Women in Lesotho are not waiting for international agencies to provide food; they are creating extraordinarily productive “keyhole gardens” in their neighborhood, growing large amounts of green vegetables, and protecting themselves from hunger.7 Committed individuals have adapted traditional processes to form sustainable businesses: solar drying cookers for fruit in Uganda, ethanol-fueled stoves in Ethiopia, and biomass ovens in Tanzania.8
The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding is attempting to promote peace and prevent future conflicts after years of civil war, warlordism, and the widespread use of child soldiers.9 Rangers in Virunga National Park in the DRC are fighting to protect the wild animals, including the endangered mountain gorillas, that live there—despite the fact that in the course of a decade more than 150 of their men have been killed and some abducted.10
In Zambia, Hammerskjoeld Simwinga, the head of the North Luanga Wildlife Conservation and Community Development Programme, has campaigned to protect biodiversity while helping villagers in the region through education, rural health and women's empowerment initiatives, and micro-lending programs. In Mozambique, musician Feliciano dos Santos is touring remote villages in Niassa Province to promote the importance of sanitation and water conservation using compostable toilets. In Liberia, Silas Kpanan’Ayoung Siakor's documentation of human rights abuses in the logging sector, and the use of proceeds from logging to fund the country's civil war, led to a UN Security Council ban on the export of Liberian timber.11
In Kenya, Dekha Ibrahim Abdi, a Muslim woman, has worked for peace in the troubled north of the country and has established the Oasis of Peace Centre in Mombasa to foster mediation.12 In 2006, Alfred Taban from Sudan, Zainab Hawa Bangura of Sierra Leone, Immaculée Birhaheka from the DRC, and Reginald Matchaba-Hove from Zimbabwe received awards from the United States' National Endowment for Democracy for “their contributions to the advancement of democracy, human rights, gender equality, government transparency and free and fair elections in their homelands.”13 Zackie Achmat's Treatment Action Campaign is working to make access to antiretroviral treatments along with HIV/AIDS care and prevention available all across South Africa.14 Kenyan marathoner Tegla Loroupe is using her worldwide fame to promote peaceful coexistence and development in eastern Africa.15
These actions, undertaken by individuals—some of whom are well known, others not, but all extraordinary—don't necessarily involve multimillion-dollar aid grants or governmental approval. Nonetheless they are changing perceptions and realities on the ground. As these people and countless others illustrate, it is ultimately Africans themselves who have to determine their future. Where there is poverty and environmental degradation, Africans must work with what they have and join together to solve their immediate needs while increasing their chances of future prosperity by regenerating forests, protecting watersheds, and practicing efficient agriculture. Where there are business opportunities and abundant natural resources, Africans must use them wisely and for the good of Africans, developing their own industries and circulating capital within their countries. Where there is a need for foreign investment and partnership, Africans must behave shrewdly, and encourage honesty and transparency, and not give away what they have so cheaply through ignorance or corruption.
And, of course, where there is poor leadership, Africans need to stand up for the leaders they want and not settle for the leaders they get. Too many African leaders have been the narrow heroes of their micro-nations rather than genuine statesmen for the whole macro-nation. They have played upon people's desire to follow someone who will lead them from their difficulties to immediate riches rather than joining with them to solve their own problems by exploiting their own talents.
In their unwillingness to share with other micro-nations, micro-national leaders have precipitated many of the past, and current, conflicts that bedevil Africa. When everyone fights to have all of the pie, all that anyone is left with are crumbs. If African leadership cannot or will not prevent the leaders of their countries' micro-nations from fighting each other, how can they stop conflicts between their nation-states, let alone hope to realize the African Union's vision of a united continent?
What is necessary is for these leaders (and the people they claim to represent) to recognize that, even within the context of democracy, all the micro-nations have a right to play a role in the macro-nation. This is the case no matter how large or small in numbers a micro-nation may be, or how well or how poorly they are represented in parliament or national administration. Majority rule is not sufficient. Even the smallest micro-nation and its leaders need to participate in governance—and not fear that their grievances about being left out are evidence of “tribalism.”
