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Africa Quotes

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Africa Quotes

“And there’s one other matter I must raise. The epidemic of domestic sexual violence that lacerates the soul of South Africa is mirrored in the pattern of grotesque raping in areas of outright conflict from Darfur to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in areas of contested electoral turbulence from Kenya to Zimbabwe. Inevitably, a certain percentage of the rapes transmits the AIDS virus. We don’t know how high that percentage is. We know only that women are subjected to the most dreadful double jeopardy. The point must also be made that there’s no such thing as the enjoyment of good health for women who live in constant fear of rape. Countless strong women survive the sexual assaults that occur in the millions every year, but every rape leaves a scar; no one ever fully heals. This business of discrimination against and oppression of women is the world’s most poisonous curse. Nowhere is it felt with greater catastrophic force than in the AIDS pandemic. This audience knows the statistics full well: you’ve chronicled them, you’ve measured them, the epidemiologists amongst you have disaggregated them. What has to happen, with one unified voice, is that the scientific community tells the political community that it must understand one incontrovertible fact of health: bringing an end to sexual violence is a vital component in bringing an end to AIDS. The brave groups of women who dare to speak up on the ground, in country after country, should not have to wage this fight in despairing and lonely isolation. They should hear the voices of scientific thunder. You understand the connections between violence against women and vulnerability to the virus. No one can challenge your understanding. Use it, I beg you, use it.”

ViolenceHealthAidsDiscriminationOppressionIsolationSexismSouth AfricaMisogynyAfricaUnited NationsDomestic ViolenceSexual AbuseRapeHivViolence Against WomenKenyaSexual AssaultRape CultureZimbabweSudanDarfurMarital RapeDemocratic Republic Of The Congo
Author:Stephen Lewis
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“Kiswahili ni lugha rasmi ya nchi za Tanzania, Kenya na Uganda. Ni lugha isiyo rasmi ya nchi za Rwanda, Burundi, Msumbiji na Jamhuri ya Kidemokrasia ya Kongo. Lugha ya Kiswahili ni mali ya nchi za Afrika ya Mashariki, si mali ya nchi za Afrika Mashariki peke yake. Pia, Kiswahili ni lugha rasmi ya Umoja wa Afrika; pamoja na Kiarabu, Kiingereza, Kifaransa, Kireno na Kihispania. Kiswahili ni lugha inayozungumzwa zaidi nchini Tanzania kuliko nchi nyingine yoyote ile, duniani.”

