I’ll start with the most obvious, clichéd view of Africa.  A giraffe saunters serenely across to nibble the top of an acacia tree.  What does that spell to you?  Safari?  Well, the word actually has nothing to do with overcharging German tourists for the canned-Africa experience, complete with champagne at sunset and the ‘Out of Africa’ soundtrack; not to mention balloon rides over the Serengeti.  It means a long, hard journey. 

Everyone has an opinion about Africa and it’s not always the gin-soaked safari one.  For millions of people Africa = poverty, famine and an unparalleled opportunity to do good.  There’s plenty of poverty etc to go round and it’s not all in Africa, but it seems to have become the charity flagship.  Who hasn’t had images of children suffering wide-eyed from malnutrition burned on their retinas by the news, Live Aid, AIDS coverage, Comic relief and so on ad infinitum.

It’s not that all those images are false; all opinions are, after all, valid.  They’re not the whole picture though, but mere marketing images – mindbytes projected to sell you something, get you to put your hand in your pocket in the name of Africa the holiday destination, Africa the charitable cause.

Why does everyone seem to have such clear opinions though?  Maybe it’s because Africa, hailed as the cradle of humankind, symbolises home for the citizens of our fragmented universe.  You have to be careful about being patriotic, there’s a fine line between it and fascism, but everyone may focus compassion on Africa, the global victim of all the things our capitalist hearts flee from.  Or perhaps it’s guilt, guilt for Africa the colonised, slaved and enslaved, mined, raped and pillaged.

These days Africa is colonised by NGO’s and their herds of white Toyota Landcruisers.  The most common topic of conversation amongst these communities seems to be the startlingly appalling level of corruption and how the people they are here to help try to rip them off along the way.  Those who can dismount from their over-privileged first word high horses eventually appreciate it for what it is; a continent getting it’s own back by ripping off the bwana.  People cheerfully leave street kids etc at home to come and help Africa.  Then they expect gratitude.  The first world keeps the third world in thrall, by means economic and charitable.

Things I take for granted that you might not: