What Is That In Your Hand?

Realizing Africa’s Potential

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We need to ask ourselves, is it true that Africans are incompetent? Do they really lack the resources to develop their own continent? Is it true that Africa’s problems can only be solved by non-Africans? Africans sometimes feel like Moses felt in the wilderness when God called him to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian bondage: useless and inadequate. But God made it clear to him that he had enough resources to do the job. He asked Moses what was in his hand; Moses’ reply was "a staff." That staff became the symbol of God’s power and it was used to do many things in connection with the Israelites’ deliverance. Moses did not recognize the power of what he was holding. God showed him that he was expected to use what he had rather than what he did not have. If he did, God would bless him by enabling him to bring deliverance to his people.

This article is meant as an encouragement to my fellow Africans to accept the reality that we are holding something powerful, something to be excited about, in our own hands. We do not have all, but we have something. If we can truly believe this, things are bound to happen. International resources will always be welcome and in fact appreciated, but will not be a prerequisite for igniting development (by which I mean comprehensive development and not just economic development).

When African leaders keep looking to Western institutions such as IMF, the World Bank and the like as their only hope, then the African continent is doomed to more suffering. This slavish attitude is a major factor in Africa’s social, political and economic crises. This is not meant to downplay the role of such Western institutions in Africa’s development but is meant as a warning that Africans need to beware of what is good and what is not good for them.

As we focus on Africa’s problems and the solutions to them, we need to examine the Western attitude toward Africa, its concept of development and the driving force behind this concept. But first, let us consider what Africans are doing to curb their own problems.

1. Is it true that Africans are doing nothing?

Africans are repeatedly told "not to wait for the West." Is it true that Africans are waiting for the West to do the job for them? At face value this may appear so, but the reality is quite different. Africans are busy solving their own problems. The most fundamental problem is that, unlike their Western friends, they do not keep records of what they are doing. Therefore, when they are asked to show what they have accomplished, they have nothing to point to; consequently, the erroneous conclusion is that they are doing nothing.

Secondly, Africa is faced with a huge diversity of problems, some of which are more fundamental than others. Because Africans are not seen solving the fundamental problems, it is always assumed they are doing nothing. For instance, a peasant African family which sees its fundamental duty as that of feeding the family will sell all its labour to ensure that food is found. No one keeps a record of where the food is found and when, but the reality is that most of the family members are up by 5:00 a.m., returning to their homes late in the day with the daily food supply. This is the trend and this group forms the majority of the African population. However, the major media (internet, newspapers, TV and radio) do very little in reporting this African initiative. Although it is real news, it is not News to them. A peasant woman carrying wood and water from a far distance is considered newsworthy only when a Women’s Liberation Movement needs a case concerning the oppression of women.

Thirdly, since the media is controlled by the West, it is little wonder that it gives far more press to Western initiatives than to any African initiatives. Details considered newsworthy in newsletters that reach us from the West often seem to us just a joke. To Africans, birthday celebrations and announcements about newborns are not news; here, there are many children whose parents don’t even keep track of their birthdays. The arrival of a newborn is often just an additional problem rather than a cause for celebration.

Consider this specific case: In a village known as Karara in the Kitale area of Kenya, a makeshift bridge was damaged, causing the villagers many problems. Luggage would drop into the overflowing river, and in some especially unfortunate instances, donkeys ferrying luggage would drown. The bridge was the only gateway to the market and to other essential services; its damage caused the villagers much distress. This never featured as news. One gentleman—a product of the village and a hard-working fellow—saw the fate of his villagers and was touched. He took it upon himself to motivate his friends to help the villagers build a better bridge. He succeeded in raising good support; and a permanent bridge which even supports light vehicles was erected. Up to the time of this article, this story never became "news." But suppose this had been done by an NGO—especially a Western NGO. In that case, it would certainly have hit media headlines.

Even on a larger scale, Western media commonly ignore African initiatives. A striking example is the recent major breakthroughs in blood screening technology for hepatitis B and HIV and the development of an effective, inexpensive treatment for the herpes virus developed by African scientists at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). These have been recognised by competent medical scientists in the developed world as cutting edge technological breakthroughs but have attracted little, if any, attention in the Western media.

