In the mid 70s, my husband, a newly qualified medical doctor arrived in this country for his post graduate program. One day he was asked by a member of hospital staff if it was true that Africans live in trees. He looked the lady from head to toe and then up again, smiled and walked away.
Some months later, when he was back home on holiday, he bought a post card (the ubiquitous kind that shows swaying palm trees kissing the white sands, beside a calm, blue sea) Turning to the little space often left for messages, he wrote: “Back home and having a lovely time. If you look carefully, you will see me perched on one of the coconut trees.” He sent it off to the lady - upon return, she never spoke to him again!
Fast forward 33 years later to yesterday. I was invited by a school to help with their African study month. I had two sessions with two classes, each consisting of 30 seven-year olds. We had a ball. We talked about the different people that make up my country, in comparison with theirs. We danced, talked about and shared some of the food produced in the vast arable land of my fathers. We discussed the different languages that make the country unique and tried some of them out. We looked at the part played by folklore in the lives of children and shared a story. We had a good laugh. But I also noticed something.
The children were surprised when I told them that houses range from big mansions to make-shift huts belonging to the nomads; that some children play with X-boxes just as they do here, as well as home made toys for those who cannot afford proper toys. They wowed when I mentioned that some kids go to school in their parent’s cars or buses, while many others walk to school. Their jaws dropped when they realized that there are some big schools in my country, as well as those made of baked mud and rusty zinc roofs. Their reaction set my teeth on edge so I decided to ask them what they have been learning about my country. Many hands shot up.
“We have learned that people do not have food to eat,” piped up an innocent voice. I felt a lump in my throat but pushed it down with a smile. “Right!”, I said turning to another little hand and excited face. “There are lots of diseases in your country.” My smile grew wider as the lump was joined by another choking one. “Great! Awesomely great!! What else do you know about my country,” I squeaked, praying for a miracle. “What is hepatitis? My dad went to climb Kilimanjaro and became sick.” “No, Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania,” said the teacher, shutting the child up.
Well well!! So, of all the things children could have learned about this country, all they know of it are diseases and hunger. What a picture for their little minds! Yet the country in question:
- Was using iron and other metals by about 500BC (Iron age Nok culture)
- Had an ancient form of writing (Nsibidi) that existed over 1000 years ago.
- Is the sixth largest oil producer in the world and among the top five coco bean producers (they would have loved to know how chocolates get to them!)
- Has more writers and authors than the rest of West Africa combined and has produced the only black African to have won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
- Is noted globally for its arts and craft, its population (every third African is from this country) and over 100 different languages.
There is no denying that some people go hungry in my country, just as in many other countries, or the fact that people suffer from various diseases. What country doesn’t? But spending weeks teaching children only negative things about a country is a great disservice to us all; it is unpardonable and morally wrong.
It is like teachers in my country sitting their children down for a lesson in this foreign land. They then spend hours telling them that every adult, including their parents must undergo criminal checks before they are allowed to enter their school and interact with children, because there are many perverts preying on kids. It is like teaching them that people sleep on park benches with cardboards for blankets because they are homeless. Or they could tell them that the government pays people to be unemployed and lazy. Yea, sounds nasty, doesn’t it?
Let’s learn to teach our children right and stop filling their minds with negatives and running other countries down!
