Transcription
The ability to open up Africa to say, come home if you wish, come to stay, come to visit, but Africa is saying welcome home—that alone is [Music] healing. This is the J to One Africa welcome, Doctor.
Thank you for having me, Trevor. What a pleasure. When I heard that you were in town, I made sure I ran around and made sure that my diary uh, fitted you in there. Thank you for creating the time to join us, and thank you for inviting me. Shall we? Shall we? Before we, I go there, let me just, you know, let people out there know that you are founder and honor of medical clinics, correct, in the US, um, known as the Bell Family Medical Centers. You are a diplomat; you are a public speaker; you are an educator; you an entrepreneur—that entire bouquet. What do you enjoy the most?
Mommy, Mommy, I missed out mommy there, and and grandmother too.
Grand—not grandmother. No, no, no, no, no. Grandmothers are old. I’m Gigi.
You’re Gigi? Yeah. What does it mean?
Uh, that’s AKA grandmother. You know, the beauty, the beauty about this show is that I learn every time. I learn every time. So let, let’s start with um, what I think is a controversy: you’re being appointed to be the AU permanent representative to the US, the three years that you spent there, and the way you left that position. Talk to me in the first instance about what you consider to be your achievements and why the parting had to be so public, and you had people campaigning, um, writing, uh, uh, um, campaign letters to have you reinstated. But let’s start with what was your mandate, uh, what did you go there to do? What you consider to be achievements, and why this ugly parting? Okay.
And I think it’s interesting that when before we came on the air you said, “Oh, let’s start, start with the controversy,” and I’m like, “What controversy?”
Right, right. And, and also I, I felt like, you know, a lot of people feel sorry for me, and I’m like, “No, it was release,” you know, because when I went to Washington, I, I was an odd cup, an odd, an odd peak. I am a scientist through and through. I’m a little girl from Chinhoyi in Zimbabwe. Left here after high school, went to college, first degree in uh, general chemistry, second degree in organic chemistry, then on to medical school, residency in general surgery, residency in Family Medicine, straight on to private practice for 25 years—scientist through and through—and you get a call at 3:00 in the morning to say, “Oh, we want you to go be a diplomat in Washington.” Like, “Are you kidding me?” So I wake up, I think it’s a dream. I asked my husband, “Are you sure? Did you hear this conversation?” And then what follows is uh, a few months of um, back and forth, and finally I thought, “You know what? I have not been on sabbatical since I actually lived in Zimbabwe,” and I thought, “You know what? I’m just going to go and spend about six months in Washington, hang around a little bit and drink coffee and be wh—and d,” and I’ll be back. And I knew that for the fact that I would be back. So I went to Washington really feeling stupid. And I’m supposed to be the AU Ambassador, and I know nothing about diplomacy. Why are you guys doing this to me? So if you think you’re going to make a fool out of me, well, the joke is on you, ‘cause I’m not staying six months; I’m out of here, you know. But five months into it, I was staying in a hotel ‘cause I didn’t want to waste my time getting a place to stay. But what I began to see—the Zanu Revolutionary in me—I didn’t know uh, I was a revolution, but circumstances cause us to realize who we are. There were some things, I’m like, “There’s something wrong with this picture. No, no, no, no, no. That shouldn’t happen.” And after many times of attending meetings in North America, back in Africa, and I see things happening that were just blatantly wrong, and I just could not sit anymore and have these people think, as we leave the meeting, that they put wool over me and they got away with it.
So one day I just decided, “I’m done. This just doesn’t sit well with me.” So I called my husband; I said, “Um, I need to hang around and kick ass,” because what it was, it was just ridiculous. We just can’t be keep being kicked.
And I like the way you said it with the West African ass.
I did. Yeah, I’m actually West African, ‘cause my husband is from Ghana, right? And, and I said, “I’m going to hang around a little bit longer. This has to stop. I mean, we just can’t keep being pissed on and we do nothing. How, for how long?” And then after that, I said, “Okay, I’m going to get a place to stay,” and um, and then I was, I had already started traveling and speaking to the diaspora, and again the same issue. It doesn’t matter what issues I would have shared with them, detailed information about what is really going on in Africa. France is taking over $500 billion out of Africa, and I would use a simple comparison: the Watch Dogs, they say corruption, out of Africa sees 50 billion getting out of Africa every year, illicit funds. Yes, we get that; we must go after it. But I just also told you, in the same period, France would have taken over 500 billion. The first question invariably, “Ambassador, but African leaders are caught up.” I said, “What about this other thief? Why aren’t you asking me about that thief?” You got two thieves, one carrying a briefcase with 50 billion and other one carrying a briefcase with 500 billion, and you only want to talk about the one with 50. Let’s talk about both. So with that in mind, after just going so many times, and and the conversation is like, “I’m not going anywhere. The people are not hearing me.” So that’s when I just decided, one day I was on my way to yet another event with the diaspora, I called my team; I said, “Give me the camera. I’m going to talk.” And my plan was, I’m going to do this video, then I’m going to go to the event, then I’m going to give them the video so they have something to go back and listen to after what I would have said, ‘cause I felt like I’m speaking, but they’re not hearing me. So that very first video, I just did it. I was sick and tired of the French, and even politicians in Washington that are, I was talking to, they did not know about it. How could the world not know about such a blatant abuse from one of the five members of the UN Security Council? It was mind-boggling. And so I just decided that’s what I was going to do. I did not realize that very first video would go viral, that people did not know, and and that’s how it started. I was simply, I’m just a black woman who’s sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I continue to be sick and tired of being sick and tired because the abuse, the blatant abuse of us has got to stop, by the W, stop by the W. It has to stop, and it’s going to take us as a people uniting. So when I started doing those videos, um, I was actually surprised, ‘cause I just knew my days were coming to an end, and I didn’t care, because really I’m making—they, they signed me; they actually intentionally graded me as an officer. I was being paid as an officer. It’s only the last two months of my tenure that another Ambassador had said, “They’re taking advantage of you. Here’s what I’m making, and here’s what you’re making.” It was only the last two months of my tenure that they had taken me to the level of an ambassador. Even then, uh, they still graded me lower than most ambassadors, but at least I was in the territory of an ambassador. When I first got there, I was being paid as an officer, 49,000 a year, uh, plus um, there’s a small post adjustment and $3,000 um, housing allowance. So it wasn’t about money. And so why had this sent you there? They said they needed somebody who understood the American, so I guess I did, maybe they were right. So as it turns out, uh, I guess I was. But anyway, so I knew my days were numbered, and I called my husband again, and I said, “Oh, my days are numbered. I’ll be, I’ll be coming home soon.” But that didn’t happen. The director of communications at the AU, she said her grandfather, 92 years old, loved me, and she says, “I’m going to put all the videos on, on the website of the AU.” So all the videos were, were there, and uh, and then one day a phone call came, and um, I won’t mention names, but I, I make friends, and so sometimes friends they will tell me things. Yeah. So a phone call came, and um, being advised those videos must come down, and um, so the videos came down.
