Rise Africa! The sleeping lion

Former president Thabo Mbeki’s, “I am an African” speech, motivated and inspired me to be proud of my African lineage, and to contribute to reviving Africa’s forgotten splendour. The saying, ‘it began in Africa’ is actually true as the discovery of the Sediba fossils and Pangea verifies this. With everyone ranting about doomsday nowadays, even Hollywood movies such as 2012 portray Africa as the lone survivor should a global apocalypse occur, as if subliminally saying, ‘Africa shall conquer again.’ But is this possible?

Today, nostalgic historians boast about advanced ancient African civilizations but ignore Africa’s current state. Africa has atrophied from majestic kingdoms to a poverty-stricken land stooped in stupefying religions and witchcraft. Ululating sangoma’s can’t cast a spell to produce carbon free energy and missionaries don’t preach economics.

New Age African journalists should be entirely secular and not politically aligned. Instead, we must focus primarily on science and technology (sci-tech) writing, proposing Africans let go of mysticism and rather try to understand how sci-tech can solve Africa’s problems. A New Age Religion perhaps? Here are several examples…

Africa has the world’s highest AIDS rate. Instead of relying on muti, I’ll elaborate how nanotechnology can cure diseases and people could live longer life spans without getting sick.

There’s an abundance of sunlight and wind but Africa lacks technical knowledge to create solar panels or windmills to produce electricity. Did you know that with thermonuclear energy alone, Africa could produce enough global electricity for at least 100 000 years?

Cloning, GM foods and hydroponics allows food to be grown all year round instead of seasonally. The abundance would drastically reduce food prices and foster environmental preservation. Endangered species could be cloned reviving them from near extinction.

Genesis says ‘go forth and multiply,’ but Africans should understand overpopulation is the source of poverty. For shacks to disappear, governments should impose sterilization of women in slums after one child. Professional abortion clinics should be opened. Strict laws should be passed restricting the amount of children per family and family planning should become a compulsory school subject.

SA is experiencing a shortage of skilled personnel in the sci-tech sector, and the Hip2bSquare campaign is meant to bolster math and science literacy. As long as elders continue imposing primitive tribal beliefs instead of encouraging youth to pursue sci-tech, Hip2bSquare will be futile. Governments should launch a cultural revolution like China did, purging outdated beliefs halting technological innovation.

New Age African journalists should combine sharp writing and photography skills to simplify the most complex technology to simple English. We should encourage youth to pursue sci-tech careers because this is where solutions for Africa’s suffering can be found. Africa was a continent of light in ancient history and my dream is to be the light bearer bringing enlightenment back to the Dark Continent. The innovative gene that designed the pyramids lies dormant in every African; it is time to awake the sleeping lion.