REWRITING AFRICA - by Sammy Góld

For a long time, Africa has been described by people standing outside it.They wrote about our cultures. They documented our struggles. They described our people. They told stories about our land.And eventually, some of those stories became the image the world carried of Africa.But there is a problem with allowing other people to tell your story for too long.They may know your history without knowing your heart.Today, the pen has changed.It is no longer only the novelist.It is the filmmaker choosing which African story reaches the screen.It is the publisher deciding which African voice deserves to be heard.It is the journalist choosing which African reality becomes tomorrow's headline.It is the social media creator deciding what millions of people should see when they hear the word “Africa.”And sometimes, it is us.We complain that the world sees Africa through poverty, corruption, violence and suffering, yet sometimes those are the only stories we repeatedly push forward.We should tell the truth about our problems.Absolutely.Literature should not become propaganda.A writer who hides suffering is not helping society.But Africa is more than its wounds.There are African scientists building.Young people creating businesses.Writers preserving languages and cultures.Artists taking African creativity to the world.Farmers feeding communities.Students carrying dreams far bigger than their circumstances.Families creating joy in places the world would only describe as hardship.These are African stories too.The problem is not that Africa has been written about.The problem is that Africa has too often been reduced to a single narrative.And no continent is a single story.That is why African writers matter.Not because every African must write only about Africa.But because Africans should have the freedom to define themselves beyond the descriptions handed to them.We need stories that confront corruption.Stories that celebrate resilience.Stories that expose injustice.Stories that preserve culture.Stories that imagine possibilities.Stories that show Africa as it is, not merely as others expect it to be.Because whoever controls the story influences how people understand the people inside it.And today, we have something previous generations did not have at this scale.We have the platforms.A phone can become a camera.A social media account can become a publishing house.A young writer can reach readers across continents without waiting for permission from a traditional gatekeeper.So perhaps our responsibility is no longer simply to complain about how Africa is portrayed.Perhaps we should create better portrayals ourselves.Write.Film.Document.Publish.Tell the stories our grandparents carried.Tell the stories our streets are creating.Tell the stories of the Africa that is struggling.And tell the stories of the Africa that is becoming.Because Africa does not need a perfect story.It needs a truthful one.And perhaps the next chapter should not be written for us.It should be written by us.©️ Sammy Góld

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