Last week, I attended a Dean's tea and discussion with Ruth Botsio in the Afro-American Cultural House. Ruth is a Yale alumna and current Vice President of the Yale Club of Ghana. While she had many wonderful insights and pieces of advice, what stuck with me the most was the way she compared Africa to a light. She said, "It is often said that African is a dark continent but that is a fallacy; Africa is a bright light and it is increasingly getting brighter. The opportunities that currently exist are unparalleled elsewhere." While we don't often think of this, Africa is indeed a continent bursting with intelligence, talent and drive. It is bursting with potential. But potential is nothing without opportunity. As an African living in America, it is easy for me to sit here and discuss all of the talent that is going to waste amidst the conflict and corruption that plague many African countries and yet, do absolutely nothing about it. This discussion with Ruth was a great reminder of the responsibility I have as an African living abroad.
I must think beyond myself. I have been blessed with the opportunity to attend one of the best institutions in the United States. I cannot, however, limit this experience to myself when it is possible to use it to provide opportunities for young people who live in Africa and are just as capable as I am but are just missing the right set of circumstances. As Ruth says, African rising isn't synonymous to me rising. While I admit that my first instinct is to spend the rest of my life in the West because it seems much more convenient to do so, I have to think of the motherland. And for me, the motherland is Sudan.
If we don't invest in Africa-- in its youth and its abundant possibilities-- then who will?