Agenda 2063: The Africa we want | Jesse Karanja | TEDxTUBerlin

see it still baffles me that in 2019 I still have to have certain conversations I was chilling at the park a couple weeks ago with some friends of mine and I happened to mention that I was from Kenya and one Spanish guy that I just met the same day goes oh that's so crazy I knew a guy called Mohammed from Egypt strange but see I've had that one too many times why swiftly replied oh that's so crazy - I know a guy called Micah from Finland and I could slowly see how confused and perplexed he was at the idea that I would know one single nickel from Finland and how he would know one well how would out know one Muhammad from Egypt but see the reason for such perceptions and such narratives is because the media in Europe does this to us it portrays Africa as poverty-stricken and constantly in need of aid take this image for example see I took this picture not too long ago in a Moorhen Berlin it has a title we'll come in in Kenya and declare Guinness world in English welcome to Kenya discover Irene's world but see this picture does not depart depict my country it is not depict whelmed from in my opinion he said another attempt to paint my country in a larger sense my continent with the same rationality that has gone on for years on end I wonder how it would come across if I took a picture of a homeless man named Berlin and caption it welcome to Germany discover Otto's world would that be a fair assumption of what living in Germany is like I believe not so I hope a day will come where one does not have to reiterate a simple fact that Africa is indeed a continent in order country has over 1.2 billion people and over 50 different countries in fact kyuk Hauser made this image that showcased how many countries can fit inside Africa so we have the US China Germany India you name it it's crazy last year the blockbuster movie Black Panther came out that depicted yet a different Africa a futuristic Africa it showcases country called Wakanda in the sub-saharan region our Conda work and assured women in technology women in leadership see what kinda also had people using their own mineral resources for their own economic progress but see the difference between Wakanda many other African countries is a simple fact that Wakanda was never colonized as well Lupita nyong one of the actors of the film rightly puts it what Conda is a reimagining of what Africa could have been had it been allowed to define itself for itself but see despite our colonial past Africa is still on the rise we have a country like Ronda which is safer cleaner and more innovative than many European countries a country like Nigeria which is currently thriving in technology country like Ethiopia that recently elected its first female president so when I think about my country in my city in Aerobie I think about this beautiful skyline and I think about this a city bustling with hard-working always hustling Kenyans that despite the hard days we still fought on because that that is a true spirit of pan-africanism now that that's out of the way this agenda 2063 and the Africa we want in essence as you've been told it's a framework that aims at the socio-economic development of the continent for the next 50 years so this agenda is also very closely linked to the International Africa Day a day that I must say challenged my life and how I saw myself as an African and a trooper an African and this is why I owe you [Music] [Music] see the 25th of May the International Africa Day is a day that I was only made aware of nearly three years ago a few African students at my university shoutout to Rhine Valley University of Applied Sciences came together to organize an event that aspired to celebrate the content of Africa but see as a Kenyan who's lived most of his life in Kenya I never really identified with the whole content as a whole so the idea that my africanist so my Kenyan is here to be celebrated was unheard of to me and as we just seen on this day Africans came out in their numbers from the different musical performances the different outfits a different food and cuisine Africans were loud Africans were present Africans were proud and it's a joy that cannot be put into words and it's something that I look forward to in the next international Africa Day on the 25th of May this year that's actually next Saturday I did not know that this day held so much more importance because on the 25th of May in 2013 African leaders came together at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa Ethiopia to celebrate three things pan-africanism unity and Renaissance see as much as Africa a lot to be proud of African leaders use this platform to take stock of what still need to be achieved heads of state then decided that in the next 50 years they wanted a different Africa see by the Year 2063 Africa will be nearly 30 percent of the world population and he cannot be that sizable then we would likewise need a sizable economic presence but before I went Durban to really discuss about this agenda 2063 day Africa we want I'd like to first tell you about the Africa that I want growing up in a middle-class Kenyan household my parents worked really hard and maybe very possible for my brothers and I to live a life that many other Kenyans would only have aspired we'd so often be sitting in traffic and women with young kids as young as three years old would come knocking on the window begging for money and I always wondered why was the disparity between the rich and the poor so large why did we have Kenyans in three-story mansions but yet their households leading a slum down the road some a very young age the Africa that I was wanted was it was an Africa those rate of poverty idealistic some may say an Africa they did not have clear walls that imitated the rich and the poor neighborhoods an Africa that he'd not rejoice in the rich get richer and the poor get poorer mentality but an Africa that sought to find solutions bridge this gap I also went on to experience both a Kenyan and an international education granted the Kenyan school I attended was not a public hanging school that definitely saw more harsh conditions my experience at the German school Nairobi I attended spoke volumes see from simple things like the food we ate the books we read to different sports and the travel machine teas were exposed to I realize that my privilege should not have been a privileged but I human right I realized that every child should have the opportunity to have a quality education supported by quality teaching staff equipped libraries and top-notch technologies to keep up with the times but sadly this is not the case and not every child gets experience a quality education now due to my privileged education