My name is Ogochukwu Chinelo Daniella Okpala, I am a young lady from Anambra state in Nigeria… I’m Igbo. I’m Nigerian!!!
It has come to my notice that people (white, black, Hispanic… etc) use the term Africa/African a lot. I also noticed that people don’t use Europe/European, North America/North Americans… etc a lot. It has also come to my notice that people make sentences like this: ” … I wanna thank all my American, Jamaican, Japanese, German, and African…” can you pick the odd one out in that statement???
I can not stress this enough AFRICA IS NOT A COUNTRY!
Africa is a land mass, you can’t define someone based on land mass alone. We need to stop categorizing people as Africa or using the term Africa in context of a country/nation.
Africa is made up of beautiful, diverse people with different cultures and traditions. The only thing most people that happen to be located in that beautiful land mass have in common is race.
Nigeria alone has over 200 languages, one state can have like ten different tribes. And this is just one country.
Notice how in movies or documentaries, they say ” I went to Paris then Africa” or they write “somewhere in Africa” but then write “Isla Mujeres, Mexico” why don’t they write “An Island in South America”?
Learn to love your country, If someone asks if you are African, say “no I’m Nigerian/Tanzanian/Ghanaian/Sudanese/Botswanian/Togolese…”. You are not a piece of land, you are part of a people, a culture, a tradition, you are what makes a huge piece of land relevant, you are what adds substance to a piece of land, you are part of a beautiful nation. When you love and claim your country and show how wonderful it is, people will know that there is a very special place that adds meaning to this great continent called Africa. Then they will realize that it is indeed the countries that make up the continent and add meaning to it.
Don’t take your Nationality lightly, be proud of your Country, but love your neighbors and respect other nations. Be good to people, because at the end we all have one thing in common… We are all humans. :)
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