Ignorance of Africa

There are a number of tellers out there who do stories related to all types of cultures from all over the world. This is a very lucrative stance to take in that it opens you up for all sorts of opportunities to perform and earn a living. I’m often asked by other storytellers why I focus so much on Africa. This is easy to explain. Allow me to share with you a very short anecdote.

One day I was visiting a school. It was an elementary school in Southern California. I could tell that the staff was excited, which translated into the children being excited.

As I was setting up for the assembly in the cafeteria/auditorium, a teacher approached me. Her enthusiasm was infectious. She asked me if I could help her. She wanted to know how to say “hello” in African.

I’ve had a lot of experience with this question so I’ve learned how to handle it gracefully. I explained to her that there are more than 800 distinct languages on the continent of Africa and that my fluency was limited to only one: Bamankan. I then taught her how to say: “hello,” “thank you,” and “goodbye.” When we finished she looked a little dumbfounded and asked me, “Are there really more than 800 languages in Africa?”

I saw this as an opening to instruct so I went on to tell her that Africa is 30 million square km. In fact, the whole United States, India, Europe, New Zealand, and China would fit inside the continent of Africa. You should have seen her face light up!

We talked for a little while longer while I continued setting up. She admitted that she didn’t know any of this stuff.

Later that day I reflected on the fact that this young woman is charged with the delicate responsibility of educating our children. The disappointment wasn’t that she didn’t possess a basic cultural knowledge but that her unawareness was not an isolated theme in our educational system. I don’t claim that everyone should know everything about Africa. I would never do that. What I would like to see is a little more respect and attention awarded the site of humanity’s birth.

So, even though the road to telling tales from around the world may be a bit more lucrative, I have to remain with, what I believe to be, my work as a teller: teaching, through storytelling and music, the beauty, history and diverse cultures who inhabit the continent we call Africa.

This is one reason why I do what I do.

“Dooni dooni kononi bè nyaga da.”