Perhaps it is because this media silence has left him ignorant of the African potential that Bill Gates, of Microsoft, announced that he was providing substantial funding to Western pharmaceutical companies to develop new medical solutions for African health problems. While this may or may not help Africa, it will certainly further enrich the already rich Western societies. Had he funded an African body such as KEMRI, the solutions found would have been more appropriate to Africa and would, at the same time, have aided Africa’s economic development.

Fourthly, African initiatives are not covered in the media because of the commercial nature of the media. The media reflects news that will sell. Anything that does not sell has no meaning in the modern institutionalised commercial market. John White captures it well when he talks of masses being induced toward certain products not because of their quality or usefulness but simply for the profit to the manufacturer (Money Isn’t God, p. 47). The question today is not "What is the value of this?" but "How well does it sell?" This is another reason why Africans are perceived as doing nothing and only waiting upon the West. It is an arrogant perception, outrageous and untrue. Africans may not be doing as much as they could, but they are doing a great deal.

Finally, the media regularly portray Africa as a place of gloom and doom. People outside the continent seldom hear anything positive about Africa (van der Walt, Transformed, p. 94). Instead, Africa is portrayed as a sick, starved, bleeding and crippled continent crying for help from the West day after day (Ndungu, "Urumwe Spirituality," p.262).

A major study of the pattern of news reporting of developing countries by Western news media conducted by the French organisation Commission Coopération Développement (1992) was conclusive on two important issues in relation to Africa:

1. Africa is the only region in which no discrimination is made between different regions or countries. Reporting gives the impression that bad things happening in one African country are typical of all of Africa.

2. The overwhelming bulk of news reports on Africa focus on negative events while the many positive developments are rarely reported.

This pattern of biased reporting applied to no other region in the developed world.

We thank God that some Western communities have come to consider Africans as counterparts. They have come to understand that Africa may have something that is lacking in the West and that Africa could actually be seen as a resource centre. Such people perceive Africans not as beggars but as people who have something to offer the West. They know that African value is not found in the market or in the media, but within the real people with whom they work and intermingle.

2. A critical analysis of the West

It is completely naive to suppose that Africans do not need any support from outside to develop their own continent, but it is equally unreasonable to accept without question anything coming from the West. It is even difficult to critique the Western concept in the fear of sounding and being branded as reactionary or looking naive. In this article, a sober way of critically evaluating the Western concept will begin with an appeal to the work of those in the West. Bob Goudzwaard, in Globalization and the Kingdom of God, indicates how difficult it may be to critique the Western concept. He says:

Stuart Fowler, on the other hand, notes a disturbing situation of flawed development in the West. He observes that a complete development must provide a social environment which promotes human well-being in all its dimensions. A careful examination of the West indicates a failure in this. Glowing pictures of economic prosperity with everyone having access to a glittering array of consumer products are presented as typical. The problems of deprivation appear, at best, as footnotes, commonly with the implication that they are due primarily to flaws in the individuals concerned. (Fowler, p. 81)

He further notes the myth and reality of today’s developed society, which is fundamentally flawed because of the flawed belief system that supports it. The belief system he observes rests on two fundamental premises: that economic prosperity, evidenced in ever-increasing market consumption, is the basis for human well-being; and that economic prosperity is secured by social policies that give priority to the interest of a self-regulating market. This is typical of ideological capitalism—to be distinguished from capitalism as simply a way of ordering economic relations in society. This then is viewed by Fowler not as a way of organising economic relations but as a religious faith defining the meaning of life in secular language. Rejecting the two fundamental premises of ideological capitalism, Fowler observes that without some form of guidance, we cannot expect market mechanisms to deliver good outcomes.

Fowler rejects the argument that the above social policies are adopted in the interests of increased prosperity for commercial interest to increase prosperity for everyone, on the ground that all the evidence is that wealth consistently flows to the top (both within a country, and internationally between the already rich countries of the West)—contradicting the "trickle-down" effect—the myth that increased wealth at the top trickles down to the poorest in the society (Fowler, p. 82, 83)

Fowler is not alone in this. Goudzwaard observes that financial flow is concentrated in the Western hemisphere even though many pressing economic needs are evident in the South and East. In citing the World Investment Report of UNCTAD (1999), he indicates that 91% of the worldwide foreign direct investment flows to the United States, Europe and Japan, while the poorest and most indebted nations receive scarcely any benefit. A remarkable phenomenon is the unequal balance between the "real sphere" and the "financial sphere" in the international economy. Only 5% of international money is used for the purpose of buying and selling of goods and service in the real sphere. The other 95% is used for purely financial transactions (Goudzwaard, p. 23)

