Who said I'm poor? Call me disadvantaged.

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At times I twitch and squirm at the mention of this word. It has never tasted good in my mouth nor carried the tingle I fancy in my ear. It has a lot of meanings attached to it. Call me disadvantaged, if you may.

Forget the fancy lifestyle the “better world” is trying to sell to the world. I bet you a cent to a dollar they are selling the same kind of ‘nonsense’ to their own people where ever they are. Are they buying into it, is the question? Do they forsake what they believe is the truth in pursuit of this ‘heaven on earth’ kind of living where everything manouvers at the snap of a finger?

‘Third world’ countries, as they call them, have nothing more than brains and education to swim through this valley of tribulation and recession. We do have God on our side, no doubt about that. At times not even formal education can come in handy; as a canoe or an oar that will help you pilot yourself to the other side. The valley is an abyss; deep, and its sides are forever slippery. It takes more than just a book and a pen to put things into perspective.

Africa is at the centre stage right now. Cameras are flashing, and the tape is rolling; unfortunately at the disapproving eyes of those who thought it would stay down forever. Other continents, that used to bask in the glory of being “superior” are slowly realising how the gap between the rich and the poor, on a global scale, has come to bite them where it hurts the most. We can complain that we are currently paddling at the far end of industrialisation, democracy, and all the other theories that are being ‘sold’ to everyone, Africa is surely getting somewhere.

Compared to America, Europe and most recently, the East, Africa is surely at grass root level, blandly tightening its grip on world trade tenets and world economics creed, amongst other things. This is not a flaw. It is certainly a plus to the continent that has been looked down upon for so many years, to a point that it was labeled ‘third world’. Out of how many I ask? Who is second and who is first? Do we have to follow the same route that these so called ‘giants’ took? I wonder.

We have heard the story many times before, how Christopher Columbus discovered America. But how do you discover something that is already there, people have questioned? Native American folks were already crawling on the face of that part of the world when Columbus docked in with his crew. Same applies to Africa. Folks were here way before Vasco Da Gama, Cecil Rhodes, David Livingstone and his team came with tape measures and started pegging land; dividing it equally amoungst themselves. I think the game was (is) called “Scramble for Africa”. Maybe this continent wouldn’t be so divided after all.

A lot of talk has emerged around the subject of land and land reform. The blame game continues, as people point fingers at who they suppose is the cause of all this raucous behaviour that has come to characterise Africa. Like I said, I am not poor, but I am disadvantaged. Maybe if poverty was hereditary then most certainly I would be more than happy to stick my name next to my ancestral fetter. I doubt they were poor. Infact, they were rich in their own way. Animal skin or no animal skin, I doubt they woke up in the morning to check how the markets were doing, or if the currency was becoming weak and they needed to sell their shares on the stock exchange. Too bad the “First World’ was conned to believe ‘she’ is in charge. Who put ‘Her’ in charge anyway, I ask?

 As long as you got brains sitting in that casing attached to your neck and shoulders, you are not poor. As long as you can wake up and smell the fresh scent of blossoming flowers in the air, with an idea brewing slowly at the back of your head, you are not poor. As long as the future is what matters to you, without looking back to prop your middle finger at the one whom you think brought all this mishap unto you, you are not poor. Find that precious map within you. Its there, it exists. Otherwise Africa would not be standing on its feet centuries after its brains, heart and muscle power was stolen from it. We build it from scratch, help or no help. As a matter of fact, the so-called ‘third’ world is slowly becoming the ‘first’ world, if you were to scrape off that pride of yours and warm-heartedly give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. You wouldn’t do that would you?

So don’t call me ‘poor’. I’m simply disadvantaged. Given a chance and the right resources, I could be where you are, or even better. I never wished for this, and neither did you. But while you still having that nice cup of coffee know that I’m busy learning how I can “sell” it to you one of these days.

Till next time....