AS SPECTRE OF SMOKING CIGARETTES GROWS IN AFRICA...

On page 29 of the mainstream English Tabloid, Daily Mail, September 3^rd 2015, was a gruesome photograph that attracted my attention. A skull and pieces of scattered skeletons. Human remains. Well, well, well.   Being shown grisly, hideous and gruesome images, these days, is as “normal” as having breakfast. Whether in blogs, You Tube or WhatsApp, we are “officially” desensitised with gory savageness. Nevertheless, the Daily Mail snapshot was macabre for a reason. Not aimed at glorifying human tragedy- like our internet- thanks God, most newspapers still upheld traditional restrain and etiquette in social shock and info.

STINGING NETTLE LEAVES AND THEIR AMAZING QUALITIES

A young learner at one of the many lush gardens cared for by students at Mwandege Secondary School, Dar es Salaam, 2009. Pic by F Macha

Africa is filled with eternal wonders.

 The rich continent is a sweet, giggling giant. Most things about it are magical, generating millions of cash from tourism and business. Her wealthy ground has enriched millionaires with mineral deposits. South Africa and Congo – the two countries that have had most bleeding histories are like pregnant mothers. They contribute most of the world’s 75 per cent of global platinum, chromium and diamonds. Congo has seen no peace for over hundred years. The brutal murder of democratically elected Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in January 1961 was a climax of non-stop, theatre of mass abuse.  South Africa has seen most bloodshed. So many other Patrice Lumumbas have been buried here ...Mangaliso Sobukwe, Steve Biko, Sharpeville massacre and Soweto uprising victims; not forgetting the unfair imprisonment of  Nelson Mandela for a quarter of a century.

 Many mouths have been feeding on Africa’s resources for 500 years. Like pangolin, the anteater (Kakakuona in Swahili); giant mining companies love our minerals. Last year, The East African paper claimed 40 foreign mining companies made 150 percent profit in 2010 while governments only got 40. 

But the continent’s resources are not just stones and chemicals.