The watchwords for Africa must be accountability, responsibility, equity, and service. With these in the hearts of every African, it will be more likely that their children will go to school rather than become soldiers or be forced to work in the fields; citizens will feel empowered to challenge leaders before they co-opt the army or the police to become tyrants; the integrity of women's bodies will be honored, and they will have a chance to bring about the kind of change that enhances the strength of the voices, rights, and, indeed, lives of men and women in African societies across the continent.
And finally, we will have a generation of Africans who embrace a set of values, like service for the common good, and commitment, persistence, and patience until a goal is realized. They will live their lives for something larger than themselves. Like Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Julius Nyerere, and Kwame Nkrumah—who are known and admired for the tasks they undertook that were beyond their narrow self-interests, who had a vision for their continent, and who were often scorned or ignored—they will not accept the status quo. But with honesty and integrity and resilience they will keep working. Like these heroes, they will understand that they can no longer wait for the forces that have held Africa in check to move out of the way.
RESTORATION
When the Norwegian Nobel Committee decided to award me the Peace Prize in 2004, they were sending a number of messages. The prize wasn't only a call for the environment to be at the center of work for peace; it was also an acknowledgment for the African people in general, for the struggles they face every day. It was a demonstration of how important the environment and natural resources are in making sure we survive; and it was a message of hope for the continent.
It was also saying to African women, in particular, that women can make an impact, although their ideas and actions are often dismissed. In addition, it was a recognition of the many citizens around the world who had been working on a set of similar issues—the environment, human rights, democracy, women's rights, and peace-building—and had not perhaps seen the connections between them. I was honored to be the symbol for that collective.
Over the years, it has become clear to me that in advocating for the environment, and seeing the manifold ways that a degraded environment harms the life of the smallest community and the entire continent of Africa, the connection between who I am as an African and the abstractions of peace, democratic space, and development is deeper than words can say. In seeking restoration for my continent, I am quite literally restoring myself—as, I believe, is every African—because who we are is bound up in the rivers and streams, the trees and the valleys. It is bound up in our languages, rich in aphorisms from the natural world and our fragile and almost forgotten past. We are fighting for the future of our children, and the children of the men and women who grew up with us, and the future generations of other species.
In looking at the vast riches of the Congo Basin forests, for instance, it is possible to see that, in the peoples' dependence on the natural resources around them, all of us can reach a deeper appreciation of the fact that it is what is not human that ensures that we continue to exist. Without human beings, the creatures and plants and trees would flourish; but without those species, human beings have no hope of survival. This is why in thinking about human rights, we
need to reach another level of consciousness to appreciate that these other species, too, have a right to their existence and their piece of the Earth.
This struggle to preserve what they have and hold it close to them is one that all Africans—indeed, all peoples—should engage in. Because if the soil is denuded and the waters are polluted, the air is poisoned, wildlife is lost, and the mineral riches are mined and sold beyond the continent, nothing will be left that we can call our own. And when we have nothing to call our own, we have nothing to reflect back to us who we truly are. Without the mirror that the natural world presents to us, we will no longer see ourselves, and we will forget who we are.
This is why our work is reclamation—bringing back what is essential so we can move forward. Planting trees, speaking our languages, telling our stories, and not dismissing the lives of our ancestors are all part of the same act of conservation—all constituent elements of the broader ecosystem on which human life depends. We need to protect our local foods, remember how to grow and cook them, and serve and eat them. We must remember how to make our clothes and wear them with pride; we need to recall our mother tongues and, literally, mind our language. Let us practice our spirituality and dance our dances, revivify our symbols and rediscover our communal character. Without these cultural acts of recreation, we are merely fashion victims, food faddists, going through empty rituals and employing pointless markers to get ahead in a world devoid of depth or meaning. We are vulnerable to anyone who wishes to exploit us.