So you had stepped on a number of sensitive toes?
Oh, yes. The videos had to come down, and which was fine. I was told that the videos were going to come down. I said, “That’s fine,” but were, but the videos are all over the world, you know. We, it’s ridiculous that we don’t have them at the uh, African Union.
The videos—let’s just step back—the videos are the French one?
Yes. And then which one? Which other one?
That’s the main one. That’s the main one, accusing the French of stealing. Just about everyone had a mention of the French, ‘cause to me they are the biggest risk to peace and security in Africa today.
The French, the French. Yes. Why? Can you imagine if 500 billion could stay on the continent just one year? AU itself has said, if we have 10 years of 100 billion put into Africa a year, we will complete Africa’s infrastructure. That’s only two years of takings from France. Then on top of that, the peace and security issues, the wars, the CPS, the support of uh, uh, all kinds of uh, instabilities around—the others are in there too, but I feel, I feel very strongly that the French are leading the back.
Have the French responded in any way, or their responses to get you fired?
Exactly, exactly. Yeah, but it’s still, it even took five months after that phone call. It was five months before the chairman did—
What any bitterness on your side?
The way you—absolutely no. I’ve no bitterness. I was ready to go home, because also the office was useless. I’m sorry to say the truth; this is just the truth. They told me themselves that, “We are not interested in results, Ambassador.” I’m not kidding you.
Wow.
The HR Director told me, “Ambassador, you’re wasting your time. We’re not, not interested in results.” Secondly, that office had been relegated to being a protocol office. That’s it. They were not expecting anything out of it.
Wow.
Um, your—as we were chatting uh, via WhatsApp, you said to me, I asked you, “What is it that you want to talk about?” And you said to me, “I want to talk about people of African descent coming home to Africa. This is the most important issue for me. The damage of over 400 years must be reversed.” Absolutely. Why is this so important to you? Just unpack to us, and when this epiphany uh, sort of emerged as something that’s important that needs to be done.
I am a medical doctor, and you know the funny thing is, when I was uh, before I made the decision uh, to stay, you know, I, I said, “I’m a healer. Why am I hanging around here? What am I doing? You, I could be saving lives on a daily basis rather than sitting around and listening to all this nonsense,” you know um, but I remember one day I was talking—you know, you think I’ve lived in America a long time—this was about 15 years ago, and I’ve been in America for 45—an African-American girlfriend of mine uh, just she was visiting with me, and she said, “You know, you Continental Africans, you don’t have to deal with the issues that we deal with. You, you know, where you come from.” I don’t, I don’t know why, prior to that, I’d never asked myself where I come from. I just took it for granted. But for that one moment, I did ask myself, “I wonder what it feels like to not know where you come from,” and it was a very painful feeling, and I quickly snuck myself out of it. But since that day, I began paying attention to my African-American friends and patients as well, and I began trying to understand, and also this Black American experience. You, you know, we take it for granted; we talk about it, but it is a real entity. Black America has experienced life in, in, in, in the US that most of us did not really understand until George Floyd. George Floyd was an everyday experience for Black America. And so George Floyd happened to open that door. But when you know that people are a wounded people, they don’t have an anchor. When you don’t know where you come from, then everything else that you do is affected by the fact that you don’t have an anchor. And it’s a, it’s generation upon generation upon generation; they’re living this life without ever being anchored, and it affects everything they do. And so from a healing perspective, I felt that there will be a much bigger healing process that would take place if they just could be anchored. They don’t have to all come to Africa; they don’t have to even come and leave if they come, but the fact that they can go to Africa—I had an experience in South America that was quite an eye opener. I would uh, often open my presentations with, “Ambassador Arqua, um, the African Union ambassador to the United States. I was sent here to bring you home.” It was an opening line, but for some reason when I got to South America, it was so profound for them, the fact that African Union had actually sent somebody to them to come get them. It was huge. And so as I was talking, I began to see people sharing tissues, and I thought, “Did I say something?” So I had to sort of slowly wind down my speech, ‘cause I couldn’t read what was going on. And when I finally got off, the first gentleman to speak, he said, “You found us. Wow. You found us.” So that healing is needed. The ability to open up Africa to say, come home if you wish, come to stay, come to visit, but Africa is saying welcome home—that alone is healing in a very profound way. [Music] [Music]
So I want to take you back to this meeting in South America. You have come, and you’ve said to them, “I’ve come to take you back home,” and people are in tears. What goes through your mind? What, what needs to be done?
First of all, the hopelessness was palpable. I have never seen a people who is so hopeless. It was so painful. I think there, I was left even more determined to embark on this journey to bring them home.
Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, we, we, we, we don’t get it. I’m must share something that I picked up from my uh, past um, TI J on Sunday. TI J has discovered that his ancestry is EO um, Nigerian. He looks it too. I could have told him that. I didn’t need DNA testing. That, and he says the, that discovery and what it has done has been amazing in terms of affirming him, yes, and knowing who he is and where he comes from. Yes, and yet that this is not the case with a lot of Americans. Yes. So help me, help us here. So we’re dealing with that, um, for, for lack of a better word, lack of foundation and background that is affecting who we are. Yes. The, the uh, our African-American brothers, on the other hand, you, we are dealing with, with this colonial institutional abuse on a whole people. So you’re dealing with two issues here. Yes. How do you deal with those issues? How do you, how do we get to a place where we find a solution? I’m, I’m, I’m trying to hesitate; I’m hesitating saying closure, because there’s a big things uh, Doctor, that you’re dealing with. But here’s the thing: understanding the genesis of it all. Yeah. At the end of the day, as a people of African descent, no matter where you find us on Earth, we are a wounded people, and we need healing. The process of wounding us might have been different, but the results are the same. When you look at the effects of um, colonization on the continent, the effects of slavery um, in the Americas, the bottom line is we are wounded. The process, the masterminding that went behind um, the brainwashing of the black person is universal. You take for example, the fear of the white person, by us. Well, the browbeating of the African started long before the children were taken out of Africa as slaves. So by the time the children were taken out of Africa, is they were already brainwashed; they were already programmed to believe that Jesus Christ is white, that the angels are white, and that white people, even though they are not white like this cup over here—never mind that we are pinkish, but we are white like the angels—and you’re black like the devil. We took it without question, to this very day, we take it without question. So that process, whoever came up with this mastermind, these missionaries being sent to Africa, teach them how to read, but not how to reason. It was a systematic process of demoralizing us and making us accept fifth-class citizenship position. It was applied equally and, and, and absolutely um, it’s still going on to this day. So the, the, the, the two-legged monster, the associated to one slavery and then the other colonialism, the 500 billion that’s going on, hence Black Lives Matter, hence uh, all those things that are taking place, those two issues are still going on, and like, like we said of a Dr. Aruna, these are big things.
