppressive.

“The missionaries decided that the only way for a black woman to be visible is through instilling idea of Victorian womanhood…values of domestication,” said Ngcobozi, unpacking the history of the Methodist church .

The nature of apartheid shifted the Methodist church into highly politicized and activism agenda spaces. The progression of dismantling restrictive Victorian womanhood ideals resulted in the transformation of ooMama boManyano organisation.

The panel consisted of Ngcobozi, Rector of College of Transfiguration Reverend Dr Vicentia Kgabe and Honours Candidate Tandokazi Silosini to analyse and discuss the sociopolitical role of ooMama boManyano in post-democratic South Africa.

The paper Ubufazi and Motherhood for Methodist Manyano highlights the duality in African feminism and the church.

Reverend Dr Vicentia Kgabe speaks on the activism of the Methodist Church Photo by Sisipho Ntsabo

Ubufazi becomes the intersectionality of different identities that a woman carries, not her physical make-up

or marriage. Premised on seniority, motherhood is thus the spiritual connection of mothering, more than it is the restriction of the biological reproduction.

‘With white feminist thought, you will always look at things in hierarchy or dualistically, oppressiveness. There is a lot of activism within ooMama boManyano, a lot of subtle resistance in resisting patriarchy. It is very important for black feministic thought” commented Silosini on the importance of ooMama boManyano in reclaiming in the gospel.

The discussion by the audience and the panel challenged academia requirements of the use of Western tools and theories in explaining black lived experiences. It is crucial in not only analysing the work of black women in our community, but understanding adaptation and reclamation of religion in Southern Africa from Western missionary ideals.

The Art of Reclaiming Culture

By Sipho Monakali

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n the call for reclaiming culture, it is important that the focus is in inspecting the historical consciousness of South Africa. It becomes clear that the concept “forgetting to remember” is fast becoming a persistent element in our country’s psyche.

An article by David Lowenthal’s “The past of the future” best describes and captures the lack of interest of South Africans towards their history when he says that in recent years, there has been a retreat from engagement with many aspects of the past. He suggests that this reveals an unwillingness to contend with the future.

His conclusion describes how the past remains integral to us, individually and collectively, assimilated in ourselves, and resurrected into an ever-changing present.

Perhaps the problem is that Africans learn from Western scholarly books and concepts. Therefore it is a priority to create a curriculum of education where there will be African concepts and knowledge. Africans are described as children of the soul but claim to be uprooted and therefore have been put in foreign ideologies and foreign cultural aspects.

Reclaiming culture means the unearthing or rehabilitation of the cultural identity of Africans, which colonialism not only belittled but almost demolished. Colonialism has influenced the reshaping and geographical, social and cultural identities around the world.

The colonial powers targeted to erase the memory of African cultures, this means destroying books, heritage, history and all that these people stand for. They then have a new version of the people’s books, culture and eventually a new history. Eventually, the nation starts to forget what it is and what it was. The world around it will forget even faster. Kundera wrote in his book that “The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetfulness” When people assert a particular identity – cultural, religious, racial or any other identity

– we should perhaps pay attention. Race and racial distinctions have not simply disappeared in culture or identity. The point of research into how cultures are developing, evolving, being (re)claimed, (re)stored and defended in post-apartheid South Africa is to understand how people are redefining themselves and what this means for the country’s multicultural and social cohesion projects.

If South Africans are equal today, it is in the fact that all groups and communities are similarly caught up in finding a space of belonging in the uncertainty and yet immense possibility that the postapartheid condition has to offer for them.

We need to understand profoundly what lies behind the movements of decolonisation and liberation of a black person from the system.

The past cannot be escaped or changed but the important thing is to learn about the past. We do not only learn about where we as a country come from but we learn about things we have missed and as such we can be able to create a future where we know our true identity and be able to embrace it.

Image sourced from Dreamstime.com

“Reclaiming culture means the unearthing or rehabilitation of the cultural identity of Africans.”

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Middle class black children have been moving to former white schools since 1994

Photo by Sisipho Ntsabo

Assimilation versus integration in education policies

By Sisipho Ntsabo

U

nder the guise of neatness and uniformity, school policies in South Africa reflect evidence of forced assimilation and rejection of “non-white” culture in primary and secondary schools. Assimilate, adjust, adapt or be othered.

The topic at hand in universities like Rhodes University and University of Pretoria speak about decolonising the curriculum, or changing language policies to accommodate other cultures and languages. Yet, one fails to understand why we should accommodate other Nguni languages in post-democratic South Africa. Should it not already be integrated? It has been 23 years.

Following the change that came about in 1994, many middle class, people of colour (POC) moved to former white schools for “better education”.