Africans must make a deliberate choice to move forward together toward more cohesive macro-nations, where all can feel free, secure, and at peace with themselves and others, where there is no need for any group to organize violence against their neighbors. Then, everyone would begin to reap the benefits of unity in diversity.
Acknowledgments
First of all, thanks must go to Mia MacDonald of Brighter Green and Martin Rowe of Lantern Books for their dedication, intelligence, skill, and hard work in the development and execution of The Challenge for Africa. I want to express my appreciation to my editor, Erroll McDonald, for his great interest in, and enthusiasm for, this book and for bringing it into the world. I would also like to thank Sangamithra Iyer for providing research assistance, and Serge Bounda for his considerable expertise on the Congo Basin ecosystem.
I also acknowledge all those in my constituency of Tetu who worked so hard to make the Constituency Development Fund and other projects a success; the staff and members of the Green Belt Movement and Green Belt Movement International, who continue to strive to fulfill our mission; and our friends and supporters in Kenya and around the world, too numerous to mention here, but who provide me with continual inspiration and encouragement.
As always I would not have been able to complete this book without the unswerving support of my children—Waweru, Wanjira, and Muta. They are both Africa's and my future.
The Challenge for Africa is a call for genuine leadership that puts peoples' welfare first, places the environment at the center of development, and maintains a vision of the future founded on justice and sustainability. To that extent, it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the millions of people who have labored without recognition for the future of the African continent—including all who have stood up for freedom and demanded accountability, responsibility, and respect from those who have claimed to be their leaders. We may never know their names, but the freedom and dignity they strove for must never be forgotten.
Notes
One THE FARMER OF YAOUNDé
1 Arthur Bright, “South Africa's Anti-Immigrant Violence Spreads to Cape Town,” Christian Science Monitor, May 23, 2008.
2 “Poverty Rates in Sub-Saharan Africa Steadily Declining Over Last Ten Years: Report,” Ethiopian News Agency, August 28, 2008.
3 “The State of Africa's Children, 2008,” UNICEF, May 28, 2008.
4 Cathy Maj tenyi, “Women Have Strong Voice in Rwandan Parliament,” Voice of America, July 16, 2007.
Two A LEGACY OF WOES
1 See Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa.
2 See Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost.
3 “Zambia: Rise of African Nationalism (1945-1964),” EISA, www.eisa.org.za.
4 See Meredith, The Fate of Africa, p. 176.
5 For the history of Africa in precolonial times, see Wikipedia entries for “Ashanti,” “Benin,” “Dahomey,” “Great Zimbabwe,” “Kongo,” “Mali,” “Songhai,” “Sankore,” “Zulu” (accessed on September 2, 2008).
Three PILLARS OF GOOD GOVERNANCE
1 See Meredith, The Fate of Africa, p. 142.
2 Elsa Artadi and Xavier Sala-i-Martin, “The Economic Tragedy of the XXth Century: Growth in Africa,” NBER Working Paper #9865, July 2003.
3 Table 6:1, “Africa's Growth Tragedy: An Institutional Perspective,” Economic Growth in the 1990s: Learning from a Decade of Reform, World Bank, 2005 p. 275.
4 See, for instance, “Timeline: Democratic Republic of Congo,” BBC News, April 30, 2008.
5 See Stiglitz, Making Globalization Work, p. 11.
6 See “War Against Women: The Use of Rape as a Weapon in Congo's Civil War,” CBS News, January 13, 2008; and “IRC Study Shows Congo's Neglected Crisis Leaves 5.4 Million Dead,” International Rescue Committee, January 22, 2008, www.theirc.org.
7 See Theo Mushi, “IMF Optimistic About Africa Development Prospects,” IPP Media, February 19, 2008.
8 Martin Ravallion and Shaohua Chen, “The Developing World Is Poorer Than We Thought but No Less Successful in the Fight Against Poverty,” World Bank, August 26, 2008.
