Page 77 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 8
P. 77

CUMMUNITY




































                                                                                continent, we have been delivering
                                                                                far below our capacity as a con-
                                                                                tinent and people despite being
                                                                                blessed with an abundance of hu-
                                                                                man capacity and natural resources.
                                                                                Africa presently constitutes approx-
          inflation.                         the Plague had on the region and
                                             its people, critical societal transfor-  imately 17% of the world’s popula-
          At the time, the African presence   mations began to take shape in the   tion. Over the next three decades,
          in the Southern Mediterranean,     period following the Plague, which   the global population is expected
          Maghreb and Iberian Peninsula was   ultimately ushered in the age of the   to increase by 2.2 billion people,
          firmly rooted, with Africans having   Renaissance in Western Asia.    with half of that increase attributed
          established flourishing civilizations   Once again in 2020, the world   to the African continent alone. In
          in these areas for the past 700 years.   is in flux, and grappling with the   thirty years’ time, one in every four
          The African presence in these areas   COVID-19 pandemic. Howev-       people in the world will be African.
          led to great societal advancement   er, this pandemic isn’t confined   Africa is also home to the world’s
          as Africans introduced ground-     to specific areas of the world but   youngest population, with 60% of
          breaking innovations in the fields of   has spread across the globe. As   the continent’s population under 24
          mathematics, science, architecture   Africans, it is imperative that we   years of age. Annually, the nations
          and medicine. It was, in fact, Afri-  understand the world, our collective   across Africa have millions of young
          can scientists in the Iberian Pen-  role in it, and embrace that times   people entering into a labor mar-
          insula who, led by Ibn Al-Khatib,   of great turmoil and upheaval also   ket that is ill-equipped to handle
          having studied the Plague extensive-  present tremendous opportunity.   the continent’s growing youth
          ly, wrote treatises on the Plague’s   Just as our African ancestors saved   bulge. This is of course primarily
          origin and began to institute strict   Central and Western Asian civili-  due to the rapacious appetite of
          public health measures to quell its   zation from complete destruction   the continent’s elite, who work in
          spread. The treatises’ content was   through sharing public health    cahoots with foreign conspirators
          widely disseminated and studied    science and other forms of knowl-  to steal our commonwealth and in
          across Central and Western Asia,   edge, we must grasp the great wheel   turn, steal our present and future.
          and mitigating measures were       of history with both hands and     Given the yearning of our youth
          adopted, culminating in the halting   steer our beloved continent and the   for opportunities, it is saddening to
          of the disease’s spread and even-  world to a place of stability.  Given   see our young people underutilized
          tual termination of the disease.   our rich history as being the cradle   and become disaffected, and this
          Despite the devastating aftermath   of humanity and the world’s oldest   is to our detriment as a continent,
                                                                                because Africa’s greatest resource


          WWW.MSINGIAFRIKAMAGAZINE.COM                                            ISSUE 8 | SEPT/OCT 2020  77
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