Where to, African child?

Every generation lives in its era and classifies itself as the best the world has ever seen. Until another generation emerges, with its own madness and world innovation, the previous ones’ highlights become a distant memory, even mockery to the reigning ones. So, is the world view of every generation.

- Paul Moraka

For starters, despite trying, I cannot box myself into a specific generation because I lived in multiple decades, which were so fast paced that delineating them through decades would render their milestones confusing and misaligned at best.

As Africans our generational evolution has been so painfully stagnant that others have sold us their mostly inferior culture, language, fashion, cuisine and spirituality.

In one of his stimulating lectures at the North West University Alumni dinner lecture late last year, Professor Bonang Mohale lamented about what could be achieved if Africans had an active conscience to be developers of their communities.

One of the seminal points he made is that successful nations the world over build business empires around the world, but do not forget their village roots where they or their forebears were born. A Greek community would come to South Africa and start building houses similar to what they have in Greece; then follow Greek restaurants, schools, orthodox churches, etc.

Every nation in the world that immigrated to Africa practices the same model, and guess who copies and consumes all these in the name of progress? Africans!