CanadaNews’ Reporter Notes

The American, heck…the Western media as a whole want you to believe that Africa is a Third-World Wasteland; land a world a way. They’d want you to believe that Africa is one country…that people there don’t wear shoes, or have proper clothes, or speak proper English, and probably the most importantly – view the various nations of Africa as uncivilized.

Even with the understanding that several archeologist and world renowned scholars strongly believe [and proven] that the human race is of African origin, some people in the media still only sees the negative side of Africa; or a very untrue side of the continent. Yes, I said continent – not country. Did you know the oldest known skeletal remains of anatomically modern humans (or homo sapiens) were excavated at sites in East Africa. Human remains were discovered at Omo in Ethiopia that were dated at 195,000 years old, the oldest known in the world.

Also, skeletons of pre-humans have been found in Africa that date back between 4 and 5 million years.

Yet, many in my craft want you to believe that Africa is filled with hungry children, flies everywhere, people dying or diseases the West says they have eradicated, everyone has HIV or AIDS, wild animals can be found meandering around the small villages, and nothing ever happens there.

Africa, the continent, has a rich and vast history. Africans pioneered basic arithmetic 25,000 years ago. The Ishango bone is a tool handle with notches carved into it found in the Ishango region of Zaïre (now called Congo) near Lake Edward. The bone tool was originally thought to have been over 8,000 years old, but a more sensitive recent dating has given dates of 25,000 years old. Africans even cultivated crops 12,000 years ago. A professor discovered that people in Egypt’s Western Desert cultivated crops of barley, capers, chick-peas, dates, legumes, lentils and wheat.

And Africans carved the world’s first colossal sculpture 7,000 or more years ago. You may have heard of it, The Great Sphinx of Giza. In October 1991 Professor Robert Schoch, a geologist from Boston University, demonstrated that the Sphinx was sculpted between 5000 BC and 7000 BC, dates that he considered conservative.

In present day, there are great things going on in Africa. More people should know. Did you know that some Africans play the stock market? They buy mutual funds, and are high-ranking CEOs in mega businesses.

One of the major successes is the number if black Africans that invest in companies like Databank. Databank, founded in April 1990, provides corporate and public finance advisory services to companies in Ghana. They also do business in Nigeria, Kenya, and Botswana. Specifically, Databank wants to provide innovative and responsive corporate finance, brokerage, fund management and research services to local and foreign individuals, multinational companies, institutions, and portfolio investors for the ECOWAS sub-region.

Africa has many stock markets, skyscrapers and high rises, Internet cafes and a growing middle class. Some Africans think if more investors were to fall in line with Databank they would see that investing in Africa and African made products/industry will aid in reducing job stagnation, poverty and limited access to education and health care.

The Ghanaian Stock Exchange, founded in February 1989, has become more and more successful. It has topped the list of some of the world’s highest performing stock markets. Even the southern African country of Botswana is known for having an almost perfect credit rating. Statistics have shown the country to have one of the highest per capita government saving rates worldwide.

There are jewels in Africa; as you can see. These good governments and fiscal policies have enabled many countries like Senegal, Uganda, Botswana, and Ghana to all have flourishing economies.

It’s true that some African businesses lack infrastructure, but they find ways to still move forward.

Remember, life in the West isn’t perfect. There are at LEAST two Americas. There is one based on your financial situation. There is one based on your religion. There is one based on the colour of your skin. There is one based on your educational background. The United States might be the land of the free and the home of the brave to some; and to others it can be a total nightmare.

With all of this being said, there may always be two Africas the world will see: the one the Western media wants you to see, and the one where many industries see as huge benefits. Hopefully, when you are watching what the general media is throwing out there, you will remember there is another side of the story.