Of apartheid, Africa’s leaders, and mass illiteracy • Reading for a positive change
It is dawning on many that the persistently high rate of illiteracy and mass poverty across Africa is man-made. The deprivation results from the subconscious minds of many African leaders – both political and traditional - who benefit coyly but directly from an illiterate population not sufficiently exposed to be critical thinkers to question the status quo. As a historical example, the suppressive apartheid mindset feared that, “If I help the African, what would happen to me?” But the true leader would ask, “If I don’t help them, what will happen to them?”
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The Soweto uprising of June 16, 1976 was a children’s protest against an inferior education. One of the survivors remarked that, “Our whole education system is a big lie. Because it is a system that tells you that certain people must be rich and others must be poor, and if people are poor, it must be your own fault.” Another said, “they wanted us to believe [that] nobody can change the system as it is”.
It seemed that from the apartheid era to today, Africa’s leadership tends to believe that “they” are the superior beings and the ruled are inferior; and that it is “they” who are destined to have and possess the best of everything even at the cost of the progress of the nations they govern. It’s worth remembering a remark by Casely-Hayford in 1925: “there can really be no co-operation between inferiors and superiors … the elements of superiority will seek to dictate, and the inferior ones will resent such dictation. It logically follows, therefore, that unless an honest effort is made to raise the inferior up to the prestige of the superior [all talk] is so much empty gas …”
Most powerful weapon
Though Casely-Hayford was alluding to the colonial government, how so true it is today across Africa! What a relief it was then when the iconic Nelson Mandela remarked that “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Last Saturday ( May 7, 2016) was a day to be celebrated. The Association International School, Accra, hosted “The Undiscovered Author Book Fair”. The fair showcased a reading anthology of short stories published by children from age 13. The following passages are extracts from the anthology with the students’ names and schools. As William Shakespeare would say: “Action is eloquence … Things won are done; joy’s soul lies in the doing.” Enjoy the fictional blossoms from Ghana’s own children:
“Opanin smiled gratefully at them and went with them into a hut which contained a lot of fetishes. He took out some strange-looking bottles, muttered some chants and before the children could say jack, they were standing at the mouth of a thick, dark forest. Nana Kojo was about to ask what they were supposed to do when all of a sudden, spears appeared in their hands. The children were even more confused until they saw weird creatures which were half human, half lion running towards them.” (From: The Missing Jewels by Akpene Yankson, Christ the King International School.)
“Whiles Joey was talking, Greg, being brave for once, took the photo from me and tore it and he also took the camera and destroyed it. We all thought it was the end. However, it slowly repaired itself. This time Joey, the big and muscular one, took the camera and went to the longest creek they could find. He threw it inside. There were also some huge crocodiles. One large crocodile came and accidentally bit the button. All the crocodiles were in the picture. Suddenly, there was a pool of blood. There were no crocodiles found there again.” (From The Evil Camera by Joel Ofori; Alpha Beta Education Centres.)
“Visiting the gardens with beautiful flowers always made Princess Jenna very happy. She liked to visit all kinds of flower gardens but her favourite one was the Garden of Sika. On a sunny morning in Akatamanso, she decided to go to the Garden of Sika and she thought of all the friends she could invite to share her day with.
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“The Garden of Sika was a very beautiful place filled with lots and lots of flowers. Different kinds of flowers with so many colours, some were yellow, red, purple, white, orange; all kinds of wonderful colours. Visiting the garden made Princess Jenna very excited and she would dress especially with one of her favourite dresses with all the flowers and bright colours on it. The Garden of Sika is a special place that special people go to, to see all kinds of plants and wild flowers.” (From: The Magical Flower Garden by Jennifer Yankson; Espo Best Child School.)
“As I sit here on this chair, drowned by a strange sense of comfort and sadness, the moon as my only source of light, I feel like a ship unsunk by all the waves thrown at me. I turn and survey the room and a picturesque scene unfolds around me. Wow! I’ve come a long way from the one room self-contained that I used to live in. My room is a clear picture of opulence. A soft ruby rug is in the middle of the room. A huge canopy bed dominates all space. A large couch at one corner has multiple throw pillows flung on it. The highlight of the room, however, is a huge LED TV and a chandelier with multiple crystals.” From: Always and Forever by Charity Apreku & Jackie Buba; Tema International School.)
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