The perception of Africa as a continent of doom leaves the impression that the West is heaven on earth. It is not always recognised as having serious problems of its own. Africans need to be aware of the problems in the West so that they may appreciate that they are not cursed by God. Citing various sources, Stuart Fowler establishes a list of problems in connection with the West:

Though sustained economic growth has made developed countries richer, there is a significant gap between the rich and the poor in the West. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in the United States — published in The Economist (December 20, 1997) shows that the income of the poorest 20% of people in the United States had declined by 21% while the income of the richest 20% had increased by 30%.

Serious and growing health problems directly associated with development have been reported in developed societies, according to the World Health Organization Reports (1997 and 1998). They point out that though infectious diseases are well under control in the developed societies, other chronic diseases directly associated with the lifestyles of these countries are a major threat to human well-being in those societies. Such diseases include cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and low back pain, among others. A report by the World Health Organization shows that mental disorders like depression, schizophrenia and dementia are also rife.

This is a worldwide problem whose basic causes, according to the World Health Organization, are closed related to social conditions associated with modern developed society.

With the increasing wealth of developed societies, one would expect that care is given high priority, but actually the opposite is true. Care is given the lowest priority. This is the "paradox of care" as observed by Goudzwaard and de Lange in their critique of orthodox economic theory. Since labour given to care is considered "transductive labour"—that is, labour that does not have market value—the trend towards commercialization of care and reduced public support of activities of care is also evident in the developed Western societies. Care is only available to those who can afford it.

Closely related with paradox of care, Goudzwaard and de Lange also speak of the "paradox of labour." We find in developed societies significant levels of unemployment on the one hand, and an urgent and increasing need for labour on the other hand. The World Health Organization (1998, p.136) reports that unemployment in developed societies is much higher now than it was in 1950-1970. Coupled with this is the dilemma that many people are seeking full-time employment but all that is available is part-time employment (Fowler, p. 75-80).

The purpose of enumerating these problems is to show that Africa and other developing countries are not unique; problems are everywhere and in fact Western societies have some problems of even higher magnitude. It should encourage Africans to know that problems are not a barrier to prosperity if prosperity is understood in proper terms. Secondly, Africans need to be well aware that moving to the West will not mean moving to a problem-free zone. Many unsuspecting Africans who emigrate to the West become prey to these problems—particularly drug abuse and even mental disorders. The fact that those in the West have not given up in the midst of their problems should be an encouragement to Africans that they too can make it in the midst of their multiple problems.

3. What has gone wrong with Africans

As Africans try to handle their own problems, they often operate with a total ignorance or disregard for the African culture and world view. Developing and understanding the African world view is thought to be tedious and unnecessary. Preoccupation with the secularised Western culture has eclipsed efforts to reflect on the importance of the African world view. Hasty solutions adopted from Western culture are imposed on Africa. Africans accept the deception that their problems will overtake them if they take the time to develop their own world view; thus they fall prey to adopting any solution easily available. The African problem is already a big one, but half-baked solutions only add to the problem. There are no short cuts in trying to establish solutions. This means that we must at all costs understand ourselves within our unique context, and from that vantage point we must address our problems. This is impossible unless we understand our culture and world view.

BJ van der Walt, speaking on culture and world view, observes that culture includes our ordinary attitudes, customs, behaviour, values, beliefs, institutions, etc. It is not necessarily acquired by (formal) education, nor is it reserved for a specific sector of the population. Every human being is a cultural being. Culture is our "frame of reference" for human thought and conduct. We are hardly aware of it; it is like the air we breathe. We are programmed by our own culture, and become aware of it when something goes awry or when we encounter people of other cultures (van der Walt, Transformed, p. 49).

