Africa Has an Amazing Future

Chief David Mashupha of Basutoland is at left, with one of his generals in 1900.

I was born 59 years later and not too far away (by Africa standards).

Colin Turbull once observed that there was a loneliness in the heart of the African of his era (1962) in that they knew their past was in leather shields but that their future was in Cray computers. How could they possibly get from one to the other?

In truth they are getting it done.

Today, I hop in a taxicab driven by a Nigerian, and I make a joke that Lagos' “go slow” is better named than our “rush hour.”

He laughs, and is amazed that I know.

I make another joke: We are the same age. We know things. For example when we get a spam email saying a banking official in Ghana has just discovered that someone without any relatives has died and there’s $20 million for us to pick up if we will just send $500 for taxes, we are quite thrilled.... not because we are going to be millionaires, but because we have visible proof that West Africa is running riot with computers! Amazing!

Almost every country in Africa has lower birth rates than Al Gore’s wife, and the infant mortality rate is generally lower than when I was born.

The average person in Rwanda has a much better internet connection than folks in North Dakota or Highland County, Virginia.  Amazing, but true.

Do I think Africa has an amazing future?  I do. The best is yet to come.