Photo by: Henoc Kivuye
Africa has become a commonly discussed continent around the world. With this topic becoming more prominent, some media sources have a way of depicting Africa as a dry wasteland with an arid climate and poor living conditions.
Junior Jessica Parker spent six weeks in Burkina Faso this summer. Her perspective of Africa was changed significantly after her time there.
“The one thing I definitely expected about Africa was that it would have an arid climate, because if TV taught me one thing it was that Africa was most definitely a desolate wasteland,” Parker said. “Little did I know, this was far from the truth. … Africa is a big place; there are so many different people groups that it is silly just to assume everyone is starving, black and uneducated. There are big cities in Burkina Faso, not just land and mud houses.”
Though the continent has dry, humid regions, and Africa holds the record for the world’s largest deserts, that’s not all the continent has to offer.
“When I arrived in Burkina my hopes of finally escaping a humid climate were dashed,” Parker said. “They were in the middle of the rainy season. I would be lucky to go a day without getting caught in the rain. This caused the country to bloom. Lush green grass and beautiful trees dotted the landscape. This was very different than the arid desert I was expecting.”
Junior Wilmina Gley said that in presenting Africa to the Western world, the media generally focuses on the negative aspects of Africa like wars, famine, poverty-stricken people and dry landscapes where nothing grows.
“I have seen the way the media misrepresents my country, Ghana, or the African continent in general,” Gley said. “Most of the time, the media only shows the bad side of Africa and most of the time that is not what even happens in Africa.”
Africa is a versatile continent with a lot to offer.
“I think the biggest difference from what I ‘learned’ before visiting and what I actually experienced would be the stark contrast between the sadness portrayed to us in the media and the actual mood of the place,” Parker said. “There is poverty and sadness and hungry people. But there is also beauty and joy and laughing children. There is a balance of both here, just like everywhere else.”
Gley said that people are given distorted information about the country.
“Most of the time, Africa is represented as a rural desolate kind of place, and the truth is, Africa is developing,” Gley said. “Africa has some of the nicest places I have ever been to.”
According to Gley, the way Africa is portrayed needs to be reevaluated.
“I have seen the media portray Africa as a place where people run around being chased by lions,” Gley said. “I think that is just wrong. I have never been chased by a lion. All my life I have only seen one lion. It was in a zoo.”
Gley mentions that it’s hard to get a clear picture of the country from most people who talk about Africa.
“For an example, if I had never been to Africa and I saw the pictures the missionaries and non-profit organizations were showing to get funds, I would think that all Africans must be really struggling and having a hard time with their lives,” Gley said.
Gley points out that some people in the Western world get the impression that Africa is one massive country.
“Something else that bothers me when people say they are going to Africa is the fact that they don’t specify exactly what country in Africa they are going to,” Gley said. “They simply say, ‘Oh I am going to Africa this summer.’ I hear people all the time saying, ‘I went to Africa and this happened.’ And I stand there thinking, ‘What a goofball.’”
To sophomore Hana Orge, Africa is a rich continent, not a continent of famine and poverty.
“In my opinion Africa is very rich,” Orge said. “It is just that we are not using our resources properly. When I hear people describing my country, Ethiopia, as a poverty or disease-stricken country, most of the time I will try to prove them wrong by telling them that disease and poverty are everywhere and it is not just in Africa.”
Africa is one of the world’s fastest-developing continents.
“The media does not always tell the truth about a lot of things,” Orge said. “Ethiopia is a developing country and we have peace. For example when I was in Ethiopia, the United States was always shown in TV as a place where everyone is wealthy, but when I got here, I saw for myself that that was not the case for everyone. Some people work multiple jobs just to feed their families.”
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