AFRICA IN SEARCH OF A SELFLESS COMMUNITY

Hands washed together come cleaner than a single hand washed by itself-Sierra
Leonean proverb.
The story of Africa is a journey through time.
It is arguably the story of mankind because Africa is widely regarded as the origin of the
human race. Over 170000 years ago !itochondrial "ve the direct ancestor of all
modern humans lived here.
Once u#on a time about 100000 years ago $omo sa#iens modern man evolved on
the African continent. $e was to undertake a journey over %0000 years ago that
dis#ersed him around the &lobe.
'everal factors led to these mass migrations which have been dealt with and inter#reted
accordingly ()e shall kee# the story sim#le without the need to intellectuali*e it+.
This out , of , Africa journey came with its monumental challenges of survival in often
time-s hostile terrain such as in wintery conditions and this im#acted on the allocation.
storage of scarce resources.
On the African continent however nature was bountiful yet it still re/uired the
harnessing s#irit of its occu#ants. This led to e#ochal milestones of survival ranging
from the discovery of fire to smelting iron bron*e etc and the domestication of
animals farming systems amongst other discoveries.
These discoveries engendered a uni/ue understanding and res#ect for the elements
but above all it led to the evolution of a coo#erative s#irit a sense of community that
ensured the survival of our early ancestors and successive generations.
This reali*ation of community was embedded in a world view that recogni*ed the #lace
of the human being in the 0osmos because man saw and #erceived it everywhere in
the 0ycles of nature. 1aily he was witness to the sun shine rains thunder the ebb and
flow of the tides birth life death amongst other #henomena.
$e-s reverential #ers#ective grew2he tried to inter#ret the forces he could not
understand ascribing transcendental elements to the material world as he knew it.
$e energi*ed these elements symbolically because something awakened in him to the
immanence of his environment. $e had a sacramental vision of reality and reali*ed the
need to coo#erate with his environment for his very survival. $e became ade#t at this
through a series of lasting #aradigms in the form of !yths Oral Traditions 0ustoms
"thos !usic etc.
These were develo#ed through a consensus which served as bedrock for the
community through the sands of time .It is noteworthy that our early ancestor-s
inter#retation of the material world also #ermeated his relationshi# with what he could
not see as well.
3ou saw it in his uni/ue way of worshi# in his totems4 even in the hierarchy that defined
his #lace and the $eavens.
The African evolved at an idyllic #ace in harmony with nature. Of course conflicts
e5isted and were inevitable as is usual with mass migrations of #eo#le into virgin
territories already occu#ied by indigenous settlers.
3et the #rocess of acculturation assimilation or diffusion was fairly harmonious in most
#arts of the continent. The con/uered became #art of the new community and were
#rotected to a large degree through marriage land ownershi# etc. In the true s#irit of
community the belief was that there was enough for all.
Through the e#ochal #hases (7%000 60" 7 100 A1+ of being a hunter,gatherer
#astoralist to becoming a farmer A81 T$"8 A8 "!9I:" 6;I<1": the African grew
from strength to strength at his own #ace. 'ocieties were organi*ed nation states and
em#ires ( &aramante 8ubia "gy#t &hana !ali 'onghai 6enin !onomota#a 8ok
etc+ were built.
)ith the foregoing #rocess languages arts and crafts medicine astrology music and
dance customs develo#ed like wild fire everywhere. 3et this did not suggest com#le5ity
for interwoven in this fluid transitions were commonalities that could only have risen
from an atavistic and shared heritage of survival.
Good organization had always been the key to survival. 9olitical systems were built
around age grades elders traditional diviners and kings. And the laws governing these
communities were such that they served as a system of checks and balances around
the #olitical institutions. It was the base for the socio,economic su#erstructure.
8o matter the si*e of the community there were a set of rules which citi*ens adhered to
for banishment was an all too a##arent o#tion. An individual had the freedom to come
and go2this essential democratic ideal was e#itomi*ed in the growth of several
adjoining communities. Our oral traditions on the origins of several of our communities
stand in evidence to the foregoing fact4 this is why there are several offshoot branches
in our languages customs and traditions as com#ared to the other continents.
A community s#irit #revailed des#ite the intermittent shocks of fre/uent migration. This
was essential for survival. It #rotected the individual in times of war hunger #estilence
etc. 'ocial maladies like suicide were unknown in those days.