9 “Sub-Saharan Africa Spring 2008 Regional Economic Outlook: Growth Expected to Remain Robust but Global Developments Cloud Prospects,” International Monetary Fund press release, April 12, 2008.
10 Economic Report on Africa, 2008, Economic Commission on Africa, p. 62.
11 See AVERT, www.avert.org/aidsbotswana.htm (accessed on September 2, 2008).
12 UN Human Development Report 2007 /2008, pp. 229-30.
13 “Reducing the Global Incidence of Civil War: A Discussion of the Available Policy Instruments,” Inwent—Capacity Building International, Germany, October 8, 2004, www.inwent.org/ef-texte/military/collier.htm (accessed September 2, 2008).
Four AID AND THE DEPENDENCY SYNDROME
1 The session is viewable at www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8CF4Eo XjD0.
2 See Larry Elliott, “Elephant in the Room Can't Leave It All Up to Sharon,” The Guardian, January 31, 2005. The initial amount pledged was thought to be $1 million.
3 Mark Sundberg and Alan Gelb, “Making Aid Work,” Finance & Development, International Monetary Fund, December 2006, vol. 43, no. 4.
4 “Global Fund Money Will Make Mosquito Nets Widely Available in Tanzania,” Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria press release, December 2, 2002.
5 “Malaria—Facts & Figures,” 2004, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; see also “The Impact of Malaria, a Leading Cause of Death Worldwide,” U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/malaria/impact/index.htm (accessed September 2008).
6 “Malaria: The Impact of Malaria, a Leading Cause of Death Worldwide,” U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/malaria/impact/index.htm (accessed September 2008).
7 See Easterly, The White Man's Burden, pp. 4-5.
8 “AIDS Epidemic Update 2007,” Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization, 2007.
9 James Whitworth, “Malaria and HIV,” HIV inSITE Knowledge Base Chapter, May 2006, hivinsite.ucsf.edu/InSite?page=kb-05-04-04#S2X (accessed September 2008).
10 See Sachs, The End of Poverty, pp. 227-38; and www.millenniumpromise.org.
11 “The Magnificent Seven,” Economist, April 27, 2006.
12 Eliza Barclay, “How a Kenyan Village Tripled Its Corn Harvest,” Christian Science Monitor, June 17, 2008.
13 See “Tackling the Silent Killer: The Case for Sanitati
on,” Water Aid, July 2008; and Gumisai Mutume, “Rough Road to Sustainable Development,” Africa Renewal 18:2(July 2004).
14 All data in this paragraph is from “Regional Economic Outlook: SubSaharan Africa, April 08,” International Monetary Fund; G-8 Aid: DATA [Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa], June 2008.
Five DEFICITS: INDEBTEDNESS AND UNFAIR TRADE
1 Lydia Polgreen, “Angolans Come Home to ‘Negative Peace,’” New York Times, July 30, 2003; and “Angola: Towards Peace and Democracy (2002-2007),” EISA, www.eisa.org.za/WEP/angoverview10.htm (accessed September 2008).
2 United Nations Economic Report on Africa, 2008, p. 49.
3 Sharon LaFraniere, “As Angola Rebuilds, Most Find Their Poverty Persists,” New York Times, October 14, 2007.
4 UN Human Development Report 2007 /2008.
5 “Angola: Thousands Forcibly Evicted in Postwar Boom,” Human Rights Watch, May 17, 2007.
6 See Richard Black, “Africa Fish Fall Blamed on Japan,” BBC News, June 24, 2008.
7 UN Integrated Regional Information Networks, “And Then There Were No Fish,” November 21, 2007.
8 “The Crisis of Marine Plunder in Africa,” ISS Today, October 2, 2007, www.iss.co.za.
9 “Africa Moves to Stop Fish Theft,” BBC News, July 2, 2008.
10 “Crisis in African Fish Supplies Looms, Experts Warn Africa Leaders,” World Fish Center, August 21, 2005.
11 “Fisheries Link to Bushmeat Trade,” BBC News, November 12, 2004.
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