Yeah, yeah. You sound like a lone voice. That’s okay. There are many others coming up. Did you see that video about this young Kenyan girl? There was a some Africa-French Africa youth summit. Macron, what you doing? Trying to create uh, to create um, I guess more informants out of Africa. I hope the young people who were watching that uh, learned something. We cannot be used anymore. But anyway, this young girl from Kenya, yeah, she said, “Mr. President, I’m going to talk to you the way my presidents will not talk to you,” and this girl went off and really gave it to Macron. Furthermore, the breakdown in understanding what France fully stands for is fueled by the continued collaborations that France has with agencies, leaders, and individuals who have glaring integrity issues, whilst on the other hand claiming to be standing for human rights. So on one hand, so on one hand we have France that is entrenched in issues around racism, around exploitative dominance, and whilst on the other hand they’re still claiming to teach others about democracy. We need more young people like that. So they’re coming—is the young man in Mali who shut down a French drone with a catapult. So they’re coming; the voices are there. They’re not as many, but they’re—
Why uh, at your point about the, the, the Kenyan girl speaking to Macron, why are presidents not doing, not standing up, be hon—speak about this things that are wounding us. Talk to me about that.
To be very honest with you, I don’t envy any of the African heads of states. They’re fighting with both hands not only tied, but they’re tied on in their backs. At least if their hands were tied in their front, they could hit with their hands. Their hands are tied behind their backs. Let me start with the 14 countries that are former French colonies. Let me just give you a synopsis of the PCT for the continuation of colonization. At independence, they had to give up 85% of their bank reserves, turn them over to the French treasury. Now that has come down to about 60%, and if they wanted some of that money, they had to submit a financial statement, and if approved, you could only access 20% of what you deposited the year before as a loan at commercial interest rate. France would take your deposits of the 14 countries, invest them in the French treasury under their name. You don’t have to know what the returns are. Your language of instruction is French. Your minerals, discovered yet to be discovered, France has first right of refusal. Your military—you got it—has to be trained by France. You got to acquire all your military equipment from France. Do you think they’re going to give you the best, France? You, you’ve left out one important one: assimilation, cultural assimilation. Yes. And then French military is going to be present in your countries and may invade you without notice if they feel their interests are being violated. What are those interests? A president saying, “Why we need our money? We cannot continue to turn over our bank reserves.” That’s a violation. You could be invited, and they did. Men were killed; they were CRS; they were exiled. So now you take a leader who has given up his finances, he has given up his military, he has given up his natural resources; he’s left with 15% of his bank reserves. Now you say to him, “Why can’t you feed your people?” Let’s be real here. Let’s be, let’s be real. But why is that leader allowing that to happen? He’s got the people to support him to revolt against this. He can’t—look at what we have right now in Africa. These people are forever supporting opposition. So even if opposition they’re supporting today wins tomorrow, they no longer support them. Whoever is opposition, that’s who they support. Serious man is going to support opposition; serious man is going on to support all these courts and terrorists. We don’t have a single gun manufacturing plant in Africa. Where are the guns? Follow the guns. If you follow the guns, you know where the, the money is coming from; you know where, who the real enemy is. If you look at a situation—I was listening to um, president of Barbados; she hit the nail in the head when she was talking about uh, the, the, the, the funds for terrorism and and um, uh, money laundering. She said, when they were looking for money laundering from Russia, they didn’t come to Africa; they didn’t go to the Caribbean; they knew exactly where to go.
Are you with me?
I’m with you.
So let’s stop playing games here. They know what they’re doing.
Yeah, they, they know what they’re doing. And I hear you, but I, I want to see whether there’s any accountability on us.
Absolutely. We are accountable. Here’s how I summarize it very simply: you are the bully, and you’re taking 80% of my lunch every day, and then because you are the bully and you got the money, now all you want me to do is highlight how I’m failing to make it with, with the 20%, but you don’t want me to talk about the 80% that you’re taking from me. So now we are foolish enough to be allowed our own people to be used to highlight the failures within the 20%. Yes, we could do something with that 20%, but golly, if that pie was bigger, if this would stop taking my 80%—pardon my language, but it is the truth. You know I’m saying, let’s come together, deal with this, and I’m sorry, but I’m going to say it because it needs to be said, but they need to stop taking our loot.
Yes, and I, I hear you, and I’m, I’m coming back to you and saying, yes, the, the, the, let’s stand together and ask for them to account for the 80%. Let’s stand together, my brother. I’m trying—you have six people in your family; three are getting brown envelopes to say what they want them to say. There are so many brown envelopes running around Africa. So the question then becomes, how do we train the African not to be used as an instrument of your own self-destruction? That’s where we need to go back to. I’m going to throw the question back at you, mind: how do we do it?
Speak the truth. Let’s teach our children our history. Our people do not know our history. We need to arouse the spirit of Pan-Africanism in each and every one of us and let our children know when you’re are being used. So, for example, you get these young people; they are being invited to go to Europe by all these different NGOs. No, they’re recruiting you. Take the money, but don’t be abused. What about our African heads of states? Again, like I said, who—who allow me to finish—they fly to China, all of them, to meet one man. Now that’s okay. Okay, hold me; let me finish. Yes, then they fly to Europe for E, for the EU summit, then all of them fly in 50 planes to America to go and meet with Joe Biden. Why is—
Fine. You’ve said the people are brainwashed, yes, but what about our presidents? Shouldn’t it start there?
Well, you’re quite right. Have they been given brown envelopes? I don’t know. I, I can’t speak to that, uh, but what I can say is there are areas we could do better. For example, you look at the United Nations; the largest voting block at the UN is the African block. We don’t have a seat at the table. If they could all just come together and say, “We are not coming. This institution is not for us,” see how quickly things will change. But again, if it’s not a brown envelope, it’s all other things that can—if you, if you do this uh, we will stop this. If you, if you don’t vote with us on this, this is, these are the consequences. So there are always other things that are being threatened with, that if you don’t do it, this is what’s going to come and happen to your country. I can tell you with what I know right now, the majority of the African heads of states, they truly want what’s best for their people. We have a few that could do better, but the majority really want what’s best for their people. I was very proud of a lot of the heads of states this year at the UNAA. All of them came in support of, strongly in support of uh, against Zanu, and a lot of them were very Pan-African. So it’s coming. But is there’s that fear of instability within their country? So as much as you, a leader, might want to behave a certain way, but there are consequences that they have to look at and say, “Is it really worth it? What’s going to happen to my people?” So you end up—I’m going to share with you, it was one particular country, I won’t mention the country—I got a phone call; there was a tender—can we play guess the country?