But at what cost? In his paper named Education in Crisis: Thoughts of a New South Africa, Dr. Neville Alexander argues that although there was an emphasis on racial inequity in 1996, there has been a failure of understanding the complexities and the manifestation of those complexities when it comes to race.

In 2016, black girls at Pretoria Girls High School rightfully protested for the removal of the exclusionary school code of conduct that simply highlighted forced assimilation to Eurocentrism. Black girls’ whose afros, dreadlocks and natural hair are too ‘wild’ should straighten their hair because neatness is measured against whiteness.

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Ra’essa Pather presents the argument other than the “it is just hair,” narrative, and says, “It is the protection of white standards at the expense of black identity,”. Precisely. These school’s code of conduct and policies are rooted in accommodating black students, not integrating them. Accommodating, until blackness can no longer immerse itself and claims its own identity.

“Schools are the microcosm of society.

Formerly white schools may have desegregated but their school policy perpetuate forced cultural assimilation and institutional racism.”

Schools are the microcosm of society. Formerly white schools may have desegregated but their school policy perpetuate forced cultural assimilation and institutional racism. School stakeholders such as teachers, claim, what Professor Saloshna Vandeyar calls “colour blindness”. That means teachers vow that they do not see colour.

Vandeyar perfectly responds to this by saying that “It is a perspective that objectively serves to hide institutionalized racism or discriminatory attitudes in desegregated schools.”

The problem lies in the mere fact that black students (the umbrella term) should not have to be accommodated as if they are strangers in their own country. They should be on equal footing. The very school code of conducts and policies are discriminatory. They are exclusionary. They are Western influenced.

The South African policy aims to avoid creating a single overriding culture through the uniform assimilation of cultures. As a black female who is often categorised under the single stories of blackness or femaleness, I understand how a single story of your culture or race can override your own narrative.

I often look back at how necessary it was for me to assimilate in white spaces, to survive.

Yet, because school is like your second parent, feelings of humiliation and anger arise when one gets out of the secondary school phase. Let us be careful of not breeding feelings of anger or resentment from children who were oppressed and denied freedom of not expression, but being their natural selves in school.

Afric I m w

Race in South Africa is the great divide. The one factor that is examined and discussed endlessly no matter what topic the discussion began with. Race and racism within South Africa does need to be discussed, as with any problem, in order for there to be a solution (to the racism, not race). When these discussions take place they can eventually lead to the question, one which people everywhere will debate, both with points that will serve them to believe they are right about the matter. The question of whether white people are African at all, and if only black people can be truly African.

There are many traps to fall into and tangents to follow when one discusses a question such as this. History may be brought up, white people didn’t want to be African until very recently, and the fact that whites only really started buying into being an African when it stop being associated with slavery. These points, while convincing, do still not stop the fact of a clear definition. The dictionary’s definition goes as follows; “Noun: African - A native or inhabitant of Africa.” Since we have established the definition of an African perhaps we should also define what a native is. “Noun: native - 1. A person born in a particular place or country. 2. An indigenous person who was born in a particular place”.

Two sides of an argument that would both convince an everyday, reasonable person to either side.

However, this question requires more than simply looking back at the past meaning of ‘African’, or discussing the definitions of what a word means in order to convince someone that I am from a certain area.

In order to solve the question, one must simply ask what it means to be an African, right? Should being an African be based on where you

were born, how long your family has been here or what the colour of your skin is?

If we were to buy into the idea of Africanism then it would be wise to define what exactly makes one African.

Surely, it should be defined by how much a person strives to ensure the well-being of their fellow Africans. Should the past, and all racism, oppression and cruelty that comes with it, be allowed to dictate the present? Does it warrant a response of absolute rejection of belonging for all those whose ancestors arrived with colonialism, benefitting off the work of others?

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By Dylan Byrne

These questions make for a complicated explanation then for why all citizens of Africa deserve to be included, even those whose forbearers brought about the destruction of the idea of an individual for all Africans then, and only now is any sort of recovery being seen.

It is not a black and white answer. It is rather a question that will identify with different answers and these will not satisfy many. Does being born in Africa justify your past, and allow you to mark yourself as an African? Is it even possible for a person whose African identity holds in its past the destruction of any true sort of African identity be allowed to lay claim to that which they so vehemently denied for so long.

The true answer is not so easy to attain. Struggles of the past hold back the approach to new problems in the present day.

However, if one wants to see the rise and success of African countries in the future, there is a need for movement. Not forgetting the past, but moving forward to a united and better future. With all of Africa’s people moving together in unity. Toward change.

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IA a m Afric

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