“The day will come when history will speak. But it will not be the history that is taught in Brussels, Paris, Washington or the United Nations…Africa will write its own history, in the North and the South, and it will be a story of glory and dignity.” (Patrice Lumumba)

 As we already told you, every month we will publish African Cultures in their Plurality, A CULTURAL EXCHANGE SPACE so that the voices of our Kenyan and Zambian colleagues can come through safely.

Some current information:

• 17% of the world population is African. in 2100 the percentage will be 40%. More than half of the population growth in the coming years will be in the African continent.
• 60% of the population is under 25 years old. It has a huge repercussion at a social, fiscal and vitality level, including employment.
• Fertility rates are very high in the African continent. The most populous country in Africa is Nigera. In 2050 it will be the most populated country in the world (United Nations estimates).
• The African Union aspires to be something similar to the EU, with 7 goals for the next 50 years at an international level.
• In the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, there are 55 flags:

54 of them belonging to African countries and the flag of China in the middle (COINCIDENCE?).

3171 Chinese businesses have been established in Africa. Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia and South      Africa are the countries that have the most Chinese companies. In Tanzania there are 171 Chinese companies, 213 in Zambia, 334 in Nigeria, 229 in South Africa, and 167 in Ethiopia.

In the last decade, Chinese investment has settled in Ghana, Sudan and Ethiopia.

• At a macroeconomic level, Africa is growing an average of 4%, which is higher than in many other continents. East Africa is the part that grows the most every year in the last 10 years. Both central and southern Africa are growing at lower rates.
• It constitutes 3% of the world’s GDP, but corresponds to 17% of the world population. North and South Africa are the areas with the highest GDP per capita. In the last 15 years, compared to the previous 15, the GDP is growing in almost every African country. More than 50% of employment in Africa is dedicated to agriculture, unlike America and Europe where they focus more on the service sector.
• Poverty level is at $1.9 a day, and we can see that in the last 30 years this level is falling globally, but in the African continent it is rising.
• Corruption in Africa is a recurring theme. But African countries like Botswana and Seychelles are better placed in the global corruption index compared to Spain. Spain is in 42nd place. The countries with the worst rates are usually those most affected by conflicts (correlation to be highlighted).

AFRICAN PILLS

PHILOSOPHY AND PROVERBS

“Welcoming someone well is making them one of our own” (Malian proverb)

“Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter” (Nigerian proverb)

“When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers” (Ugandan proverb)

“The traces of the people who walked together are never erased” (Congolese proverb)

“We must run the risk of disappointing the people who live by the ghost of Africa showing a real Africa” (Fernando Alvim, Angolan artist)

“A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed” (Desmond Tutu)

LANGUAGES IN AFRICAN LITERATURE IN CONTINUOUS DEBATE

 “What is African literature? Is it the literature that talks about Africa or about the African experience? Is literature written by Africans? And what about a non-African who writes about Africa? Do you categorise this as African literature? And if and African writer decides to place his or her novel in Greenland, would that be African literature?”

THE DISTRIBUTION OF AFRICA, WITHOUT AFRICANS

 It is surprising that the current African borders have changed little since its imposition, despite having been decided in a record time of three months, in which no African participated in the delimitation…

 AfricaCheck: Look closely at the electoral promises in the African continent, a useful tool.

 A journalistic organisation that basically focuses on verifying the data and news spreading about the African continent. It can be very useful to contrast information and it very up to date.

And finally, simply

FEEL THE SOUNDS OF KENYA!!