Uh, you can if you want.
But uh, there was a tender. I can tell you it was a French-speaking country. There was a tender that was coming out, and it was a company out of another African country, English-speaking, that was going to get, that did the best bid, and 50% what the French company was, was uh, bidding for. So when it was obvious that the bid was going to go to this other African company, they were forced to give the bid to the French company. How I got involved because now there was some smart person in that country who was saying, if somebody could link this information to the media, then we can have, ‘cause they were going to save the country 50%, we’re talking billions of the contract. And so I just heard about it, but before I knew it, they managed to get it on BBC. So it was on BBC; it had to go on BBC before they would come back and say, “Hey, now the people know; we really can’t do this,” you know? And that’s how this other company got the bid. You see the games they have to play, but within the country, no one could come out and speak about it, ‘cause there would be serious consequences. We must be very clear about one thing in Africa: The Hidden Hand is real; The Hidden Hand is strong; and The Hidden Hand is very powerful. That is where we need to begin. Everything else that follows is a consequence of—we must understand the enemy, that big, powerful, strong Hidden Hand. Let’s deal with it, but for us to deal with it, we must understand it, and our people must understand it. So yes, we must hold our heads of states accountable, but again, back to the two men with briefcases—50 billion and 500 billion. Yeah, we need an army for a smaller army for the 50 billion, a 10 times bigger army for 500 billion. Is the game of war? We must strategize.
So, the your Institute, um, the African Diaspora Development Institute—are you making headway? My, I just want to bring the children of Africa home because we understand the diaspora are Africa’s true gold. Think of the brains that are in the diaspora; think of the monies in the diaspora. If we can just repatriate those brains, repatriate those monies in an organized way, we don’t need anybody. We are actually the only continent on Earth that doesn’t need the world. The world is Africa; everybody knows it. There’s not a single strategic planning session by any country around the world outside Africa that doesn’t start with Africa, because everything they need, need, can and is being found in Africa. So we have what it takes, and they know it. You know, they’re very jealous of us, actually very envious of what we have as a people. So, not only have they gone after our natural resources, now they’re going after our human resources. You see, they’ve gone for so many decades of uh, reduced reproductive process. Now the age gaps in their nations—you, they now looking for people to take care of them when they age—is is the diaspora. You, you, you spoke about the uh, your meeting in South in in South America. Um, is the diaspora ready to come home? Are they? Do they have any concerns about coming to Africa as it is?
Let me say this: we are making headway. The Pan-African conversations are increasing. I belong to a lot of platforms. I don’t post, but I just follow. I love the conversations that are coming out. Is that enough? Not by any stretch of the imagination. We need a lot more people to understand the issues. We find a lot like, for example, Zimbabweans who just don’t understand what’s going on. This is an amazing country, beautiful country, beautiful country; one of the safest countries to live in, and yet is painted as top 10 worst countries to live in. One of the best countries to invest in; opportunities that are so low-hanging, but they don’t know that. The president said, and I’m going to say it in in our language: people must understand the country is going to be built by its people, absolutely. But the people must be in the know. If the people do not know, how can they build their country? So to the Zimbabwean I say, take some time, because if you’re going to say, “We don’t like the government, therefore we’re not going to Zimbabwe,” well, guess what? If opposition wins next next time, there’s now going to be another 50% that don’t like opposition. So what’s going to happen to your mother in the village? She didn’t get anything done ‘cause you were murdered at the ruling party. Then the next time another party comes in, your mother is still going to be the loser, ‘cause nothing is going to get done ‘cause the opposition is fighting. How long are we going to wake up and say, “Albert Einstein: insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?” No. We work with the current government; we make them accountable; we engage them at the highest level; we demand change; we demand that…at the end of the day, it’s about building that strong private sector. Nothing stops you from from what you’re saying. Sorry to bump in, because I think you you you your finger is on a very important thing, which is: know the difference between your political party and your country.
Exactly. Exactly. That we can differ on which party I support, but when it comes to my country, the flag and my country, you you can’t touch me. Absolutely. What you’re saying: development is development. If a bridge is built, the current president is not going to destroy it when he leaves. That just means the next president must come in and extend on that bridge, you know, put irrigation over that bridge, develop it, advance it. But we need to look at it and say, “What have I done to build my country, to contribute towards the building of my country?” Politics or no politics. But they think government must give us this, government must…No. Government paves the way, but you must be available. They come to me all the time: “Ambassador, this Chinese…” I said, “Well, what about the Chinese?” I said, “The Chinese are getting the contracts ‘cause you’re not there.” I was talking to uh, one of the—I think is the Zambian Development Agency—and he says, “Ambassador, I have Chinese lined up on my door every day, not any of my people, let alone the diaspora.” So why are you complaining about the Chinese? You are not there. Because if you were there, they would not get the contracts. You are not there until you’re ready to stand up, until you’re ready to put your monies together, believe in each other rather than continue to complain, complain, complain. Guess what? They love it when you continue to complain, so they can move in and take what belongs to you. The joke is on you. Let’s move on to something very important and related, which is xenophobia, right on the continent. Um, Ghanaians kicking out—was it Nigerians? Kicking out Ghanaians? But I think they…Somalia…differ…South Africa…South Africa is the concept. Ghanaians have learned—even Nigerians have learned from the mistakes they made. To think of all countries though, South Africa is a sad story. With everything the world did to liberate South Africa…it goes back again to the children don’t know our history; they don’t know the struggles. So we as elders, we have a responsibility to keep hammering that message home, because the Pan-African message then becomes—it’s a much more higher level when you’re having to deal with people who—I call it—I think they appropriate word is Afrophobia. It’s almost the fear of Africans or the hatred um, of of African. But it goes back to colonization. We’re programmed to dislike each other. Did you see the little video that’s been going around? A little black boy, but five, around five years of age, he’s given two dolls, the black and the white doll. Says, “Which one is ugly?” Points at the black doll. “Which one is beautiful?” Points at the white doll. “Which one is mean?” Points at the black doll. “Which one is nice?” Points at the white doll. “Which one looks more like you?” He goes very sad. So that child is going to grow up to be the president of a country, and yet that’s his mindset; that’s how he sees the world. He doesn’t even like himself. He says, “I’m mean; I’m ugly.” The subliminal messages are deep. The subliminal messages are deep. The assignment is deep. Yes, the heavy lifting is huge, because changing people’s mindset is tougher than building infrastructure. Absolutely. Absolutely. And that is the biggest issue Africa has to deal with. The absolute most dangerous thing, dangerous human being for Africa today is a colonized African mind.
