Re-thinking development, activism and race: In honour of Africa’s 'Bonos' at home and abroad.

Today, a friend of mine sent me a Whats App message asking me to look at page 24 of London’s Evening Standard without telling me what the story was about. I had been home all day sick with a stomach bug, so I hadn't done the usual robotic commuter grab for the Evening Standard. Anyway out of sheer curiosity, I went online to the Evening Standard wondering what the story could be. Suffice it to say that one story did grab my attention. That of American MollyMelching whose fight against the practice Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Senegal (a beautiful country, in which I once lived) had been so successful that entire villages had been successfully sensitised and educated to cease the practice. The article was titled 'The woman who is inspiring Africans to turn against against female genital mutilation'. As it turns out when my friend and I got chatting again on Whats App, he sent me picture clips of the same story, and my first reaction during our chat was; ‘Where all the African women fighting against FGM. We always leave the tough stuff to others..but credit to her’.  My friend  replied, saying that there were plenty of Africans fighting against things like that but it appeared  that only 'foreigners' got  the attention. I could sense a certain righteous anger in his tone. But should it matter who gets the attention as long as good is being done? His point is that Africans in the Diaspora do a lot for the continent but the papers generally tend to cover stories of the Madonnas and Bonos of this world. I was struck. His point was so obvious and so true. Perhaps stories of foreigners doing African charity tend to draw more attention. Call it the Madonna-David Banda effect. It’s true that media coverage of Africa as a continent has seen a radical shift. Indeed, with so many stories today of African growth, Africa rising, Africa’s much talked about consumer and middleclass (no one can still quantify who exactly is middle class in Africa!!!), and Africa as the last frontier, you would be forgiven for thinking that past coverage of the so-called ‘dark continent’ must have been the figment of journalistic imaginations past.

Yet, the efforts of African migrants to tackle development problems back home are still heavily under reported. In the course of conversation, my friend asked me to google, Dikeme Mutombo, who turns out to be a retired Congo-born former US NBA star who played with the New York Nicks and Houston Rockets. Heck, Mutombo is  quite the humanitarian! He founded the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation aimed at improving living standards in his native Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Against all odds, Mutombo donated at least $15million to the completion of a hospital on the outskirts of his hometown in Kinshasa, the DRC’s capital. The hospital, which cost $29million – meaning Mutombo had financially contributed a little over half the cost – was the first modern medical facility to be built in that area for nearly 40 decades. There were several other obstacles he had to overcome to see that project to its conclusion (read more on the Wikipedia entry for Mutombo).  Now imagine the thousands of lives that would have been saved in the DRC from having such a crucial piece of social infrastructure which he remains committed to, till today. Perhaps the real story here is not Mutombo, but what he represents. Africans abroad, in the diaspora, 1^st , 2^nd or 3^rd generation migrants, call them what you may, but there are thousands more Mutombos who haven’t’ forgotten their motherlands, and who, daily, make meaningful and sacrificial contributions, unseen, unheard of by Western media.

I am not saying this to belittle the work of people like Bono, Madonna and other westerners who have, over the decades taken African development issues to heart, raised billions in development assistance and charity money and poured their own personal wealth behind Africa’s development needs. Actually perhaps part of the perceived (and actual) under-reporting of Africans’ contribution to Africa is not helped by the fact that still so many Africans abroad – like myself - who have the means and financial prowess to contribute to Africa’s development are still falling short of their responsibilities. Going back to Molly Melching, her educational programme against FGM has become so successful in Senegal that a mirror programme is now being considered for Paris and London, two cities with large numbers of African migrant communities some of whom still practice FGM.

Ironically, the article on Molly Melching does reveal that it can be much harder to uproot attitudes towards FGM amongst African migrant communities than in the communities in Africa that they have migrated from. This is not all too surprising given that migrant communities often hold tightly to traditions, cultures and practices, seeing them as the last emblems of 'home, when in foreign lands. Another point that should be highlighted is that fact that Molly Melching’s motivation was the fear her 9-year old daughter – who had been brought up in Senegal – had about being ‘cut up’ in the same way her Senegalese friends would. Melching does not strike me as the quintessential messianic , opinionated and condescending Westerner who has come to rescue poor Africans from their backward and archaic practices. Quite the contrary, she appears to be a woman who has lived and worked sensitively and sacrificially in Africa for many years. Melching launched her organised aimed at promoting human rights and women’s right more than 10 years ago, but had for a long time refrained from broaching the subject of FGM at her organisation’s (Tostan) inception given the sensitive nature of the subject. If you think about it, you’ll see that Melching was just the spark for a fire that helped local villagers consider and re-think the practice – she was an enabler of sorts. The first steps towards change actually  happened when a group of Senegalese women who had attended one of her classes, spontaneously and independently decided they would end the practice. They are also some of the real heroes of that story. For that also, Melching’s work is admirable. Let's not forget the brave Senegalese women who took a stand and helped raise wider community awareness.  I see Melching as 'African' through and through, if there was ever such a definition about what it meant to be African. Her understanding and care for the community she worked in was the differentiator in this instance. She wasn’t a one-time visiting rock or pop star, who wrote a  $10 billion dollar cheque for a massive new school building or hospital project disconnected from local realities. Her achievements have instead been borne out of years of selfless help, critical thinking, nuanced cultural understanding and genuine care.

U2 rocker Bono had temporarily been back in the news in February after giving a TED talk addressing global poverty. Bono’s ‘we are the world’ generation has raised billions in campaigns for Africa and other parts of the developing world. Suffice it to say that there’s been a major paradigm shift in the way the world thinks about aid to Africa. In the Dambisa Moyo world, we are all leaning more towards, trade, entrepreneurship and investment in projects that boost private sector participation, create wealth, build infrastructure and spark growth. Perhaps that shift should see more Mutombos and other African Madonnas recognised for their contributions to development efforts back home and on their own continent, since it is that very same class of new generation Africans that the ‘aid to trade’ paradigm shift will ultimately benefit.

On what Africans – within and outside Africa – are doing for Africa, there are many many stories of heroic African men and women bringing reform on so many issues beyond FGM. Yes there are a few celebrities among them like Mutombo, but the majority are just ordinary Africans with a  vision, and enough courage to act. I will name a few; the late Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist and Noble Peace Prize Laureate, whose efforts to bring peace and end the war in Liberia led to that country’s election of Africa’s first female president, and the promotion of women’s rights,  and Dr Isatou Touray, Gambian activist against FGM. There will be many more Melchings. The challenge for us all Africans in the Diaspora and on the soil is applauding her efforts. We should not be distracted by the lesser issue of what skin colour the main development protagonist is. Instead, we should also find that one issue that we're passionate enough about to be willing to see change.