CultureLanguageAfricaKenyaRwandaMother TongueUgandaArabicTanzaniaArabsKolonia SantitaEnock MaregesiAfrikaEast AfricaMozambiqueSwahiliAfrican UnionBurundiKiswahiliAfrican LanguagesLughaUtamaduniAfrika MasharikiSwahili LanguageAfrican Great LakesDemocratic Republic Of The CongoBantuAfrika Ya MasharikiAtlantic Congo LanguagesBantu PeopleBantu PeoplesBantusBenue Congo LanguagesComorian LanguageComoro IslandsEastern AfricaFamilia Ya Lugha Ya KiswahiliHistoria Ya KiswahiliJamhuri Ya Kidemokrasia Ya KongoKiarabuKibantuKiprotoKusini Mashariki Mwa AfrikaLugha Ya AsiliLugha Ya KibantuLugha Ya KisabakiLugha Ya KiswahiliLugha Ya Visiwa Vya KomoroLugha Ya Visiwa Vya NgazijaLugha Za AfrikaMsumbijiMto SabakiNchi Za Ukanda Wa Maziwa MakuuNiger Congo Language FamilyNortheast Coast BantuProto BantuSabaki LanguageSabaki RiverSoutheast AfricaSouthern Bantoid LanguagesSwahili HistorySwahili Language FamilySwahili PeopleSwahili PeoplesUmoja Wa AfrikaVisiwa Vya KomoroVisiwa Vya NgazijaWaarabuWabantuWaswahili
Author:Enock Maregesi
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“Kiswahili ni lugha ya Kibantu na lugha kuu ya kimataifa ya biashara ya Afrika ya Mashariki ambayo; maneno yake mengi yamepokewa kutoka katika lugha za Kiarabu, Kireno, Kiingereza, Kihindi, Kijerumani na Kifaransa, kutoka kwa wakoloni waliyoitawala pwani ya Afrika ya Mashariki katika kipindi cha karne tano zilizopita. Lugha ya Kiswahili ilitokana na lugha za Kisabaki za Afrika Mashariki; ambazo nazo zilitokana na Lugha za Kibantu za Pwani ya Kaskazini Mashariki za Tanzania na Kenya, zilizotokana na lugha zaidi ya 500 za Kibantu za Afrika ya Kusini na Kati. Lugha za Kibantu zilitokana na lugha za Kibantoidi, ambazo ni lugha zenye asili ya Kibantu za kusini mwa eneo la Wabantu, zilizotokana na jamii ya lugha za Kikongo na Kibenue – tawi kubwa kuliko yote ya familia ya lugha za Kikongo na Kinijeri katika bara la Afrika. Familia ya lugha za Kikongo na Kibenue ilitokana na jamii ya lugha za Kiatlantiki na Kikongo; zilizotokana na familia ya lugha za Kikongo na Kinijeri, ambayo ni familia kubwa ya lugha kuliko zote duniani kwa maana ya lugha za kikabila. Familia ya lugha ya Kiswahili imekuwepo kwa karne nyingi. Tujifunze kuzipenda na kuzitetea lugha zetu kwa faida ya vizazi vijavyo.”

CultureLanguageAfricaKenyaRwandaMother TongueUgandaArabicFuture GenerationsTanzaniaArabsKolonia SantitaEnock MaregesiAfrikaEast AfricaMozambiqueSwahiliAfrican UnionBurundiKiswahiliAfrican LanguagesLughaVizazi VijavyoUtamaduniAfrika MasharikiSwahili LanguageAfrican Great LakesDemocratic Republic Of The CongoBantuAfrika Ya MasharikiAtlantic Congo LanguagesBantu PeopleBantu PeoplesBantusBenue Congo LanguagesComorian LanguageComoro IslandsEastern AfricaFamilia Ya Lugha Ya KiswahiliHistoria Ya KiswahiliJamhuri Ya Kidemokrasia Ya KongoKiarabuKibantuKiprotoKusini Mashariki Mwa AfrikaLugha Ya AsiliLugha Ya KibantuLugha Ya KisabakiLugha Ya KiswahiliLugha Ya Visiwa Vya KomoroLugha Ya Visiwa Vya NgazijaLugha Za AfrikaMsumbijiMto SabakiNchi Za Ukanda Wa Maziwa MakuuNiger Congo Language FamilyNortheast Coast BantuProto BantuSabaki LanguageSabaki RiverSoutheast AfricaSouthern Bantoid LanguagesSwahili HistorySwahili Language FamilySwahili PeopleSwahili PeoplesUmoja Wa AfrikaVisiwa Vya KomoroVisiwa Vya NgazijaWaarabuWabantuWaswahili
Author:Enock Maregesi
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“Why did you bother coming here at all?" "For my work. That's my profession. Writing about important things that are happening in the world." "I'm curious to know what exactly you wrote about Gulu. What important thing has been happening here in our town?" "Do you think what I do is of no significance?" She gestured impatiently. "Others have come here too, asked the children questions and then gone away, and at least it was all cut-and-dried. But you came back. I thought it was going to be different. What did you come back for? ... You barged into our lives, and now you've got cold feet. What are you afraid of? You got too close to us, right?”

