About ten years ago, a friend gave me a copy of Against All Hope: Hope for Africa. I remember reading it and breaking down in tears not because it revealed anything new, but because it confirmed what I had always known: Africa has everything it needs to thrive, yet we remain the richest beggars on Earth.
Our continent is overflowing with wealth. The fertile lands of the DRC, Zambia, and Zimbabwe alone could feed the entire continent. The mighty rivers of the DRC could power all of Africa. If we harnessed the Sahara’s solar energy and combined it with our hydropower potential, we wouldn’t just meet our own needs, we could export electricity to the world.
And yet, here we are still importing food from war-torn Ukraine, still rationing electricity, still begging for aid.
Yes, colonialism was brutal. Yes, the Berlin Conference of 1884-85 carved up our lands without our consent, separating families and nations. But the chains of colonialism were removed decades ago, yet we continue to enforce its legacy.
Why do we still abide by European-drawn borders that divide us more than they unite us? Why is Malawi unable to buy maize from a neighboring African country but welcomes maize imports from thousands of miles away?
Why are we constantly at war with ourselves, fighting battles that serve no one but foreign arms dealers? While European mercenaries hired to defend the DRC against Rwanda’s invasion pocket $5,000 USD per month, a Congolese soldier is lucky if his $100 salary even reaches him.
At just two years old, South Sudan turned against itself, putting its hard-won independence on hold for war. Meanwhile, corruption in Nigeria and the DRC is so deep that it matches their national budgets, draining wealth that could transform entire economies.
Who funds these wars? Why is it so easy to “fundraise” for weapons, yet impossible to raise funds for infrastructure, healthcare, and food security?
And when Donald Trump cuts aid to Africa, we cry betrayal but why do we wait for handouts instead of taking ownership of our destiny?
We celebrate when the West sends us food instead of farming tools, charity instead of trade, pity instead of respect. We have accepted a system designed to keep us weak, divided, and dependent.
The betrayal of Africa is no longer in the hands of colonialists. It is in the hands of our leaders, our elites and even ourselves.
How much longer will we fight each other instead of building together?
The world has never saved Africa, and it never will.
So, my fellow Africans, when will we?
Thriving Through Trials 
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