A world view is our perspective on created reality, an indication of our place in the world in which we have to fulfil our cultural task, the direction of which is provided by the will (laws) of something or someone regarded as our absolute authority in life. A world view functions like a map, providing orientation; like a compass, it gives direction from a deep religious commitment (van der Walt, Transformed, p. 58)

It is unthinkable that solutions for Africa will ever be found without due respect for culture and world view. This calls for hard work, but it is certainly not impossible. We will succeed if we put our minds to it and when we stop accepting half-baked solutions. This paper will not develop in detail the concept of culture and world view, but intends only to point to their importance and to warn that disregard of them is to our own peril.

There are huge changes taking place in the social, economic and religious dimensions of our world today. Adjustment to these changes, however, is not happening with equal speed. This means that as Africa tries to work out its solutions it faces an even harder task. Most people find themselves working on policies that are already outdated given the contemporary setting. Institutions of learning find themselves working on curricula that do not address the current issues. Most Christian colleges are working with curricula established by missionaries in the early part of the last century. The slavish commitment to such curricula produces graduates who are already out of date before they begin.

Conversely, those who are educated outside the African context feel like fish out of water when they return to Africa. A recent conversation with a colleague in the US demonstrates how frustrating this can be. Here is a person who studied at a higher educational institution in the US and is now working there. But when she first tried to return to her own country, she felt like a misfit. She met strange things in offices, streets filled with potholes and hawkers everywhere. She couldn’t wait to board the plane and get back to the US. She feels more at home in America where she has acquired citizenship, than in her own country where she is a citizen by birth. These sentiments do not surprise me because I study, live and work in that environment. This does not mean, however, that all those studying and working outside this continent have an inferior grasp of what is taking place in Africa. Given the internet and other media services, combined with good interaction with issues at the grass-roots level, some outside this continent have a better grasp of the contemporary situation than those in the continent. Whether living here or elsewhere, all serious-thinking Africans (and particularly those in the Christian community) need to work hard in order to make sense of our contemporary situation.

The continent of Africa can be compared to a mother who bore the labour and birth pains of her children only to be abandoned later by them when they were of age and she was ailing in her final years. Africa has produced exceptional professionals who have exhausted her resources but are now benefiting other continents. Most of these professionals have escaped to avoid the frustrations and hard political and socio-economic conditions of their own countries. Some have been lured by Western luxuries. Our continent is writhing in pain for lack of professionals despite the fact that it has produced all types of professionals. Africa is eagerly waiting to see the integration between what has been learned and the realities on the ground. This is difficult given the prevalence of brain drain.

Whereas brain drain is perceived as a major problem, the problem will not be automatically solved by the academic community remaining in the continent. Most academic communities exist in an academic Island. There is very little interaction between what goes on in the academic community and non-academic circles. The non-academic community interacts with the academic community only at the level of professional consultations—for example, when seeking medical or legal help, or when buying services such as insurance. A healthy relationship—where the non-academic community has input in academic circles and vice versa—is not evident in our continent. The result is that the contributions of the academic community meet with resistance from the non-academic community. Conversely, the academic community views with disrespect any initiatives that come from the non-academic community. In Kenya, for instance, the polio vaccine was rejected in some rural areas because it was interpreted as a sinister attempt by the government to wipe out some communities. This was because the two communities rarely interact except in such professional activities.

When these two communities remain alienated, opportunists take advantage. This is not uncommon in Africa. For instance, resistance to the polio vaccine in some parts of Kenya was the result of some street preachers who misled their communities by raising the alarm with regard to the government’s effort to save its own people from the deadly disease. There are people who are suffering because professional advice or a service was hampered by opportunists. Some people have fallen prey to destructive faiths because the opportunity for a better alternative was obstructed by opportunists. All of these situations are worsened by the gap between the academic and the non-academic community.

My first experience of air travel is a good example of this point. It took some time before I could be convinced to choose Kenya Airways. In our culture, we are brought up to disdain local products. I had never believed that Kenya Airways could offer attractive services. For this reason, I wanted another airline, assuming that since it was not a Kenyan airline, it had to be better. But since our agent was not dealing with South African Airways, I was forced to opt for Kenya Airways. My travel turned out to be most enjoyable and I later heard from someone who had used both airways, who told me there was no comparison.

Local initiatives lack support for two main reasons. Firstly, local initiatives are despised by the locals themselves (as evident from my airline story). Locals tend to look down on initiatives by their fellow countrymen and almost worship the foreigners’ initiatives. Secondly, foreign support for Africa tends to give preference to programmes that fit foreign objectives. This means that if Africa and other third world countries want fit in with the western support organizations, their objectives must be shaped by the objectives of those organizations. These two reasons have caused local initiatives to suffer a great deal. This paper seeks to inspire African pride in local initiatives and celebration of African potential.