AfricaJournalists
Author:Jagielski Wojciech
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“I make an appeal to the people of the civilized world, whose representatives signed the Berlin Act of 1885, and the Brussels Act of 1890, to unite in putting pressure upon their respective Governments to take the territories known as the independant Congo State out of the hands of King Leopold II, now ruler over a million square miles in Africa, inhabited by twenty million negroes; and by such measures as may be decided upon at a new Conference, to ensure that the provisions of the Berlin and Brussels Acts shall be effectively carried out in those territories.”

AfricaCongoLeopold IiCongo Free StateCentral AfricaEdmund Dene Morel
Book:The Congo Slave State: A Protest Against the New African Slavery
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“the big headline of the book, a whopper really, is Hochschild’s claim that the population of the Congo fell by 50 percent or 10 million on Léopold’s watch. The EIC, he claims, caused “depopulation” and “mass murder” of “genocidal proportions” due to its drive for rubber profits. In fact, the most knowledgeable estimates today suggest that the general population of the Congo rose slightly during the EIC era and that any deaths attributable to the limited abuses in the rubber areas were far outweighed by the lives saved and created by the EIC’s direct interventions in other respects. Even if we can agree that any life lost to senseless violence and negligent governance is always and everywhere deserving of condemnation, Léopold’s regime was a monumental achievement in saving and promoting black lives.”

AfricaBlack Lives MatterCongoLeopold IiCongo Free StateAdam HochschildLeopold S Ghost
Book:King Hochschild’s Hoax: An absurdly deceptive book on Congolese rubber production is better described as historical fiction.
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“The obsession with seeking in Africa's colonial past the causes of all its miseries today is the work of people intimately convinced that Africa is doomed, that it is unable to take care of itself today, and that, finally, the fate of the Black will only improve if the White comes back to repair what he has done wrong: these “hidden Afro- pessimists “ are hiding, under gratuitous accusations, anger, or demand for reparation, their own disarray. This explains why their words are sterile, never accompanied by proposals for solutions to the problems they evoke. They are doing a lot of harm to Africa because they divert issues that have worth.”

ColonialismAfricaCongoAnti ColonialismMarcel Yabili
Book:The Greatest Fake News of All Time: Leopold II, The Genius and Builder King of Lumumba
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“This heroism was also that of the first missionaries. They had a life expectancy of about 5 years in Congo, and some were given extremely anointing at the time of their journey to Africa. There were many young idealists. Their graves are still lined up in the Mpala locality, which overlooks Lake Tanganyika. The Catholic mission was a fort where people who fled slavers and brutality took refuge.”

AfricaCongoMissionariesCatholic MissionLake Tanganyika
Book:The Greatest Fake News of All Time: Leopold II, The Genius and Builder King of Lumumba
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“Mission work in Algeria is far from being the chief, still less it is the exclusive object of your ambition. The end and aim of our Apostolate is the evangelisation of Africa, of the whole of Africa, of that almost impenetrable interior in whose dark depths are the last hiding places of a most brutal barbarism, where cannibalism still prevails, and slavery in its most degrading forms. To this work you have consecrated yourselves by solemn vow and promise. There is not a single spot along the shores washed by the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean, where we do not find the footsteps of the messengers of God's mercy to the poor degraded sons of Cham. But although in all the countries bordering the Ocean we find numerous bodies of Apostolic Missionaries engaged in spreading the light of the Gospel, far different is it with the interior of the Dark Continent, which has hitherto seemed impossible of access. From time to time individual travellers have tried to penetrate into the depths of this mysterious land, but nearly all have perished in the attempt to. lift the veil which enshrouds those unknown regions.”

ChristianitySlaveryMissionAfricaCongoCongo Free StateAlgiers
Author:Charles Lavigerie
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“My journey through the Congo had its ow unique category. It did not quite do it justice to call it adventure travel, and it certainly wasn't pleasure travel. My Congo journey deserved its own category: ordeal travel. At every turn I faced challenges, difficulties and threats when in the Congo. The challenge was to assess and choose the option best suited to making progress. But there were moments when there were no alternatives, or shortcuts or clever ideas. At these times, ordeal travel became really no ordeal at all.”

