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Gotta go where the money flows ! Big buck potential in African countries, and limitless opportunity: expected $1.8 trillion in economy !

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Why are you so focused on Africa? Isn't it a desert where everyone's impoverished?

Many people believe that because africa has been impoverished in the past, that it will stay that way and remain less advanced than Western countries.

This is demonstrably false.

Even since the book "Factfullness" by Hans Rosling came out, Africa has made great strides. In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, a group of 15 Kenyan Students developed a portable mechanical ventilator, using 90% locally sourced materials. This saved millions of lives and increased their ventilator resources from 500, to over 30,000. (borgenproject.org) A South African inventor was able to use 3d printers to produce over 100 masks a day that worked as well as any normally developed masks, saving lives when PPE was hardest to come by. (borgenproject.org)

Africa is not a civilization separate from the rest of the world and lagging behind, it is an important part of humanity's march into the future.

The belief that innate factors define a country or person's future is called "The destiny instinct" (Factfullness, Rosling), and many people use this to dismiss Africa, believing that the continent s poor because "That's just how it is". However, all across the world, that is being proven wrong as things change, mostly for the better.

Many people blame cultures in africa for halting progress, but those same cultures are often the very motivators for improvement. Africa is also not a homogenized culture, as one of the largest continents, every country in it has its own culture, or multiple of them. One thing that many cultures in Africa share is a belief in community and supporting each other. The book "Africa At the crossroads:Philisophical Approch To Education" by Festus Okafor (Referanced by GGA.org) describes rural areas of Africa where, when a large project had to be done, entire villages would come out of their homes with the materials, music, and food necessary to get it done, working together both o do the work and to support each other. This community involvement is a major motivator for development as each person is encouraged not just to help themselves, but to help each other as well. However this same community atmosphere can lead to family business that last generations and refuse to hire outside help, even when it would greatly benefit them.

#Factfullness #Africa

Something that we must work on is controlling the destiny instinct we all have. We cannot simply think “this is the way things have always been, and the way things will always be.” There are topics where that line of thinking is true, but when it comes to humanity, social change and development, or people, it is just not true. Things are always changing, even if it does not seem like it. Progress may be slow, but it is still progress. Rosling points out the time it has taken for the people of the world to recognize there are certain parts of this earth that need to be protected. As of his publication date in 2018, he stated that 15% of the earth is protected in the form of national parks or nature reserves. According to National Geographic, 15% protected land is estimated to increase up to 30% by 2030, which is only seven years away at this point. That is an incredible change considering it took thirty years for that number to increase from 0.03% in 1900 to 0.2% in 1930. I must think that even if the 30% growth is not accomplished by 2030, there will still be an increased amount of new protected land, and that is still progress. Rosling says, “to control destiny instinct, don’t confuse slow change with not change.” Along with being aware that slow progress is still progress, Rosling tells us that there are other ways to control our destiny instinct. For instance, it is important to remember that there is always more to learn. We should continue to learn, research, and broaden our minds. Or that we should talk to our grandparents and look at how things have changed since they were our age. Another is being mindful of other cultures and knowing that those have evolved over the years and will continue to do so in the future. As Rosling says, “societies and cultures are in constant movement.”

When it comes to the destiny instinct, it is important to have a vision, and challenge that vision with other viewpoints. Share it with others, discuss, learn, and improve the vision. Rosling discusses how his vision was challenged several times over the years. Every time, he has the best intentions in mind, but once he has an outsider’s perspective on his vision, he realizes that he initially only had a limited view on the matter at hand. Such as at an African Union conference, he speaks to the union about how extreme poverty in Africa could end within 20 years. This sounds great, this is research that he is proud to present, until he has a conversation with an African Union chairperson who gives him honest feedback. She lets him know that his information is great, but it is extremely limited. She poses the question of what to do after. Extreme poverty may be gone, but poverty will still exist, and should Africans be content with living that way as well? The goal and vision should include more, the eradication of extreme poverty is a great start, but the goal is to be a thriving, healthy, proud country. It is not enough for him to hope that extreme poverty is gone, and that his grandchildren will be able to come and explore Africa. The vision should be that one day the people of Africa will be able to go and explore other lands, such as Sweden, be welcomed and not looked down upon. Just as people from other parts of the world can do.

#Factfulness #africa