Truth - The Reality of Africa’s Unending Pursuit of Happiness

In a world where facts don’t matter, truth becomes a commodity that can be bought and sold at the whims of those who control the media and by extension the masses. This has been the fear of generations past, who have in their quest for a better world always thought of this negatively utopian future where humans disagree on basic facts and make reality unlivable. Where do we as Cameroonians and by extensions Africans stand in all this turmoil? Defining our own reality has always been a feat that has been influenced by worldwide events. Our path is always that of the already trodden. Historically, early colonizers came to our lands for business and trade, but they ended up ransacking our lands and resources and pillaging them for themselves. During the early slave trade years, our personal advancement and development was stifled by the proliferation of technology that became used to separate us by the rest of the world; not to mention the years of colonization pre world wars. This is in stark contrast with the empires that were a feature of Africa before the above pattern of interference. Today though, we always have to adapt to the whims and caprices of the “developed” society. This has shaped how we live, our policies, our culture, our religion most importantly our ability to reach self determination.

Our present way of life has been shaped principally by the dispersion of several media platforms with social media a strong catalyst for the changes we see on the continent. Safe to say though that the help we have gotten from these systems can’t be understated, but we are in the infancy of our emancipation and like toddlers what we are surrounded with shapes our minds and who we will become in the future. Here in lies our conundrum, how do we get to become who we want to become with as little influence as possible? We as Cameroonians and collectively as Africans aren’t asking this question; with several media outlets conditioning our thoughts towards adapting to global change without focusing on who we are. A simple way to analyze all the word jargon above is to look at the climate crisis the world is facing. Africa contributes 3.8% to emissions that affect global warming but although extremely vulnerable to its effects, the rest of the world builds narratives that take our minds away from who (on this globe we all call home) is making life a living hell.

So what is the truth? The truth is Africans wherever we are on the continent need to start thinking about themselves first before the rest of the world, we need to start asking ourselves the questions that will shape our minds towards our individual and collective growth and survival. Our actions today towards how we treat facts and reality need to come from a place of mutual understanding - then and only then can our debates become clearer and our relationships stronger; from this hive mind will stem a truth that we all are oblivious to today; which is that until we aspire to create a future that we want and desire, we will continuously live on the trail blazed by others; and as a consequence live in the shadow of the nations that have trodden the path before us. Therefore now, let us stop the hate and division over facts, let us start looking at what matters, let’s assume responsibility for our own actions and those of the leaders we call ours, let us work on our accountability and integrity in the situations that faze us, let us work in our decision making as a people, seizing the narrative from the western world and making it ours - establishing a culture that suits us, but one that not only unites us, but on which we can pitch tent to survive in, sustain on and thrive with. The reality is, until we intentionally set aside our oblivious nature and become consistently intentional as a people, our individual hopes will be only but a dream.

Today then, make an effort to connect to your roots, set aside a day to participate in political spheres wherever you are in the continent, accept facts therein and debate them, debate in good faith and accept the truths and compromises that come out of these debates, work collectively in love and unity to achieve the revelations that come from these truths, make sure to be consistent in your work and transmit the achieved values to your progenitors; but most importantly, connect throughout the continent and make an impact that will become our own narrative, our very own self determination. The future looks bright, but only those who work in truths and traffic in hard work and consistency can make this future a reality maybe not for them, but the generations that are still to come.

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