Over the years, we have evolved to tell the same story in over 2,000 languages but holding the same interpretation all across the continent. We were born of a continent described by its stunning uniqueness that despite the problems we face every single day ranging from poor infrastructure, to poor political strategies and troubled economic setups, we still find beauty in our overwhelming level of cultural diversity and shade of melanin.
During a 2009 conference in Nigeria, Robert Allan said, “Cultural differences should not separate us from each other but rather cultural diversity brings a collective strength that can benefit all humanity. These words are a clear indication that strength of the African continent, lies not only in the attractive dark shade of melanin in its people but also in the diversity of cultural heritage not forgetting that its unity lies in the integration of its diversity to make a more politically, socially and economically integrated society.
A society where the term “Ubuntu” will be achieved regardless of the geographical location on the continent , where the Zulu and the Ngoni will re write a new tale of history embodied with cooperation, respect and dignity, where the Turkana and the Karamojong will settle and graze animals on the same grounds with no opt for bloodshed , where the Dizi and the Suri of Ethiopia will seat in the same room and share the same meal and where the Hutu and the Tutsi together will describe the new African story.
An African story entailed with love and respect for each others level of uniqueness, where diversity is what unites us as a front of development not a fuel of disunity. Where what we wear and the language we speak are mere words and sounds but what is important is the interpretation of those words not the accent. An African story where we embrace the ideas of our brothers and sisters, where education becomes a fundamental right around the continent where being a Ugandan in a class of Kenyans doesn’t make you a foreigner, where borders no longer determine who we are and what we are supposed to look like, where we sit down under the moon and share stories of our ancestors just like our fore fathers did.
Stories on how our elders built society on norms and beliefs, on how slavery took root and deprived Africans of its people, on how colonization deprived our fellow brothers and sisters of the fundamental rights they deserved and how segregation in our own motherland shuttered dreams of many Africans. But that still did not define us. We steal defied the odds and raised above all the challenges to make Africa what it is today because deep in our hearts, being African is not just having a beautiful dark shade of melanin, it is also having a sense of resilience and unity that regardless of our short comings, we are not united by our borders but rather by our diverse ideologies.
Our diversity carries pride that is described in many ways ranging from the dances, to the cultural wears, stories of the past, to the art and the language that was spoken by our fore fathers that showed the world that we existed in peace and uniqueness long before our stories spread.
Our diversity also carries pain that was inflicted on us during the early times of colonization when our rights were infringed on by the western powers, where our South African brothers were denied the right to speak so they invented the gumboot dance, where they made beats of that pain and made an art of amusement and communication out of them not to prove to the western people that they can sing but rather prove to the world that Africans can raise from whatever situation and emerge victors. Kofi Anaan once said, “Tolerance, inter-cultural dialogue and respect for diversity are more essential than ever in a world where people are becoming more and more closely interconnected.”
-Kigyagi Peter
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