Imagine getting free access to the NewsDay, The Standard, The Zimbabwe Independent and The Weekly Digest for a full month. What you can—and all you need to do is download the NewsDay e-reader app on Google Play store or scan the NewsDay QR code in any of the AMH print publications and start enjoying the quality content. [Music] Powerful words. And and and I think the the emotions are strong when you’re talking. I I I sense it. Emotions are…RW…yeah. Uh, this is no pretend business. No. Um, how much of this is because you’ve spent 45 years in America? It has nothing to do with spending 45 years in America. I think it has more to do with the life I lived in Zimbabwe during a pathed Zimbabwe. I had a very traumatic experience personally, and my father had a traumatic experience. Uh, he was still alive when uh, our land was taken from us. If you remember the British uh, if you were a veteran of the first or second World War, you were guaranteed 2,000 hectares of land in Zimbabwe, plus any loot from the local people. I want to repeat that: if you were a veteran, a British veteran of the first or second World War, you were guaranteed 2,000 hectares of land in Zimbabwe, plus any loot from the local people. So it is…a white man would land in Zimbabwe. They had divided our country into regions: one, two, three, four. One and two were the best, best—rins—best soil for farming. Three was kind of mixed, good for ranching, for…nobody should live there—as a FES—mosquitoes. So they were pushing us away from from the good parts of the country. And so the white British men would be sent in this direction: you put your peg, you get up in the morning, you ride a horse in one direction until either you or your horse is tired, you put your peg. That’s day one. Get up, second day, one day, two, day three, day four, and when you’re done, everything in it is yours. So it was time for them to come to my all part of the country, and my father was a young man of around 13 years old, and he still remembers it. He just remembers this hash-hash talk among the elders, and the following morning he was waking up early morning with—they called them “men without knees.” When white men were wearing pants, they like they have no knees. So he talks of men without knees riding on horses, and they were touching the village; they were touching the village. And he remembers—you know how we we keep firewood in a like this—he went and hid between the firewood, and he saw it all. Come out. And apparently uh, his aunt was uh, pregnant and due to deliver any day, so the elders had asked for permission if she could be allowed to stay. So they felt that maybe if they kept a young child, their chances of getting killed by these men without knees were less, so they kept him as the uh, the young child. So it was uh, the aunt, her husband, the another aunt who was the uh, midwife, it was himself and another uh, sister to to the one who was pregnant; they were all huddled in this hut. Unfortunately for them, it took about 3 weeks for him for her to deliver, and every morning the man on the without knees on his horse would come to find out if she had delivered. The rest of them, they left with whatever they could carry: their chickens, they goats, they cows, they donkeys; they were all taken by the men without knees, because they were told, “Everything is yours.” So they left with whatever they could carry, and he remembers how scared he was every morning that that man without knees was going to come in and kill them. So 3 weeks of torture and scared about this man without knees, and no sooner had they joined and we—that’s how we just got split up—no sooner had they regrouped, another one came and reclaimed in this direction: “Go past this mountain, in this direction, go past this river, your land is now mine.” I grew up hearing that story, so I think that’s where it comes from, right? And then living in the United States, and uh, of course initially when I went to America, I really didn’t understand; I didn’t even know there were that many black people uh, in uh, in America. And I’m going to share with you a story that a lot of people are going to find uh, quite funny. Uh, back in the 70s, you know our idea of a good-look man was this black man with a big afro and uh, putting on uh, bell-bottom pants and platform shoes, you know. And so…we used to call…a majority of those guys were coming from Nigeria, because remember we uh, Southern Africans, we are descendants of the Bushmen, the pygmies and the Hottentots. Our hair doesn’t grow—I mean, it grows, but it—in piles, in coils; you can pick it up, it’s long, but if you let go, it just goes right back in. So our men were not really having this nice big afro. So the a good-look guy with a big afro, majority were from Nigeria, so we started calling them, ‘cause they were from Nigeria. So I wanted my own. And then we heard that there were some in America, so the like of Andre Young was being an ambassador, and they were Caribbean; we got the Jimmy Cleaves and Bob Males, so there were a few there, but the majority were from…so a good-look black man, you know. So now check this out: I find out I’m going to America. I said, “Yes, I’m going to get my afro.” And then I end up going to Fisk University. I was admitted to various universities, and I had to submit which university I wanted, and I knew nothing about any of those universities. But Fisk University city was in Nashville, Tennessee, and it said “Music City USA.” I said, “I’m going to Music City.” The issue that it was a historic black college, it didn’t make sense to me. What do you mean, “black”? The uniforms are black; the walls are painted black. So I disregarded that part. So people thought I went…no, I wanted my afro, and I was going to the Music City. So I get to Fisk, and I’m dropped off; the taxi driver was not very nice; he just dumped me in the middle of the campus. And I look around: there are all these black people. I’m like, “I’m lost; I must be in the island somewhere. Where are the white people? I’m coming to a white country,” you know. But anyway, bit as it may, I hang around…my lesson on being a came from my girlfriend who was an African-American. We went downtown Nashville shopping; it was end of the day, and it was very busy. So in the pavement, I don’t know if I bumped into this white man or he bumped into me, but whatever it was, he yelled at me and said, “You…” or something like that. I didn’t really say anything, but when we got to the dorm, I said to my girlfriend, “You know something is bothering me: of all the African countries, why did that white man think I was from Nigeria?” That’s that’s when I got my lesson one on one, one-on-one on being an American. And I bought…she took me to school; she really gave me this story. And I already was having issues because on campus at that time in the 70s, I’m black, I’m beautiful, I’m like, “Why you…” I never said it openly, but I’m thinking, “Why you saying the obvious? I know I’m beautiful.” You see what I’m saying? And so we had a very interesting conversation with my girlfriend. So after she gave me the full story about uh, black America, then I thought, “Well, let me ask you about this thing: why do they wear t-shirts that say, ‘I’m black, I’m beautiful’?” I said, “I already know I’m beautiful.” And she goes, “Yeah, tell me about that.” And I said, “Because where I come from, beauty is not based on how you look. I was told growing up in my village, if I was a good child, I respected my elders, I did my chores, I went to school, I I brought home good grades, I was a good child, the box for beauty was well defined; the box for ugliness was also well defined; the choice was yours whether you wanted to be beautiful or whether you wanted to be ugly.” And I said, “You Americans, you’re quick to say, ‘Oh, you’re so pretty; oh, you’re beautiful.’ I said, ‘I’m offended by that.’ And she says, ‘Why are you offended?’ I said, ‘Because where I come from, to call me beautiful, you have to know me. How do you know I’m not a mean person? I eat human beings at night, you know? I’m an ugly person because of what I do.’ You see what I’m saying? So you don’t know me; you’re not qualified to define my beauty until you know me. So so I find it very fake when Americans just say, ‘Oh, you’re beautiful; oh, you’re this.’ I find it very fake ‘cause you don’t know me, and you’re not qualified.” Appearance: that’s superficial, isn’t it? It’s superficial. Beauty that I know is based on deeds.
