All over the United States, Thanksgiving is on people’s mind. Groceries are being bought in record numbers and invitations are sent out to family and friends. People are taking to the road from coast to coast to be with family and friends, to renew friendships, to reconcile, to forgive, to eat together and to share in the blessings of the past year. Even I in Uganda have ordered a stuffed turkey at my Ugandan butcher, this is the first turkey I will cook in Africa and to say the least, I am excited. Somewhere I am told I can find a jar or tin of cranberries, and I of course will do my best to locate the store where the elusive berry can be found.
Thanksgiving, is a time for family, for sharing, for creating memories and talk about times past. We gather around tables of all sizes and shapes, made from all kinds of wood and other material, covered with table cloths and decorated with our finest dinnerware, candles, flowers, treats, linen napkins, wine, sparkling and drinks…ah the feast of thanksgiving, what a delight. Although a non-religious holiday, thanksgiving is often the one time of the year where a form of grace and prayer is heard at the table.
In Africa, Thanksgiving is not celebrated as we know it in the USA, and even if it was, there would be a lot of people absent from the table. Most of Africa has a lot of poor and very few wealthy people. There is a small middle-class group here and there, but you have to do a lot of digging to find them. There is an economic Thanksgiving table set in Africa; the problem is that only a few share in it. Most simply never get to enjoy the fruit of their labor, their labor never ends and only a few benefit beyond mere existence. The average person never gets to share in the bounty that is there. Most of Africa became independent in the 1960’s, the cry for freedom and self-determination rang out in the land. The cry for freedom, for Uhuru (Swahili) could be heard throughout Africa. The downtrodden, the poor after years of heavy yoke of colonialism dreamed and hoped for a brighter future. They dreamed of jobs that paid a livable wage, of an abundance of food, of land that had been taken to be restored, of good schooling for their children, of medical care, of opportunities at the table of freedom and economic opportunity. The problem was that few of those with hopes and dreams were invited to the feast of economic thanksgiving in Africa. Only a select few with right connection, the right lineage were invited. There was no thanksgiving with all the trimmings for the average person. Hope and dreams gave way disappointment. For most it was a return to life as usual. Back to their little Shambas farming to have enough to eat, or to the city where they would live in slums and take low paying jobs, they still hoped, they still dreamed of a better tomorrow, but in vain they waited for the invitation to partake at the table come.
Eating at the table means participating, reaping the benefits of power, getting to participate in the economic pie of a better tomorrow, of a better today. For many in Africa that day has never come. Instead, it is corruption, bribes, thefts from government coffers of money meant for education, medical care, better roads, and better infrastructure. The elite benefits, buying bigger vehicles for themselves as the potholes on the roads of Africa increase in size, the rich fly to South Africa, England, Germany, France, the US for medical care while the poor pay for medicine with labels such as "not for resale" at corrupt pharmacies and medical clinics that steal the medicine from government hospitals. The rich put their children into the finest schools that can cost thousands of dollars, while the poor go without food paying school fees, uniforms, books and other things for their children....Please visit us (www.theafricanmessenger.org) for the full article.
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