Page 37 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 32
P. 37
Art & Culture
our cities and towns be filled with them? Why
are we building concrete jungles everywhere
using cement which amounts to close to 40%
of global greenhouse emissions? And this is
just one example. Another example, we live
in the tropics where it’s hot most of the time.
Why do we wear suits and ties to the office
when we can wear our beautiful and climate-
suited woven clothes that allow our bodies
to breathe properly? How is it so hard to let
go of things that undermine our ability to
develop our Indigenous knowledge and then
complain of foreign control?
Prayer for Mali
I have never been to Mali but I am still very
the nations themselves need it, but because
the creditor is obsessed with the control of positive that I will travel to every nation of
those indebted nations. Africa must break free Africa before my time is up on this planet.
from this. In fact, a few days before writing But, in the interim, I share my thoughts in
this article, I saw a couple of video headlines prayer for Mali.
on YouTube stating that the President of Mali
Assimi Goïta announced that all debt that You, Mali, are known for great and mighty
Mali owes has been paid and that Mali is exploits and your history is full of such
not a poor country. If that is true, then that is stories. But the enemies that came into your
a major first in modern African history and land are aware of your abilities and they are
should be emulated by all. doing everything they can to derail whatever
good thing is possible in your land. I pray that
you will be strengthened divinely to withstand
Indigenous knowledge systems: No nation
can grow if it continues to undermine every evil thrown at you and your success
its indigenous knowledge systems while will be a great example for other African
embracing foreign ideologies that are not fit countries in nation-building. You are blessed,
for its local needs. For instance, in the area so remain blessed, and also flourish beyond
of architecture, if the earthen buildings in what your forebears were able to achieve in
Timbuktu have been there for hundreds or their time.
thousands of years, and we have the same
examples all over Africa, why then are we
not enabling such architectural genius and let
ISSUE 32 | DECEMBER 2024 37
