Do you ever get the feeling that westerners do not understand Africa at all? Even after so many years of interference, Europeans still don’t have a clue about the people they colonized. They, along with we Americans, black or white, don’t really understand how a continent beset by such poverty, misery, cruelty and waste can still produce men and women who keep on going. Putting one foot in front of the other, bringing children into their world and expecting good things to happen – somewhere/sometime.
English correspondent Richard Dowden attempts to explain it in his new book, Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles. He proposes that the African has a different approach and reaction to life, a different appreciation:
“Terrible times produce strength. Grief enhances joy. Death invigorates living…Africa lives with death and suffering and grief every day, but to be alive is to talk and laugh, eat and drink – dance”.
Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, by Richard Dowden
Btw: The author also thinks that “only Africans can develop Africa.” (Hmmmm.) Englishman Richard Dowden is director of the Royal African Society