TravelAfricaCongoTravel QuotesTravel WritingTravelling Alone
Book:Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart
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“To Nine’s way of thinking, the problems surrounding the exploitation of coltan in the DRC epitomized the problems the entire African continent faced in capitalizing on the huge untapped wealth that lay beneath its surface. Corruption, political unrest and outside interference from non-African countries ensured the continent that should be the world’s wealthiest remained the poorest.”

AfricaCongoColtanThe Oprhan Trilogy
Book:The Orphan Uprising
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“The country is like a great sponge—it finally absorbs you. Eventually you will get malaria or you will get dysentery and whatever you do, if you don't keep doing it, the jungle will grow over you. Black or white, you've got to fight it every minute of the day.”

AfricaCongo1950s1951
Book:The Making of The African Queen Or How I went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and almost lost my mind
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“He [Stanley] had stated that he longed to do something wonderful for the African tribes along the Congo, and instead, as would become all too apparent, had set them up for a terrible fate. In 1877 he came down the great river as the first European ever to do so, declaring his hope that the Congo should become like `a torch to those who sought to do good'." Instead, it became the torch that attracted the archexploiter King Leopold II of Belgium.”

ExplorationAfricaCongoColonisationHenry Morton Stanley
Book:Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer
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“Stanley must have realized that this postponement would probably be fatal. But while he did not give up, he never for a moment thought of abandoning his African quest [...] Yet Stanley still longed for the security of marriage, and hoped he could find Livingstone and marry Katie. [...] The romantic side of his nature told him that their story ought to end in marriage: the workhouse boy, having distinguished himself beyond all expectations, weds the daughter of the respectable local gentleman, and they live happily ever afterwards in a big house [...] But Katie had never understood his inner conviction of being chosen for a great task.”

HistoryExplorationAfricaCongoHenry Morton Stanley
Book:Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer
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“Je lui ai dit que je laissais l’écriture à ceux qui chantent la joie de vivre, à ceux qui luttent, rêvent sans cesse à l’extension du domaine de la lutte, à ceux qui fabriquent des cérémonies pour danser la polka, à ceux qui peuvent étonner les dieux, à ceux qui pataugent dans la disgrâce, à ceux qui vont avec assurance vers l’âge d’homme, à ceux qui inventent un rêve utile, à ceux qui chantent le pays sans ombre, à ceux qui vivent en transit dans un coin de la terre, à ceux qui regardent le monde à travers une lucarne, à ceux qui, comme mon défunt père, écoutent du jazz en buvant du vin de palme, à ceux qui savent décrire un été africain. [Verre Cassé]”

WritingAfricaCongo
Author:Alain Mabanckou
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“We must act now to prevent further spread of EBOLA VIRUS. If we do not act collectively, EBOLA VIRUS will wipe all whole populations and generations into their grave. The call to action is now.”

AfricaEbolaAfricansEbola VirusEbola In West AfricaEbola In AfricaEbola DiseaseEbola OriginAfrica LeadersPrevention Of EbolaEbola In Central AfricaEbola In SpainEbola In UsaEbola In The 21st CenturyEbola In The WorldHelp Ebola VictimsHelp Needed In West Africa
Author:Lailah Gifty Akita
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“The Complexities Of Life Caused By Bad Government Leaderships And Parental Mistakes Can Make A Child More Matured Than Their Age. It Happened To Me And It Is Still Happening To So Many Children World Wide. Most Especially, In Africa Where I Come From. This Is Why You See So Many African's Do All Sorts Of Bad Deeds For Surfacing And Surviving To Keep Body And Soul Together.”