It is worthwhile to identify several frustrations brought about by the status quo:

Firstly, we think of the psychological frustration that results when inferior work receives maximum support because it supports the status quo, while superior work, done with a proper focus, misses out on such support. It is painful that those who offer work of inferior quality know how to play their cards well. They are able to attract the masses because they do not threaten the status quo; the masses are unfortunately ignorant of the way they are being enslaved. As a result, those who attempt quality work sometimes give up in frustration, and allow their work to degenerate to satisfy the status quo. Most African leaders have had this experience at one time or another.

Secondly, we have the frustration of those who benefit from the status quo. There are many African leaders who are comfortable with the status quo. As long as status quo is maintained, their positions and leadership are maintained. If the status quo is broken, their livelihood is threatened. It is quite absurd that some messes in Africa have become other peoples’ livelihood. Such leaders reap where they have not planted. Unfortunately, whenever active and creative groups attempt to liberate people by challenging the status quo, the beneficiaries of the status quo rise up in arms against them. As is evident from history, reformers do not have it easy. Unfortunately most of us in Africa do not understand this. When such people rise up against attempted reforms, the tendency is for the African reformers to give up and give in—thus furthering the enslaving of the masses. The beneficiaries of the status quo do not recognise the truth that "the higher you go the cooler it becomes." Since it is always hot at the bottom, they are always on the run to defend the status quo in order to maintain their status. As they frustrate others, they inevitably become even more frustrated themselves because at some point the status quo is broken and they find themselves in trouble.

I cite these frustrations to encourage those who have resigned from the reform battle to return to the field in full swing if the status quo enslavement is ever to be tackled. It is also meant as an encouragement: the battle is right and good, and has far-reaching effects. Finally, this is meant to help us understand that to realize Africa’s potential will require overcoming a number of major hurdles.

The African culture is rich in values—values which are being threatened by secularization. There are cultural strands through which reforms and support for African development can be effected without much strain. We think of family ties, for example. A single family fellowship brings together all types of people—people of differing age groups, professions, denominations, sexes, economic abilities and interests. Family gatherings are still viewed with respect, rather than with the selfishness brought about by secularization. Every African member has a ready-made resource group to jumpstart any endeavour he or she tries initiate, because of the rich cultural tradition which promotes family life. John S. Mbiti notes, "For the African peoples the family has a much wider circle of members than the word suggests in Europe or North America. In traditional society, the family includes children, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters who may have their own children and other immediate relatives" (p.106). The household is the smallest unit of the family, consisting of the children, parents and sometimes the grandparents. This is what one may call ‘the family at night,’ for it is generally at night that the household is really itself. The household in Africa is what in European and American societies would be called ‘family’ (Mbiti, p. 107).

Other values implicit in African culture include the nurturing of trust in people. Once honesty has been observed, the African community is satisfied even without the evidence of detailed proposals, pictures and diagrams. We are assured of financial and other essential support within the African community without wasting a great deal of money and time trying to embellish or exaggerate our doings. One might argue that Africans can be abused; but the same is true of western culture. How many of our brothers and sisters from the West are known to exaggerate what they are doing by use of pictures, videos and other uncalled-for diagrams in order to convince others of what they doing when in reality there is nothing on the ground?

In the year 2004, Community Penetration Christian Ministry initiated a farming project. The organization had no money for the project. Established organizations would have required detailed proposals and a lot of explanations, which would have meant waiting a whole year before anything was accomplished. The director of CPCM resorted to sending short e-mails to the African communities in Kenya. In a month’s time, the organization had enough money to do the ground work and few months later there was enough money for the project. At the close of the year, the yield was so good that there was enough money to run the office and carry on with the project for the following year. Once trust is built, there is already an existing base support within the African community to assist any development endeavours. This may sound absurd, but it is a fact waiting to be realized.

