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"Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds."
Gordon B Hinckley
What does your country, mean to you?...
I mean really, what does the continent Africa mean to you?...
What's your nation; Sudan, Kenya, Liberia, perhaps Burundi worth to you?...
No really, what is Africa's worth to you?...
I mean really, what does the continent Africa mean to you?...
What's your nation; Sudan, Kenya, Liberia, perhaps Burundi worth to you?...
No really, what is Africa's worth to you?...
So the iPhone 5 was just released. I know, I know, I want one too. But here's the problem, the phone costs £529 and living on a student budget, that's not really an option. Good thing about life, is that there's always another option. In this case, the Chinese clone, which I could probably bargain for, because there's no way I could possibly walk into an Apple store and start negotiating a price change at the cashier but I know for a fact I could walk to any ordinary phone vendors and buy a dual sim iPhone 5 at a satisfactory price which wouldn't clean me out of my last penny.
Let me to tell you a story about two farmers. One spent time on his farm, weeded it before planting the seeds and after planting he made sure his plants were watered regularly. When harvesting time came and it was time to go to the market to sell his produce, the man understood the hard work he had put in to get to this point and he would rather come back home with his crops, than sell them at a throw away price. The second, simply threw in the seeds, hoped it would rain and when harvesting time came, he took what had grown of his crops and was off to the market. He knew his crops were not the best in the market and would sell them to the first buyer for pocket change.
Now there's a reason our governments manipulate our daily lives. There's a reason in Africa we accepts deals that only benefit the other parties and not our nations or continent. Governments have managed to incite ethnic clashes, tribal wars, religious wars, among others. They have failed to listen to the people and instead based their decisions on self interest. Recently oil companies have come into Africa and many have been left homeless after promises of being resettled so that oil can be extracted from the lands they were living on.
Take a minute, and think about this question. What makes up a country?
A nation is made up of three main factors. THE LAND. THE PEOPLE. THE GOVERNMENT. The land is of no use if the people aren't growing, building and developing it and the government is there to work for the people because without the people, there is no government. The people have the power to vote in leaders and impeach leaders so when all these politicians are up there standing, speaking to you saying how they will do this and that for you, sounding like they are doing YOU a FAVOR and you turn around to the next guy saying how "he's a nice guy", no my friend, it's his duty.
See the reason that farmer would rather come back with his crops than just sell them at give away prices, is because he knows the worth of his hard work. The reason I respect the iPhone 5 and know I can't even try bargaining for it, is because I recognise the hard work Apple have put into developing it. Apple have set their standards, like it or not, you will buy the iPhone 5 at the given price in whichever country you are in or just rock your Nokia phone. So why haven't we, until now set our standards for our nations?
Until we, as a people, realise and are conscious of the fact that these are OUR countries and that Africa is OUR continent, and work hard to build our nations, together, selflessly and without prejudice against one another, we will always remain a "third world" continent. It doesn't matter how much oil, diamond, gold or iron we have, they will never be of benefit to the African children until the day we realize our worth. The day the future of our countries, our people and our continent matters more than our selfish interests and prejudice thinking, we will surely know our worth, we will have the power to say no to rotten deals, say no to rotten governments and yes to the future of the African child. When you know your worth, others recognise it too. Our governments will no longer play us and traders will no longer lay one sided deals on the table for us.
Let me to tell you a story about two farmers. One spent time on his farm, weeded it before planting the seeds and after planting he made sure his plants were watered regularly. When harvesting time came and it was time to go to the market to sell his produce, the man understood the hard work he had put in to get to this point and he would rather come back home with his crops, than sell them at a throw away price. The second, simply threw in the seeds, hoped it would rain and when harvesting time came, he took what had grown of his crops and was off to the market. He knew his crops were not the best in the market and would sell them to the first buyer for pocket change.
Now there's a reason our governments manipulate our daily lives. There's a reason in Africa we accepts deals that only benefit the other parties and not our nations or continent. Governments have managed to incite ethnic clashes, tribal wars, religious wars, among others. They have failed to listen to the people and instead based their decisions on self interest. Recently oil companies have come into Africa and many have been left homeless after promises of being resettled so that oil can be extracted from the lands they were living on.
Take a minute, and think about this question. What makes up a country?
A nation is made up of three main factors. THE LAND. THE PEOPLE. THE GOVERNMENT. The land is of no use if the people aren't growing, building and developing it and the government is there to work for the people because without the people, there is no government. The people have the power to vote in leaders and impeach leaders so when all these politicians are up there standing, speaking to you saying how they will do this and that for you, sounding like they are doing YOU a FAVOR and you turn around to the next guy saying how "he's a nice guy", no my friend, it's his duty.
See the reason that farmer would rather come back with his crops than just sell them at give away prices, is because he knows the worth of his hard work. The reason I respect the iPhone 5 and know I can't even try bargaining for it, is because I recognise the hard work Apple have put into developing it. Apple have set their standards, like it or not, you will buy the iPhone 5 at the given price in whichever country you are in or just rock your Nokia phone. So why haven't we, until now set our standards for our nations?
Until we, as a people, realise and are conscious of the fact that these are OUR countries and that Africa is OUR continent, and work hard to build our nations, together, selflessly and without prejudice against one another, we will always remain a "third world" continent. It doesn't matter how much oil, diamond, gold or iron we have, they will never be of benefit to the African children until the day we realize our worth. The day the future of our countries, our people and our continent matters more than our selfish interests and prejudice thinking, we will surely know our worth, we will have the power to say no to rotten deals, say no to rotten governments and yes to the future of the African child. When you know your worth, others recognise it too. Our governments will no longer play us and traders will no longer lay one sided deals on the table for us.
So again I ask,
What does your country, mean to you?...
I mean really, what does the continent Africa mean to you?...
What's your nation; Sudan, Kenya, Liberia, perhaps Burundi worth to you?...
I mean really, what does the continent Africa mean to you?...
What's your nation; Sudan, Kenya, Liberia, perhaps Burundi worth to you?...
NO REALLY, WHAT IS, AFRICA'S WORTH TO YOU?
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