Clearly these are deep lessons that you learned from your parents; this is your upbringing. You grew up in Chitungwiza. Which school did you go to in Chitungwiza? You woke me through your education…University…Um, I did my primary school at Unu, but but I finished at uh, in Chitungwiza, in yes, okay. And uh, Unu primary, okay. But I finished my seventh grade at uh, Kahai. Oh wow, okay. Yes. And then after Kahai, I went to Goromonzi. The choice to study medicine—when did that—when did medicine grab you as a as an option? Medicine? I did not think…remember growing up in apartheid Zimbabwe, I didn’t think I was smart enough to be a doctor, because we were just not allowed; the opportunities were just not there. So when I went to the United States, I thought maybe I’d be a nurse or something. But it was my chemistry instructor who I guess must have seen something in me; she kept pushing me. I didn’t know that she was on the admissions committee at the medical school across the street. She kept pushing me: “Have you applied? Have you applied?” And I kept thinking, “One, I have no money; two, it’s very difficult to get into medical school.” What I had been told was that five positions or 5% of the positions in any medical school are reserved for foreigners from all over the world, and I was not going to put myself on a losing path by trying to get into an area and try year after year and not make it. So if it were not for that teacher, believe me, I don’t think I would have gone to medical school. Wow. But she shamed me, ‘cause every time she would say, “Have you applied?” One day I lied because she had asked me so many times, and I said, “Oh, yes, I did.” What I’d actually done was I’d put in an application to go to Pharmacy, do Graduate Studies in Pharmacology, and at the same medical school, ‘cause I knew medical medical school was a problem. But so what I did was I felt so bad that I’d lied to her, I said, “Let me just call the admissions office,” and I just knew they would say no, then I can then…the deadline to apply for medical school was over, so I wanted to just say I missed the deadline, you know, that would have been my exit. But when I called, I said, “I have an application for Pharmacy; can I change it to Medicine?” Expecting her to say no, she said, “Sure, we can change it.” I’m like, “Oh, snap. Okay, fine.” So now they changed it. She said, “Have you taken the admissions test?” I said, “No.” “Come come and get your the registration paperwork so you can take the exam.” This is January; the exam is April; entrance is in August. So I said, “Okay, I’m just going to take it, and I’m going to fail it.” Then I thought, “Okay, I’ll take a year and go to Zimbabwe and then come back and continue with my Pharmacology.” I take this stupid exam; I completely forgot about it. I’m now planning on going to Zimbabwe because I knew I’m going to fail it. I still remember it was the first week of August; I get a phone call from the uh, um, medical school…if my husband had not been standing right there…no, he walked into the room…they called me; they said, “We’re getting ready to send you your admission package uh, because the school is starting in 2 weeks; we wanted to know if you’re going to accept.” I said, “Oh, no, no, no, no; I can’t accept; I can’t afford it.” So my husband heard me say that, and so I actually hung up. He said, “Who was that?” I said, “That was Meharry Medical College.” He said, “And you said what? Call them back. You know, call them back right now.” I said, “But honey, we have no money.” He said, “Don’t worry about it; just call them back.” So I sheepishly called them back. I said, “I’ll accept.” So I accept—not a penny in my pocket—but that’s how I got to medical school. I had no money. I am—again, I’m sure in the history of Meharry Medical College, I’m probably the only doctor who graduated without paying a penny. Isn’t that amazing? President Such-and-Such, who was later uh, the Surgeon General for the United States…after my husband had coached me on all kinds of lies to tell them—the money was coming from Zimbabwe…by by this second semester, second year, the lady in the admissions office…I walked in; she goes, “So, Arikana, exactly how is this money coming from Africa?” ‘Cause I got all kinds of stories about, “Well, you know, you know how things are in Africa…” Now, how how long can I carry that line, you know? And I just broke down and I started crying. So she did…she wrote on a piece of paper—to this day I can’t even tell you what she wrote—but um, she sent me upstairs to the president’s office. I could you not could have peed on myself going up there. I just knew my days in medical school were finished, yeah. And I knew he was going to chastise me: “You took a position that could have been taken by somebody who could really go through it.” I get up there, President Such-and-Such; he’s talking about Zimbabwe, where you come from, my family and all that, and I’m expecting when the hammer is going to come down. And after that, he signed whatever that piece of paper, handed it to me, and she said, “Go back down.” I go back down; the woman looks at me, shakes her head, and gives me my admission packet. One semester after another, I would show up; the woman would shake her head; she’ll give me a piece of paper. How do you explain that? I don’t know; I can’t explain it, but that’s my story, and I’m sticking by it. And and then you stick by a story that’s fine. You you’ve now done amazing work with the Bell Family Medical Center. Talk to me about the things thinking around that and what it is that you are you’re doing. You know, a lot of the things that I’ve done—it’s like going to medical school; I wasn’t planning on it. I knew I would have wanted to be a medical doctor, but I thought the climb was too steep; I didn’t think I could make it into…not that I wasn’t able in terms of the material, but the process; I didn’t think I would make it through the the process. So the same is true with um, when I…my husband is a medical doctor; he is older than me; he was already…Your husband is Ghanaian? He’s Ghanaian? Yeah. And he was already a medical doctor, so ‘cause being a man, he uh, I used to laugh at him because he set me up; I never looked for a job as a doctor; I just knew I was going to have my own practice, just like my husband. And uh, so he reached my food, set up my clinics and all that, but you know, putting all the stuff I needed in in the clinic…and the reason I’m laughing at the memory of him was that so I’d go to work in the morning, and he would have brought in some supplies, and I would call him and say, “Honey, where did you put this?” I may be asking for a speculum. Okay, what you got? And I’m like, “Um, well, I have this patient with such and such.” Okay, here’s what I want you to do. I’m like, “No, stop, stop, stop, stop! I only asked you where the speculum is!” I am seeing my own patients; I am my own person. No, he wanted to tell me what to do, you know? And and so we had to go through that like uh, “If I call you for a specific question ‘cause you were here last night, tell me where that item is, and if I need help with treating my patient, I will ask you specifically.” But no, invariably: “Okay, what you got? This is what you need to do.” But anyway, so my husband set me up um, so that that was it. I mean, looking for a job as a medical doctor was never uh, something that occurred to me. I I’m a business person; my father was a business person uh, back in Chitungwiza; he had the first long-distance buses into our area; he had general stores. So I think it was also just the entrepreneur spirit is within me, and so I just started buying clinics, opening clinics where they end, and um, that’s how it started.
