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Good News for
BlackAfrica
''1
WOULD
like to write an
article about black Africa," 1 told a
friend from West Africa. "Any
suggestions?" "Be encouraging," he said
without hesitation. "We get
enough
bad
news." He explained that he knew most
Plain Truth
readers live in the more
affiuent parts of the world and need to
be reminded that there are sorne
difficult times ahead.
But many readers in black Africa, he
said, already have to cope with difficult
times. In their part of the world
poverty has become a fact of life.
struggle for existence. They need sorne good
news.
Regular readers all over the world know that a
fundamental purpose of the
Plain Truth
magazine is
to announce the restoration of the government of
God to this earth by tbe returning Jesus Christ who
will lead all mankind into 1,000 years of peace,
sometimes called the Millennium. What that means
to our African readers is that in their lifetime they
will begin to see the solution to their continent's
tragic problems.
God has revealed in the Bible his plans for the
future. Tbose plans are going to have a great impact
on Africa. The roadblocks that have tbwarted
progress and prevented the African people from
fulfilling their dreams will be removed forever.
A New Africa
In the 19th century, Africa was carved up and
divided among the European powers. A line
arbi trarily drawn on a map in London, París,
Brussels or Berlin became a national boundary. No
consideration was given to the impact this would
have on local populations.
The threat of famine looms constantly on
the African horizon. There is no need to
tell black Africans tbat they are suffering
through the "drougbt of tbe century."
Every trip to tbe market is a reminder that
even the basic foods are becoming scarce
and expensive, and that minor luxuries have
drifted forever out of reach. They know
that their continent is wracked with civil
strife and revolution, and that even the
best-intentioned leaders have to fight
constantly against incompetence and
corruption within their ranks.
Typical outdoor elementary school class in session at Serowe, north of
Botswana's capital of Gaborone.
They understand-possibly from firsthand
experience-that tbere is a good chance their
children will not survive their first year, and those
that do live face an uncertain future, with
unemployment, illiteracy and poverty.
The affiuent world's bad news for tomorrow is
reality in much of Africa today. For many of our
African readers, life has already become a grim
February 1985
For example, one East African tribe was divided
because it was decided that it would be nice if botb
the Kaiser and Queen Victoria should eacb have a
snowcapped mountain in tbeir African domains.
When the black African states became
independent, they inherited the boundaries set for
tbem by the old colonial empires. Peoples with the
same culture and language were divided, while
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