Africa is Not A Countryโฆ
"๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐น ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐บ. ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ, ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฐ๐ด๐บ๐ฏ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฐ๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ซ๐ถ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ - ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ; ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ." -๐๐ช๐ฑ๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ
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There are some #books ๐ you read and forget, and then there are some that stay with you for life - often because they give you a new way of seeing the ๐. Dipo Faloyin did just that for me in his book: ๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ญ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ- ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฉ๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐๐๐ซ๐ง ๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐. I had a vague idea, broad brush stroke knowledge, of the #colonial history of the African continent, but my regions of focus are usually South Asia and Europe.
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This book was a pleasure to read: informative yet conversational, heart warming yet soul crushing, and best of all - it reminded me of the power and value of storytelling from the unheard (or silenced) voices and communities of the #GlobalMajority. Whether you side more with Dipo Faloyin or Olรบfแบนฬmi Tรกรญwรฒ, (his book, ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง: ๐๐๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐๐ง ๐๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ฒ is also worth a read), it is vital that we begin to question why we listen to certain narratives and not others. I'd go as far as to say, this book should be #mandatory reading for anyone who is working in the #humanitarian sector on the African continent.
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Have you read Africa is Not a Country? What were your takeaways?ย
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