Our e5tended family system also strengthened us and grew the s#irit of kith and kin.
The e5tended system was a #rotective shield to the e5tent that the )estern notion of
=cousin> was unknown to our ancestors. If an individual was born to a community
everyone in there had a consanguineous relationshi# with the individual4 they were
related even if there were no blood ties2your neighbor was your brother sister father
or mother.
This functional system energi*ed the res#ective economies be it in the coo#erative
efforts at hunting or farming amongst other endeavors. 3ou all shared in the s#oils. 3ou
rose together and sunk together.
)e also note our ancestor-s methodical care in the #reservation of nature in his
observance of designated days for farming fishing and markets4 even in the se#aration
of sacred grooves rivers bushes etc. These efforts date well before the current efforts
at eco,#reservation in the )estern world.
Of course life cannot be a seamless e5ercise. ?or our ancestors life came with its share
of challenges. It is often said that =0hange> o#ens new doors or shuts them. This so,
called change came at the African continent with the force of a mighty storm even
though initially it seemed like a mere bree*e. The storm had come in the shape of
ignorance. It had accom#anied our long lost brothers who had earlier been lost to other
continents. They had landed back on our shores without the re/uisite #atience and
understanding that those they met in the !otherland had since develo#ed in their
absence sustainable systems that had stood the test of time.
)ith the s#irit of brotherliness which had always governed their communities even in
internal con/uests on the continent our ancestors had embraced the invaders2 Surely
these are human like me They thought. The early invaders #retended to understand
the essence of the African s#irit of community. 3et a consistent strain of e5#loitation ran
through their veins.
As time went by they #retended to be students and imbibed our teachings from our
mystery schools even stole our scrolls and labeled this skullduggery &reco, :oman
civili*ation. They grew bolder as our ancestors stared on in shock sim#le and straight
forward folk that they were. The invaders ra#ed the land and enslaved them in faraway
America. 8ot forgetting their earlier incursion across the 'ahara desert that led to the
enslavement of several of our brothers in Arab lands.
3a Asentewa ('hekere, !arch @01A+ states it succinctlyB =)hen these foreigners first
landed on our shores they were /uite u#set that we had all these resources and we
were not making =am#le> use of it. In other words we were not =e5#loiting it> enough.
This is tantamount to when a #oor man enters the house of a rich man and he is very
u#set when he sees that the rich man is only eating two small #ieces of chicken. $e
dreams of how many #ieces of whole chicken he will be eating if only he had as much
money. This is what ha##ened to us. In trying to be like them we have imbibed the true
poverty mentality>.
Indeed the words of the 1C
th
century "nglish "ssayist 'amuel Dohnson cuts to the
heart of the matter to the fact of this #overty mentality. In his Tale 7 The history of
:asselas 9rince of Abissinia Dohnson statesB =6y what means are the "uro#eans thus
#owerful4 or why since they can so easily visit Asia and Africa for trade or con/uest
cannot the Asiaticks and Africans invade their coasts #lant colonies in their #orts and
give laws to their natural #rincesE The same wind that carries them back would bring us
thitherE--
!t is the nature of man to be insecure"to live in fear of the future# especially of
dwindling resources# but this does not justify the willful e5#loitation of a fellow human
like you. ?or you unwittingly create conditions that would come back to #erversely haunt
you and generations after you. (9lease note the reverse invasion of )estern shores by
economic migrants from Africa+.
The monumental collision of Africa and foreign invaders has clearly led to grave
insecurities. In the #rocess the African =0an,do> s#irit of communalism has retreated
creating a huge #sychological deficit where there was once an institutional safety net.
That $omo sa#iens that had con/uered the odds on the African continent is at a
crossroad.
The commonalities that once defined the African rare e5am#le of sustainable e5istence
and harmony with the "arth and the 0osmos is of the #ast.
How and where can we find this driving force"this African spirit of community that once
e$isted It is the absence of this communal vision that has affected other areas of our
lives be it in #olitics finance education medicine and so forth.
$ow if variants of this community vision are found can we unify them and make them
resonate as a #latform towards a more unified Africa with a better futureE
It is a search but also an ongoing story of mankind but an end has to be in sight2
someday we ho#e.
Time would tell.
Arise2 Mother AfriaF
O!anya