Is not an invitation to mediocrity.It is not a call to experimentation.Or a visit to the zoo.It is not a corporate social responsibility exerciseOr an activity for a university applicationIt is not a by-product for the humanitarian industryNor is it pornography for our guilty consciencesOr an opportunity for self-cleansingOr making ourselves feel better about our […]
Read more "Service to the poor"Why volunteer? Some of us raise our hands Because we believe in a cause, Having stumbled across something noble We decide, despite the odds, To throw ourselves into it Headlong. Others of us raise our hands Because the alternatives Are so hard to sit with, So hard to reconcile, So hard to untangle the knots […]
Read more "Why we raise our hands"We appear to be far moreMotivatedTo offer Africans charityThan to take the necessary stepsTo see them onTheir own two feet.We project that generations unbornWill also depend on donationsWaiting, like always, at the back of the line.It seems that it is difficultTo look across the masses of AfricansAnd imagine themWell fedWell educatedProsperous.Oh, but we can give […]
Read more "Food Parcel"For people with skills that society rewards-Who are your skills for?You have acquired something valuableAnd you are equipped to solve problems,Spent years to gain masteryOvercome numerous challengesAnd now you have a capcity to create change in the world with dexterity-Utlimately what you now possess is a gift.Something to offerSomething with which to craft the world […]
Read more "Who are your skills for?"Far too often, development in Africa Looks like a knock off of progress made in other parts of the world, Ideas that percolated in foreign minds That were tried and tested on (and for) foreign soils Only to be cut and pasted In a different context For different minds Different soil. Learning how others have […]
Read more "Second fiddle"For a version of the African story that’s more than Sentimental More captivating than a wildlife documentary Unfettered by directionless politics Bridling with economic energy Where the “average African” is prosperous Where education is not for show but for use And where the ambitions of our best and brightest Extend beyond personal lifestyle goals. The […]
Read more "Searching for Wakanda"What is it about progressThat takes us away from ‘the community’Only to come back laterAnd ‘give back’ to it?Some come back out of guilt,Others from a sense of dutyBut have you ever wondered why they had toLeave in the first place?What if the community itself was enough?What if the primary place we wanted to sow […]
Read more "On ‘giving back to the community’"There is a sketchy kind of humilityThat stems from a having a need to be a hero.A sense of obligation to suffer for othersEven when it is not called for,Perhaps even feeling guiltyFor having good fortune.Being concerned about the less fortunateIs a wonderful virtueBut a terrible way to cover upFalse humility.Acts of service done for […]
Read more "On being a hero"Side by side.Accompany me.I fear that in your haste for progress You might try to pull me from the frontAnd lose sight of meAnd I will resent you for it.Or maybe you’ll try to push me from behindOnly to be surprised at how much I stumble,And despise me for being so slow.So if you really […]
Read more "Walk with me"
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