Africa Straight Up: True Stories of the African Continent

The Story of the African Continent has always been distorted to suit the needs of different people. For Europeans it was to justify their desire to colonize people who they described as savages and sub-human people and therefore needing to be civilized. Nowadays it is used to justify the savior mentality of western donors coming on a shining horse to save the ‘poor’ Africans. This is a great effort to change the view of Africa at least one video at a time.

Technology has been a great tool in helping Africans tell their own stories in the ever-changing global world. Every video, every Tweet, Facebook post and YouTube video gives Africans power and Independence that could never have been achieved through endless diplomacy, donor conferences and endless foreign aid.

AFRICA STRAIGHT UP

Africa is the world’s second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.2 million km² (11.7 million sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers six percent of the Earth’s total surface area and 20.4 percent of the total land area. With 1.0 billion people, it accounts for about 14.72% of the world’s human population. The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, both the Suez Canal and the Red Sea along the Sinai Peninsula to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagoes. It has 54 fully recognized sovereign states (“countries”), 9 territories and three de facto states with limited recognition.

This is a great depiction of Africa but as always we tell one side and one story. I hope this will begin a series of true stories about Africa. Africa is a complex combination of states with many educated, successful, wealthy people but also with many poor people.