I then went on to study abroad thereby creating an even larger gap between my peers back in Kenya and I got to travel the world attend different conferences top-notch seminars there by equipping myself with life skills I believe would not have been exposed to had I been back at home so the Africa that I also want is an Africa where African youth are empowered with information about global gatherings global get-togethers such as this where like-minded young future leaders can come together to tackle head-on global problems see for my netted Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan once said knowledge is power information is liberating and education is a premise of our progress now at school back in Kenya I was taught from a very young age not really embrace my national language Swahili but to practice speaking English more see this was done in order to prepare me for the real world make me fit in but in actuality were actually born to stand out so here was I left Kenya going into Germany to pursue my undergraduate studies and what struck me was the first people I moved in with why Egyptians and they so comfortably spoke Arabic amongst each other and then went on to make some friends from West Africa and the same thing happened again and then met I made a friend from Kenya in the coal from the coastal region who spoke perfect Swahili and so she challenged me and asked me why can't she speak perfect Swahili so here I was in the real world and this language that I was so uninterested to learn was the one thing that set me apart from everybody else fast forward four years later I would like to say that I speak perfect Swahili but start to say that this reality and this realization came to me once I left my home country so the applicator I also want is an Africa where we celebrate pan-africanism as idealistically this word may seem it simply means a unified Africa an Africa that is not afraid to be different an Africa that is that slowly plans and standing out an Africa that embraces its uniqueness in its food it's fashion its culture and lastly its languages basically an unapologetic Africa because truth be said we Africans we are limited-edition and we are born to be different now to draw back on what a gender 2063 actually a bias for a continent see the goals of this agenda pin 63 will be driven by us its citizens and attained through 12 continental flagship projects and this transformation will be guided by three African Union visions which is an integrated a prosperous and a peaceful Africa so the implementation of this very big ambitious plan will be led by the African Union at the Continental level by the regional economic communities at the regional level and lastly by us the citizenry at the national level one of the flagship projects of this agenda 2063 that maybe some of you have heard of is an African passport that basically would remove restrictions and allow begins to travel live and work within the continent we also have this African continent of free trade area that recently reached the minimum number of notifications necessary to come to effect and this in essence would accelerate intra African trade and boost Africa's position in the trading world this also this African high-speed train network that aims to allow travel for Africans throughout the whole continent so just imagining Jesse going from Kinshasa in the Congo to Nairobi in Kenya wouldn't that be something but I believe to achieve all these things we cannot forget the words of Kwame Nkrumah the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana when he said Africa must unite now Africa must either look East or West Africa must look forward and see several these projects are being run by the Chinese government under this belt and road ship initiative that basically is a developmental project that is China helping over 152 different countries and I've also come from Kenya literally three weeks ago and the most skeptical side of me would say that the Chinese are coming to a country taking over bringing in their own labor pretending to strengthen our economy but in actually strengthening their own but the more gullible utopic side of me would say and I have faith in my current government and the plans it has for my country so the question I must ask myself as a young capable African here in the Diaspora is my generation truly capable of moving my mother continent forward do I possess the skills and the know-how required to bring this source to economic development or will this agenda 2063 be yet another unfulfilled dream swept under the rug to create a new agenda 2093 one of the Prima's professors of my country is called professor PLO Lumumba once said it could very well be that in 100 years time if you ask the young Africans if they want to be colonized they will say yes colonize us and see this sent chills down my spine because the sad reality is sometimes I think Africa speak on the biggest platforms the biggest roundtable discussions but I think until I choose as an African to change my mindset then all this talking progress we left the table the sad reality is when we are called to elect our leaders we elect them based on tribal lines and ethnic groups and I wonder will this type of thinking bring any continental development if that is a dominant instinct that leads us see my friends agenda 2063 is not only a challenge to us but I wake-up call that if Africa is a truly fulfills potential then we the youth must free ourselves the chains of mental enslavement and dependency I must choose to see myself as equal to all my cut European counterparts present in this room today and claim my rightful place at the table the choice is mine the choice is yours the choice is simply ours 67 that's the age I'll be by the Year 2063 and the founders of this agenda will be long gone and I can only hope that my continent continues driving forward and bringing more and more continental development for itself I will leave you the words of famous photographer potentially controversial activist Boniface Mwangi and he says there are two powerful days in your life the day you were born and the day you discover why and I've made a personal commitment to myself to make the realisation of agenda 2063 amongst my wife so I employ you as young capable citizens of the world wherever you may be whatever position you may be to not only talk about it but be about it in whatever capacity please be an active agent of change thank you [Applause]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 20,547

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Global Issues, Africa, Africans, Culture, Global issues, Peace

Id: 3Q7SFeL5mzw

Length: 16min 10sec (970 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 15 2019