What does your name mean? Does it mean anything? Arikana? It’s a beautiful name, let me tell you, Trevor. I was supposed to be a boy, and I know you probably thinking, “What do you mean?” Uh, my mother had eight pregnancies, and the second one was a boy; the rest were girls. So I am pregnancy number seven. So by the time they got to me, my father just knew that my mother was incapable of having a boy, so he went to consult a juju man, and this juju man was known for—the wife has to become pregnant first, and then you go there and take the juju medicine ever so often while you’re pregnant—your wife, your wife who is incapable of producing a certain sex, but that medicine that you’re taking will convert the sex. So I was I was already known to be a girl, but the juju medicine was going to turn me into a boy. So my father just knew that I was a boy, and he had done his his his research, and my name was supposed to be Eric—the husband of Hannah in the Bible, yeah. So so it is…I was born, and my the story goes…my father was running Saza Hospital; that’s where I was born. He’s running up the steps at Saza Hospital because they knew him as a local businessman. Oh, his name was uh, which was the business name—Fazoo, Mr. Fazoo. Congratulations, you have a a a baby girl. Supposedly he shoved the nurse aside and he kept going, gets to my room, sure enough it’s a girl. My father disappears for 3 days. When he came back, he didn’t feel like spending time looking for another name, so he removed the E and he put an A, and they called me Arikana. It’s a made-up name. To my surprise—this was in 2021—there was this white man; I was going to be having a call with, and he says, “Oh, before our meeting, I did a research on your name; I love it; it’s a perfect meaning that describes you.” I said, “Say you’re wrong; my name means nothing; my father made it up.” He said, “Let me send it to you; somebody has done a profile on Arikana.” Wow. So it’s out there; it means something; somebody made it mean something. And I’m sure it’s a Shona name; it’s Zimbabwean; it’s yeah. So if you Google Arikana, there is a meaning now, but I can assure you that name…Do you know what the meaning is? Not yet. I’ve looked it up, but you…forget it. You you have been recognized; we’ve gotten a number of prestigious awards, AR, right. Um, 1996 Achievement Award, uh, 2015 African Women Excellence Award, 2019 Person of the Year by The Guardian newspaper. Which ones of of these uh, mean the most to you and why? 1996 Mandela…talk to me about that. I think as a young woman at that time, to be in the same room with Nelson Mandela and President Mugabe was…you um, it’s it was just so memorable to have such icons uh, even just know that I exist. Um, it was incredible; it was absolutely incredible. So yes, just being in the presence of such icons in such history…You have a lot of crazy ideas. One of the crazy ideas is you want to build Wakanda Village, right? How is that going? Well, Wakanda…we’re looking for funding, mhm. And also so…putting together a city, it’s a it’s a job and a half; it’s not easy. So we have diaspora from around the world; they work together, uh, but it’s…we’re working on it; it’s work in progress. You’ve been you’ve been given land, am I right, in in Ghana? No, is it Ghana? We we…yes, Ghana is one country we wanted to start, but also here uh, we are…we have actually started with a community in Rusape, okay. Um, the chief there has just been…King…I call them Kings; I refuse to call them Chiefs because the British didn’t want to honor our our royalty. So he is presiding over a whole kingdom; so he is a king. So I call him my king, uh, even though they call him a chief, and uh, he has really opened up his kingdom to us, and we are starting with three communities, three villages. And uh, in fact, we had our little launch where we we’ve organized the community; they have a village community committee and village subcommittees, and we’re going to be just bringing in developments, with starting with the chicken project, which we are calling “Chomy.” Wow. If you picture a situation where the profit margin from the chickens is between 90…
Cents to a dollar. We started with 5,000 chicks. Our second batch, we kept it at five because we had uh, the mortality was a little too high for us for the first batch. Thank goodness they have dealt with all the issues; the second batch is doing very well. Mortality is insignificant, and the next batch, we should be coming in two weeks, is going to be 10,000. After then, every five weeks we're doubling the flock: 10,000, then 20, then 40, then 80. So imagine when we get to 100; we are now sitting at 100,000. 90 to 100,000 profit.
We are saying the subcommittees we have: education, we have health care, we have infrastructure, we have water and sanitation, we have energy. So when we get to 50, 10,000 is going to be put aside. So education, if you got $11,000 or two, what are you going to do with it? They may want to build a school block. Bricks are only $40,000. They might say, "We'll buy bricks to build a school block." What are you going to do with the next 5,000? We're going to put a roof on that building. All the way to 5 to 10 years, we can have a university because the plan is to go all the way to 500,000 chickens. Wow, yeah, develop. Yes.
Um, clinic. We might start with, when you get your $1,500, what are you going to do with it? They have to defend their budget. We're going to buy paracetamol, we're going to buy bandages, we're going to buy thermometers. All the way over a period of 5 to 10 years, we're going to have a hospital. Infrastructure. Right now we're looking at, we want to pave that road from the Mutar road in over to the Chief's Palace. We need to grade that and we need to pave it, and then we just continue as we have money. Infrastructure. What are you going to do with your $1,500? Until every, every little footpath is graded. Electricity. We want to make sure everybody has solar panels. We want to make sure that everybody has a brick house. We want to make sure that everybody has access to water through wells, at least. So as you get your 1,500, and then that 1,500 will now soon be 2,000, that allocation will go up to 5,000. It just keeps increasing depending on how fast our chicken project—
So we are saying we are challenging diaspora: whatever village you come from, now you have no excuse to not participate. Start a chicken project where you come from. If you're from Kenya, this is—do you call it Chon chony chony? If you're from uh, uh, with the blueprint is in Ros—yeah, but just tell us what village you come from. Right now we're going to Namibia, one of the diasp—economy—CH economy. We're going to Namibia on the 20th. We're going to meet with the queen there; uh, they've invited us and we're going to start the chicken project in Namibia. You've got a big conference um, slated for April next year in Zoom. Talk to us about that.