We would not speak of brain drain in Africa if there were no brain to be drained. One need only to visit Jua Kali Industries (in Kenya, these are industries operated in open spaces) to realize the brilliant minds that have produced these technologies. Attend to African riddles and proverbs to realize the richness of African wisdom; feel African art to understand the aesthetic brilliance to be found on African soil. In the academic field, Africa has renowned scholars respected in and outside Africa. In this respect, Africa has no shortage of resources; the only problem is that either they are not realized and utilized, or they are misused.

Recently a colleague who has participated in our Kitale Annual Christian Professional Conferences invented a cereal drier which could be used by local farmers. When I interviewed him, he said it was the only one in the District. He observed the farmer’s risk of losing the crops during rainy harvesting periods. This motivated him to invent a portable drier which, in a few hours, could quickly dry the farmer’s whole supply of cereal. This invention solves three problems: first, the unaffordable cost of drying at the cereal boards (resulting in big losses); second, the cost of transport—which most farmers cannot afford; and third, the inconveniences for the farmers (especially those hiring land)—for the cereal can be shelled and dried on-site at the farm and from there can be taken to the market. With this new invention, the farmer can grow the cereals and market them directly from his farm or from the land that he has rented. Africa is not lacking intelligent minds; all that is needed is their realization and utilization.

Africa sits on food, yet cries and dies of starvation; she walks on gold, yet cries of scarcity. It is still a question whether Africa is poor because it is lacking resources or because resources are under-utilized. Is Africa over-populated, or are Africa’s resources under-utilized to sustain her population? Is unemployment, or Africa’s attitude towards employment, the problem? We have cried about Africa’s problem but now it is time to understand that Africa has no problem but the African people. Many people—especially the younger generation—are migrating from the resource areas (rural) to areas with scarce resources (urban). In the cities they become frustrated because they never really find what they went looking for. Often they return to their homes—Africa’s resource areas—in coffins or as sick weaklings because of AIDS, drugs, alcohol, depression and other vices.

We are experiencing a situation where young people leave farms with hundreds or thousands of acres and move to urban areas in search of jobs with earnings of less than US $130 per month. Much of this is spent on paying for the resources they have left at home. We understand their situation; rural life is hostile with a lack of good infrastructure, social amenities, incentives, sanitation and even security. It is unfortunate that we in the scholarly community have led the way for the migration of people away from the resource areas.

The burden of reconstructing a positive image of Africa lies in the hands of Africans themselves! They should not expect the very people from America and Europe who have in the past enslaved and colonized them as well as exploiting their resources to have a change of mind for the better of Africa.

Any attempt by the African elite to run away from mother Africa will not offer a solution. …. It is an outright denial of one’s roots. The solution lies in making one giant leap in the opposite direction and becoming true Africans, proved in their heritage and African personality! (1999, p. 264)

….In the case of Christianity the implication was that the all-encompassing kingdom of God—wide as creation itself—was restricted to only one area, viz. man’s cultic or confessional life viewed as inherently sacred or holy. Or, to turn the statement around: church life was absolutised so that it encompassed the kingdom of God. Such a situation of the Kingdom of God in principle excludes the possibility that His kingdom embraces the whole world. Having tied the Bible, religion and God’s kingdom to the church, one cannot present a genuine biblical witness in other areas of life. (2001, p. 7)

This means that those who are not Africans, but are working with Africans and in Africa, have a four-fold responsibility: firstly, to understand the African world view; secondly, to properly establish their missions, goals and objectives; thirdly, to ensure that their goals, missions and objectives are consistent with the African world view; and fourthly, to ensure that their missions, goals and objectives fit in God’s plan of making disciples to all nations. This will ensure healthy relationships and good stewardship.

Financial assistance is just one aspect of the assistance that is needed for human development; what Africa needs is wholistic development.

Ensure that you are supporting, rather than competing with, local initiatives. We have witnessed the sad situation in Africa that what should be done by locals is being done by expatriates; and even when it is done by the locals it is done in the gumboots (world view) of the West. This is not so because Africans are not competent but because (due to the faults of others) they are not trusted. Our Western brothers and sisters should learn to trust Africans. Africans, on the other hand, should not resent their Western counterparts based on the faults of those who subjected Africans to colonization and slavery. It would be wrong for the Christian community to nurse this sense of mistrust.

On the contrary, we need above everything to emphasize the merits of Jesus Christ and, as one people, to build one another up.

8. Something at hand: Biblical encouragement