On building united, like-minded, positive future leaders
By Janet Karim
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it. — Proverbs 22:6
“Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Phil 2:1-4
The enemy everywhere, does not want us to be united. He/she divides us, makes us dislike, disparage our leaders, hate our country, and even belittle ourselves, our continent, our blackness, our gender….. etc. and “O mavuto mbuyomo tiyeni tithawe!” (O there was trouble following us, let us run away!) My pastor in New Rochelle told us a fascinating story of a father and the bundles of sticks he gave to each of his three sons; he commanded each to break the given bundles. The first two sons failed to break the bundle; it was just too difficult. Then the third son took the bundle, untied the bundle, and began to break each stick one by one.
Today I come to my fellow Malawians with concerns about my country. I am concerned about what Malawians/Africans feel and believe about themselves, and hastily their general attitude towards their leaders. All and every one of the sentiments are negative, some self-serving, with many having the force of causing self-inflicting harmful and fatal wounds, and the majority being from foreign lens bent on manipulating and controlling the people of the continent of Africa, the so-called backward, uncivilized portion of the world.
Africa, Malawi in the year 2024 please arise and realize that the continent of Africa “is rich in various mineral resources including gold, diamonds, cobalt, manganese, uranium, rubies, platinum, iron ore, bauxite (for aluminum), crude oil, natural gas, coal, zinc, and phosphate rock, with many countries holding significant shares of global reserves for these minerals; notably, Africa holds a large portion of the world’s cobalt, manganese, and platinum reserves, crucial for green technologies like electric vehicle batteries.
For the information of many young Malawians and Africans, the reason why the Western allies like the NATO Alliance (US, European Union, Canada, and the Australia, New Zealand, and Republic of China (Taiwan) created dictators all over the continent, was to keep the communist giant called Soviet Union and Communist (Mainland). China from Africa. During the 1960 to 1990s African dictators ruled African countries with iron fists.
Guess what? We had a continental organization of 54 countries that had no teeth called the Organization of African Unity. It was far from unity as Francophone African countries leaned au Français, the Anglophones were “God save the Queen” all over the place, and the Portuguese, after recovering from their many years of armed internal conflicts (too much uranium and diamond, seashore area etc.), the continent finally united the bundle.
Having been established on May 25, 1963 by 32 African countries, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), breaking and manipulating each stick (country) under colonial yoke and bondage one stick at a time was easy.
However, in the bundle of the African Union (AU) that took place on July 9, 2002, manipulating the 54 is tougher. But it is a process. It is on-going and needs to be worked on. It must also happen at family level, at city, village, national and continental level; it must also happen at sectors levels.
I will give two samples of sectors where differences can be made in bringing up a brighter future for better generations for dark skinned persons, we are from the cradle of civilization, the birth of medicine on the continent of Africa. Jesus spent his first two years on this continent; he drank from and swam in the Nile River like his great ancestor Moses.
In the family: I was proud to see two young men, whom I first met as 10-year-olds. They’re now college graduates. At a special dinner for the senior pastor that was retiring, I was overwhelmed with pride and joy to see two young members of the youth standing behind the pastor and his wife, pulling their chairs, pushing their chairs in; at one time I saw one of the young lads holding onto the pastor’s wife as she climbed up the stairs to the stage.
During the night, I was so close to tears of joy, as I recalled that this and many similar scenes were how their parents had behaved during services, all performing various church service to-dos. They were always on-the-ready to give a helping hand in the activities of the service. Now the sons, in their youth years have jumped to the platform.
On the national and continental levels: this land is our land from Cape to Cairo, from Zanzibar to the Ghana coastal. The first thing as Africans and nationals of our precious 54 united African countries is to own our narratives: what we say about our countries, ourselves, our leaders, our events.
All too often, we hear Africans, Malawians, and other nationals on the continent, belittling or accusing their leadership of wrongdoing or being weak, change laws to suit “modern” or “human rights” laws, or should resign when they have erred.
Africa, all 54 countries belong to the AU, like the tied bundle must remain tied to prevent the continent from being broken. The tie means supporting each other, lifting each other, retelling each other’s stories, the good stories. There are a lot of very sad and bad stories taking place in Africa, but Africa is also full of good stories.
