Something that my friends out here in Accra loathe is the way people love to lump everything from Algeria to Zimbabwe as "Africa". "How are things in Africa?" they say. "I don't know. I haven't seen much of it," we reply. People seem to forget that we are living in Accra, a city in Ghana, which is a country in West Africa, which is in turn part of a continent on planet Earth.
For many, Africa is this mystical place where people go and live in mut hut villages, side by side with monkeys and elephants and eat bushmeat. Maybe in Kenya they do, but in reality, Africa isn't that simple, no matter to what degree politicians and pan-Africanists try to put it into a box. (Heck, look at my blog address... I'm guilty of it too)
In reality, Africa is a much more complex and interesting entity. (For anyone interested, please read Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux) Here's an example of how diverse even two neighbouring countries can be:
On the liberal extreme, South Africa will soon join a handful of countries that has legalized same-sex marriage. Whether you agree with it or not (survey says most South Africans do not), this shows how "nontraditional" an African nation, or at least its government, can be.
Right next door in the wee nation of Swaziland, the country with the world's highest HIV infection rate, the king (yes, it is still an absolute monarchy) cancelled this year's World AIDS Day celebrations for no logical reason whatsoever. Now THAT'S conservative.
While I will only be seeing West Africa, (and only some of it, at that) I'm really excited to see the differences within the area: traditional and modern, French and English systems, military and democratic governments, tribal and cosmopolitan societies, deep jungles and Saharan sand dunes, monkeys and camels... it's a large and heterogeneous land, so the next time you hear something about "Africa" in the news, remember to think twice.
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