What is your Africa?

By Shaun Matsheza.

image credits to Emory African student association

The Dark Continent, Africa. For many people, the continent of Africa is a distant place only visited through the eyes of journalists, film makers, bloggers and facebook and Flickr posts. It is that wide, vast expanse of savannah, forest and breathtaking tropical sunsets. It is the place where lions roam free, people ride on elephant back and the best place to go on safari.For some, it a forbidding place, a jungle teeming with lurking monsters and primitive tribesmen ready to put the unlucky adventurer into a boiling pot before painting their faces and performing their tribal dance around the fire. It is the vessel of strife, a fertile place for civil wars and  famine, the epitome of all that could go wrong with the human race. Though perhaps made in jest, images like this one ,

image source obscure

tend to perpetuate the images which exist about Africa. However, for some people, Africa is home. It is not home only for those people who were born there, or those that live there. It is not only home for those people who have visited there, or those who have met people from Africa. Africa, is home to all those people who count it as home.

The diverse beauty of the African continent, its rich milieu of different vibrant cultures and its assorted climates and landscapes, mean that it has meaning in many different ways for many different people. On the 25th of May, 2011, the occasion of the 48th anniversary of the formation of the Organization of African Unity, the precursor to the African Union. We would like YOU, to tell us what YOUR africa is. What is your experience of the African continent? Was is that beautiful sunset that had you breathless in Morocco? Was it the smell of the savannah  or the distinct night sky on a night out camping? Perhaps it was the feeling of awe you felt when you stood at the Victoria Falls, the serenity of the Serengeti, the funny accent of the taxi guy in Johannesburg, the busy hustling of Lagos, the african friend in your class, that hot african girl or guy you've had your eye on, a book you read about something in Africa,the warmth of the welcome you got in that small village in Uganda, the smell of home cooking on the fire, the spellbinding dancing, the hypnotic music, the mosquitoes, the mouthwatering food, the strange food, the  little children playing on the streets, the poverty, the very feeling of being on AFRICA. Whatever it was, we want to know. Here is your opportunity to tell us what captures Africa for you. This will be a collective writing effort in which you contribute your own small piece to the conversation about this mystified continent.

image credit to madmikesamerica.com

So, how do you make a contribution? All you need to do is post a succinct snippet of something that defined your own experience of the African continent. It could be a short anecdote (preferably), a joke, a poem you came across, a quotation, a song, movie, or anything that you feel connects you to Africa. On the 25th of May, we will be celebrating Africa day, and your contributions will also make it your Africa day. Start writing, and tell us  your story. Share the African experience!  For a start, here's my own Africa.

Lobengula West (Home)

It’s a small four roomed house

Not much different than those around it

Bright maroon stoep around it

Small black band at the base. 

Anassuming, but there nonetheless

Present.

Treasure trove of many memories.

the place

the first place

Called home but worth more than four letters

Tears, joy, pain and other type monsters we face.

Memories, or narratives, 

Perhaps narrativised memory

places me in all rooms

young, bright eyed

Dad was there.

Mulberry tree 

Broken arm

Timmy and Try

The monster in the telephone pole

unfruitful avocado tree

Sweet potato farm

Bitter oranges 

Which sometimes we’d try

to sweeten with stolen sugar

I grew up here,

If I ever did.

Saw the world from a mountain’s view

High, up there

In more ways than one

Remember Mawaba 

Getting hit by Teacher Malaba

Battles on the microphone

Somewhere near Konron

Psycho4nix!

Q was here.

It’s the place of fumes and smoke

Where a man’s honor is no joke

the place of killing

But perhaps, the centre of healing?

Place I’m from, cannot denounce

Here’s a tip, help you pronounce

Think of a mat, a bell and land

Place I’m from

Mats, bells and land have no meaning

But to help you say;

This is where Shaun is born.

Mqabuko was here.

Stone is silent, But stone is strong

A house of stone can be strong

Though not violent

Perceive we seem silent

but we are not Blind

Brief message for your minute mind

What is Zimbabwe 

But us?

Zimbabwe is me

And I am Zimbabwe.

Freedom was here.

East of the west

And West of the East

Somewhere.

But where?

Place where I’m from.

I have been all man

Mother and father of them

Your future

I am.

Today freedom is born to the North

Like three wise men

The star we will follow.

We are the birth of civilization

And it’s rebirth

 The birth of Freedom

And it’s reassertion 

We are Africa

By Shaun Matsheza