Africa my Africa
By. Toris Okotie (The African Poet)
Africa my Africa
Africa my motherland
Mother or Fatherland
Childless you went almost
But he that intervened
The God of all nations
Africa my Africa
Mother of nations great
Nigeria in the west
Ethiopia in the east remains
With labor pangs
You brought them forth
Africa my Africa
Father of Egypt
To the north, be so planted
And Zimbabwe, the south remains
And for Africa that mothered them all
Africa my Africa
Your discovery had brought you pains
Children and grandchildren
To the great sea you lost
Continents with them were fed
Africa my Africa
In Vain labor no more
Loose a child, but to no one
Your great nations do protect
For he shall intervene
When you cry for help.
SONG OF ADMONITION
By Emeka Azuine
Africa:
My ancestors taught you
You refused the counsel of the wise
What new knowledge will I teach you
As I do not breed Solomon's blood?
Africa:
Learn this song I sing
Never let it slip like rain and moon
Look and see your children cry
As burdens of hunger suck them dry.
Africa:
Hear and see them writhe
In agonies of disharmony they fry
As wars rip their skulls
So in grief and weary do my heart bleed.
Africa:
Thus will my ancestors and I bleed
Till you rid your camps of manless men
Whose spirits paddle our lives
In the seas of death where they live.
Mandingo Warriors
By Y. Olivas
The Mandingo (formally known as The Mandinka) are a Mandé ethnic group in West Africa. There are large populations in Mali, Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Guinea Bissau and even small communities in the central African nation of Chad. Mandinkas speak the Mandinka language which is similar (and largely mutually intelligible to Mandé languages such as Bambara, Soninke and Maninka or Malinké. Today, the vast majority Mandinka are Muslim
Onu-iyi-ama
By Y. Olivas
One who enters a forest does not listen to the breaking of the twigs in the brush.( African proverb)
(Explanation..) One who embarks upon a task should not begin to fear or look for the slightest obstacles in his or her endeavors. The person should remain focused on the task despite what one may hear or see in the process of the quest. Ignoring fruitless or imaginary distractions is the key to achievement.
Mother Africa
By Y.Olivas
The person who has not traveled widely thinks his or her mother is the only cook. (African Proverb)
(Explanation..) This Ugandan proverb (found in many African languages to produce a continent-wide proverb cluster) describes a person who remains at home without visiting other people and without traveling to other places. The person is used to his or her home only and to the food in his or her own home. But the proverb teaches the very opposite value to just staying at home and encourages people to go out and learn from others. Without doing this human beings can be self- centered and think that they are better than others. By staying in their own little world people become isolated.
This and similar African proverbs point to the same universal truth. If people stay in the same place, if human beings are confined to a particular country or group of people or point of view or ideology, then they can remain individualistic, provincial, tribalistic, nationalistic, and racialistic. Thus people stay in their narrow, ghetto-like worlds.
But this Ganda proverb teaches the universal human experience of moving out, of going elsewhere. This reaching out experience is a learning experience as seen in many similar African proverbs and sayings. Traveling broadens the mind and enlarges one's experience. The missionary experience is very similar. It is an experience of moving out and reaching out. "And Jesus said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation" (Mark 16:15). Missionaries are not meant to look inward only but to reach out. Missionaries are called to explore new vistas and new ways of doing things, to be flexible and ready for new experiences. Missionaries adapt to new and unexpected situations.
Rev. Joseph G. Healey, M.M.
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania