The other day I was talking to someone I had not seen in a very long time and we were catching up on life. When I told him I was now working with youths, helping them to recognise their role in nation building and what they can bring to the table, it started a discussion on the state of the nation. This is always an exasperating discussion and this time around, it was no different. At a point, he used a phrase that is also popular in such discussions, "I shudder at what the future holds..." I told him that we are to do more than shudder, because if we all stay at that point and shake our heads, it will not improve the situation. We need, especially as africans, to look beyond our disheartening projections of the future to what contributions we can individually make to alter it. No one can make a difference staring at and enlarging the frame of the challenges, you need to change the frame and focus on something you can do to change the course of the flow. What is the use of an anti-corruption summit when the ecosystem fosters the disease? When we value and build the individuals who build and run the systems and the institutions, the viral count will begin to reduce. Until citizens see themselves as valuable and valued, they will continue to sabotage every anti-corruption effort of government. Human beings will care for what cares for them, until people see an environment that can secure their lives and development, they will not put in their best to develop it. We need to stop talking and start acting, our actions are too loud for people to hear what we are saying. Stop waiting for the government or others to do something before you do what are capable of doing to change and improve a situation.
AFRICA IS A CONTINENT ON THE MOVE AND HER YOUTHS ARE HER GREATEST RESOURCE."We cannot always build a future for our youth, but we can always build our youth for the future."Franklin D. Roosevelt. MentorAfrica looks to help youths, through various life transition mentoring topics, to prepare youths for development and leadership that will help them change the African narrative whenever the opportunity arises.
Tuesday, 30 January 2018
I SHUDDER... - JE FRISSONNE...
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