SUNRISE, THE BEGINNING…

The Agrarian revolution began in Britain at around blah blah blah. Are you not tired of reading the history of other continents, yet you are uninformed of yours? Alright, let us assume you know your history, right? Answer this question, what is the meaning of ‘Alkebu-lan’? It is a very basic question; you should be able to answer this off the top of your head.

A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots

Marcus Garvey

Pardon me, where are my manners? My name Kingsley Taabu and this is my first blog. I would have started one earlier but I had extreme writer’s block which went on for years. Thanks to a great support system, I finally found my footing and confidence. Okay, enough digression, back to topic.

A lot of us Africans do not know our history. Quite frankly, our educational curriculum has failed us and continues to do so as it solely focuses and delves deep into western history sparing only a few pages for African history. Some say that the educational curriculum in Africa is heavily euro-centric and shows no nexus between African and European history. To make matters worse, the spared pages will only talk about history not long before colonization. I am filled with bitterness knowing that most of us grew up convinced that we had little to no contribution to the world’s history apart from being slaves. I believe there is more to our story!

I think the saddest part of this all must be the fact that some of the little history we know was already manipulated by the Western countries. The sources we usually consider reliable are most notorious for doing this, I will not mention names… BB… Our history is written from the Europeans point of view and is completely biased; this Information has been distorted and continues to be distorted. They stripped Africans off their dignity in order to build their nation’s reputation. The most unfortunate bit is that we keep passing this fabricated information from one generation to another. We have broken free from the chains of our oppressors, but our minds are still captive. Wake up Africa, It is time to re-write our history from our point of view. This is the last step to end colonialism.

The truth is that we have been violated and robbed of our rights, I believe we all need to know our history; our real history. I am passionate about African history. Therefore, I took it upon myself to share my findings and educate. It is never too late to decolonize the mind; my purpose is to help you get in touch with our true history. Aside from that, I will also be discussing additional issues concerning our continent, culture, leadership and various events.

Before we embark on this journey of learning and unlearning, I must make some things clear:

First, I believe in conversation. Therefore, my blog will not be too rigid nor too academic; I want to create a space where we can all feel comfortable to interact with one another. I will try my level best to explain everything in a much simpler manner; basically, I will explain everything to you as if you lot are a bunch of children. My goal is not only to inform you but also to help you fully understand the topics being discussed. Furthermore, I am open to any criticism. I am willing to learn and unlearn some things. Also, feel free to send me articles, I will take time to read and share my views on them.  Second, our history is very wide and scattered. I will therefore divide some of my work into series to give each topic enough attention for satisfactory results. Third, I will give my opinion often when I am addressing the issues facing our continent. It is important that you read widely so that you can come up with a sober judgement from your readings.

Just to answer you, Alkebu-lan is the ancient and original name of Africa. It means ‘mother of “mankind” or “garden of eden.” It was used by Nubians and Ethiopians.

MAKE AFRICA GREAT AGAIN