Okay, I was—I've been on a seven-country tour in Africa looking for a headquarters for Add. I was really avoiding Zimbabwe because I didn't want people to think I'm from Zimbabwe and I'm wanting people to come to Zimbabwe. I'm really a Pan-African. I could put a headquarters anywhere, but honestly, after traveling uh, in to seven different countries, this really was the best environment, and I think most of my people are in agreement. One of my—one of the people I met with uh, was the former president, and I was asking him, "What were you heads of States thinking when you came up with the definition of the sixth region as all people of African descent living outside Africa?" I said that definition is wrong and it does—and it is not an equalizer. And I said, "If Mr. President, you were to come to the Americas and you shout on top of your voice and say, 'All people of African descent, let's go home to Africa,' let's assume we could all walk across the Atlantic, but guess what's going to happen when we get to the shores of West Africa? You're going to start asking us, 'Where are you from?' This one says, 'I'm from Ghana.' Okay, fine, go. I'm from Nigeria, go. This one, 'I'm from Georgia.' Oh, sorry. Said definition is incomplete. What are you going to do about that?" He said, "Well, my sister, we did our part." And that's when he took me to school. He said, "Since the 1900s, the likes of W.E.B. Du Bois have been talking about wanting to come home to Africa. They had five Pan-African congresses held—the UK sponsored three: two in London, one in Manchester. France sponsored one in France. US sponsored one in the United States. By 1974, now conversation started in 1919. The president of Tanzania um, he said the conversations about the children of Africa coming home must be held on the African soil, so he sponsored the sixth Pan-African Congress, which was the first one to be held in Africa again. We met, but not deliverables. President um, President M of Uganda, 20 years later in 1994, he said, 'Let's regroup; the children of Africa must come home,' so he sponsored the seventh Pan-African Congress. He said, 'We have been listening to the cries of the children of Africa.' So when we got to where we were restructuring the OAU in 2002, we incorporated the sixth region as part of the African Union Constitution. He says, 'Now the ball is in your court, you confused, disorganized African diaspora. We need a truly representative group of African diaspora to come together, find a host country, talk about your issues, and bring your issues to us. We will listen,' but that has not happened. We have not had a truly representative group. It cannot be a small group from South America, a small group from the United States, a small group from Europe. It has to be representation from every corner of the globe where people of African descent reside. And he says, 'Amba, if you can do that, I'll support you.' He said, 'I'll even get my own president to host, 'cause you need a host country.' I said, 'Well, thank you.' He took me to school. Thank you, Mr. President. Now I'm—I'm with knowledge. So I continued my travels, but the more I thought about it, I thought, really, Zimbabwe could use that, and so I met with the president. I presented uh, my visit with this other former president, and he agreed to host the uh, ninth Pan-African Congress because there have been two others: one in South Africa in 2012, one in Ghana, but they were aborted. The people were self-sabotaging for whatever reason; it was aborted. So here we are. We are busy uh, promoting the spirit of Pan-Africanism, promoting the Pan-African Congress. What does it mean to you as an individual, as a person of uh, African descent? Um, one of the reasons also that we—among others—that we moved it from October, we only had nine people from South and Central America. That wasn't going to work. The majority of the slaves were taken to South and Central America. People don't realize that. So we need a significant representation from South America if the outcome of our deliberations are going to be meaningful and truly representative. Do you have a date now? Yes, 19 to 16 of um, of April. We're just waiting for final confirmation of the availability of the president, but trying to tie it in with—that was also a point raised by the foreign Ministry—we want to tie it in with Independence, which is the 18th. Fantastic. So yeah, we are looking forward to bringing the children of Africa home. Key discussions are going to be um, pathway to citizenship and um um, establishment of the sixth region headquarters. We want to come home in a big way. We want to be just like ECOWAS. We want to be like SADC. We just want to be a true sixth region, and of course, we have to have our headquarters outside Africa for sure, uh, but we want to be a true sixth region with representation at the African Union. No one is advocating for the African diaspora; that has got to stop. You can't just proclaim sixth region and run off. Uhuh. We want true representation, and that's what we're going to be demanding, and we will have our—our Victoria Falls—we are going to call it AKA—M Declaration, 'cause we—we don't want to use Victoria Falls—uh, we can't continue to—to honor somebody who has done nothing for us—uh, so we'll have a Mun Declaration. We'll hand it over to our President. We hope that he will share it with his uh, brothers and sisters who are members of the AU, all the African heads of states, and you take it from there. We wish you—we wish you the best. Um, wow, we could go on and on, you know, I mean, we could go on and on. You are an author. You have—I didn't realize that, but you are an author. You have written an Amazon bestseller, Africa 101. I haven't read it. I must—I must say, but uh, it's—it's on my list to read because I think I'm going to be educated like you've educated all of us today about Pan-Africanism. It's called the wake-up call for—for Africa. I'm looking forward to reading that. [Music]
I'm not going to let you go before I ask you to share with our readers who love books out there, but you—you're passionate about changing our mindset. What books would you recommend we read as Africans to change your mindset? If not, what other books have you read that have uh—okay, I think I influenced you. I can't really name the titles right now, but there are lot—a whole lot of books—are—we'll find them. Tell us the works by Kwame Nkrumah. Any of the works by Kwame Nkrumah. Um, Mandela's book is quite inspiring. One of his—the Long Walk to Freedom. Yes. And one of Obama's uh, as well uh, is quite—which—which one? Which Obama one? There's uh, the Promised Land, the recent one, or Dreams from My Father. Dreams from My Father. Okay, yes. Um, but start with Nkrumah, yeah, because he's one of the top Pan-Africanists, and he takes you to the OAU and the Casablanca group. If you start there, because the belief is had the Casablanca group won in 1963 during the creation of OAU, Africa will be sitting in a very different place. We failed because the Casablanca group did not win. Start with Nkrumah. Dr. Arana Jomori. Qua.
It's been a pleasure talking to you. Absolutely. Same here. We could go on and on, but we—we got to stop. Um, thank you so much for creating the time, squeezing us into your busy schedule. Thank—um, I've thoroughly enjoyed talking to you. Um, Pan-Africanism is an important issue. The change of our mindset as a people is hugely important um, because that's where our pride comes from; that's where we can walk tall and be proud of who we are. So thank you so much for—for sharing as passionately as—and the mind is where we begin. Absolutely. You see, when you have a mind that is awakened, it doesn't matter where you throw me. Absolutely. Will—absolutely allow me—remain sitting where you are. Thank you. Thank you so much. [Music]