Winnie Madikizela Mandela was one of those rare people in a lifetime for which the whole world, I mean every corner of this planet of ours, comes to a stand-still to honour an exceptional person. Wherever we were or whatever we were doing, no matter our ethnicity, the colour of our skin or country of birth, South Africans and friends alike, we stopped breathing for a moment, almost as though we feared that breathing would let her spirit escape us, that the memories of this beautiful and fearless woman, true modern age warrior, would be lost and never to be found again.
Imagine that when you came into the world, your family and society saw your coming as a curse. Imagine that you, this cursed child, were most likely going to be killed. What will you do to escape this fate, this ‘destiny’, when all the odds seem set against you, a defenceless baby, if no adult stands up to fend for you?
Imagine you were born in a region of your country that was to become the theatre of one of Africa’s longest and deadliest conflict in history. Imagine that you must flee and found yourself, a little kid wondering on your own till you were found and taken to an orphanage in the country’s capital. Imagine became passionate about athletics and, in your teens, joined your country’s National team. Would this finally be the beginning of a better life for you?
Imagine you were two brothers born in Sudan in the seventies and eighties. Imagine the war erupted, and you are both successively kidnapped and forced to become child soldiers. Will you manage to get away and start a new life? And if you do, will the war let you go or will it – like it often does – catch-up with you and take everything you have?
Fatou Diome of Senegal - We will all strive together or drown together!
"Today I wanted to share my indignation with regards to the African Union’s silence. Those people who are dying on the beaches - and I measure my words - if they were white, the whole world would be shaking! But since they are blacks and Arabs, it costs us less to just let them die!
If we wanted to save people in the Atlantic, in the Mediterranean, we could afford it. But we prefer to let them die first before we do anything. It is almost as though 'letting them die' is used as a deterrent, to stop the influx of migrants.
Well let me break it to you: it does not dissuade anyone! When someone leaves their country with failure in mind, that one might find the danger absurd and thus avoid it. But for those who leave their country for survival, those who consider that the life they have is worthless, their strength is unmeasurable, because they are not afraid of death! "
These words were spoken on a French television network in April 2015 by a panellist in a debate with a very provocative theme: 'Should we welcome or not all the misery of the world?'.
Nima Elbagir & Claudy Siar – Unshackle my dreams and let me go!
"Big strong boys for farm work. Four hundred, seven hundred, eight hundred, nine hundred, one thousand, one thousand one hundred. Sold for one thousand two hundred dinars”. 400 dollars a person.
Imagine you were a reporter at a major international cable news company and received a video depicting what appears to be a human auction in Libya. What would you do with that footage? What steps would you take for the whole world to know what’s going on in that Northern African country?
When she received this footage at her office in CNN, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Could it be possible?
Mediterranean Rescuers – From Open Arms to Closed Doors: how Humanity is slowly dying in the Mediterranean Sea, 1000 migrants at a time.
In 2011, in the wake of the Arab spring and the sudden influx of migrants who started crossing in big numbers to Europe, a small Island near Sicily, known before for its beautiful tourist beaches, became known to the whole world and has since been one of the symbols of what is called ‘the migrant crisis’.
Would you have imagined that one day, the words ‘migrant’ and ‘crisis’ would practically become one single word, that you would never hear news about migration without it being described as a tragedy, as an unwanted ill, as something we must unite to fight? Would you have ever imagined that there isn’t a day going by without news report about ‘migrants’ boats’ rescued at sea or – as it has been the case most recently of migrant boats that countries fight not to allow on their shores? Could you imagine that more that almost 35,000 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2000? That one migrant dies for every 50 to 70 who reach Europe?
Imagine electricity was so scarce in your country, Côte d’Ivoire, children could only do their homework with the light from candles, oil lamps or seating under street lamps. Imagine that, knowing a good education is an important factor to get out of poverty, this situation upsets you so much you decide to take this issue heads on. What solution will you bring to this problem that affects roughly 70% of your country’s and of the continent’s population?
Imagine that you grew up in a country that was the scene of periodic ethnic conflicts since its independence in the 1960s. Imagine that your parents taught you to welcome everyone in your life, no matter their background. Imagine that your country plunges in one of its most horrendous mass killings, with hundreds of people murdered and their children left without anyone to take care of them. Imagine you started taking those kids in your house and placing them with friends and churches, waiting for the war to end and for kids to be returned to surviving relatives. Imagine the war did not end or seemed to end but would pick up times and times again, each time with more fierceness and violence and deadliness. Wouldn’t you be tempted to walk away from it all?
Imagine you were a school teacher and moved to Khayelitsha, South-Africa’s largest township, in the late 1980s. Imagine you are so overwhelmed by the sight of kids living on the streets, eating in dumps that you decide to take them in to feed them. Imagine the number of kids coming to eat at your house grows so much you call on neighbours to help. What will your impact be in a community with an estimated 14,000 street kids? Where will you find the strength and the means to take care of all the people in need, in this community affected and weakened by the HIV/AIDS epidemic?
Imagine you were born in Senegal and your family moved to France when you were one year old. Imagine tragdy strikes your family and you are sent to live on your own in a youth shelter. Imagine are at ease with mathematics and you go on to become an engineer and later specialise in robotics. Imagine you dream of becoming an inventor, that you want to create robots to assists surgeons. How would you go about it? What if surgeons aren’t ready have robots next to them in the operating room?
Imagine you were born in a poor neighbourhood in eastern Africa. A neighbourhood so poor people couldn’t afford shoes and had to make them themselves out of anything they could find: rubber, car tires. Imagine you vowed to change this situation. Imagine you created a company in that very poor environment, making a redesigned version of the recycled tire sole shoe worn by Ethiopians with modest means. Would that crazy idea of selling shoes made of tire attract clients? Would that be ‘the idea’ to alleviate poverty in your community or will you have to think of something else?
Imagine you were born on the Atlantic coast of Ghana. Imagine your parents were so poor, they sent you, the last born of your mother’s 12 kids, to live with relatives. Imagine you were forced into slavery, working long hours as a fisherman, with no wage, no medical care, no schooling, and abuse like no kid should ever suffer. How long would you survive this harsh treatment? Would you ever be able to get out of that life? And if you did, how would you deal with the trauma? What life and what future would you have, you a kid robbed of his childhood and who can’t even read or write?
Imagine you were an IT wizard and became millionaire at 35. Imagine you decided to invest in the future of Africa, without expecting any personal gain. Africa, a continent where you’ve never set foot. Why? Because you are convinced that the continent is a boundless pool of talents. Would you manage to convince your company to make that move? And once you’ve seen the ‘real’ Africa as opposed the one you had in mind, would you still go ahead with your project?
Imagine you were born in the UK towards the end of the second world war. Imagine your family wet to start a new life in New Zealand but you later return to the UK to pursue a musical career. Imagine you build a successful career as a violinist till you one day head a radio show about a musical project in Soweto in dire need of help. Imagine you organise fundraisers on their behalf, start sending money and visiting them in South-Africa but you realise they need more than a few visits a year. How far will you go to help them? How much will you invest yourself in the future of these gifted youth living in a township and a country still struggling to redefine themselves and heal from the divisiveness of the apartheid era?