BlackChild AbuseAfricaBad GovernmentParental AbuseComplexities
Author:Baba Tunde Ojo-Olubiyo
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“After the rise and decline of Greek civilisation and the Roman destruction of the city of Carthage, they made one area of the conquered territories into a province which they called Africa, a word derived from "afri" and the name of a group of people about whom little is known. At first the word applied only to the Roman colonies of North Africa. There was a time when all dark-skinned people were called "Ethiopians," for the Greeks referred to Africa as "the Land of the Burnt-face People".”

AfricaEthiopiaEtymologyAfrican People
Author:John Henrik Clarke
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“I know there are some heartless, greedy, selfish criminals who call themselves politicians, pastors, prophets or business people, who will steal money that is suppose to help in this corona virus. If you are that politician, pastor, prophet or business person, may you suffer with everything you have and will all your riches & wealth . May you  never find happiness, joy & peace in your life, until you pay every cent that you stole from the people.”

PhilosophyQuotesPoliticsCriminalsPandemicAfricaPoliticiansCorona VirusAfrican Leaders
Author:De philosopher DJ Kyos
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“Deep in the heart of the hot, wet African rainforest, there lives a tribe of peacemakers who share a multiplicity of pleasures and make a very special kind of love. South of the sprawling Congo River, in the midst of war-ravaged territory, some 2,000 miles from the arid Ethiopian desert where the oldest human fossils have been found, lies this lush and steamy jungle paradise, the only natural habitat of the bonobo.”

ParadiseAfricaJungleEthiopiaRainforestBonobosBonobo
Book:The Bonobo Way
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“Usiwe na wasiwasi, Peter. Hizo ni hisia zangu tu. Huwezi kuwa mpelelezi. Lakini, kusema ule ukweli, ningependa sana kuonana na John Murphy. Kuna kazi binafsi ningependa kumpa. Wewe unatoka Afrika, hujawahi kumwona?” Debbie alizidi kumshtua Murphy. “Nani?” Murphy aliuliza huku akitabasamu. “John Murphy wa Afrika.” “Sijawahi kumwona. Mbona unamuulizia hivyo?” Debbie alitulia. Kisha akarusha nywele ili aone vizuri. “Nampenda sana!” “Kwa nini?” “Simpendi kwa mahaba, lakini.” “Ndiyo. Kwa nini?” “OK. Nampenda kwa kipaji chake. Alichopewa na Mungu, cha ujasusi. Kusaidia watu.” “Ahaa!” Murphy alidakia, sasa akifikiri sana. “Murphy ana mashabiki wengi hapa Meksiko bila yeye mwenyewe kujua, kwa sababu ya kupambana na wahalifu wa madawa ya kulevya – hasa wa huku Latino. Tatizo lake haonekani. Wengi hudhani ni hadithi tu, kwamba hakuna mtu kama huyo hapa duniani.” “Hapana! Murphy yupo! Ni mfanyabiashara maarufu huko Tanzania. Lakini ndiyo hivyo kama unavyosema ... Haonekani!”

PeopleWorldGodFansTalentIntelligenceCriminalsIntimacyPeterFairy TaleBusinessmanAfricaLatinoMurphyLegendDuniaWatuTanzaniaAssignmentJohn MurphyKaziAfrikaDebbie Patrocinio AbregoKipajiDebbieMeksikoMadawa Ya KulevyaSpecial AgentMashabikiHadithiMpeleleziUjasusiHisiaJohn Murphy Wa AfrikaMahabaMfanyabiasharaWahalifu
Book:Kolonia Santita
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“People are wrong when they tell you that Conrad was on the side of Africans because his story showed great compassion towards them. Africans are not really served by his compassion, whatever it means; they ask for one thing alone – to be seen for what they are: human beings. Conrad pulls back from granting them this favour in Heart of Darkness.”

HumanityHuman BeingsRacismAfricaHeart Of DarknessAfricansJoseph Conrad
Book:Africa's Tarnished Name
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“We were scorning the symbol of hypocrisy and hope. Many of us had only begun to realize in Africa that the Stars and Stripes was our flag and our only flag, and that knowledge was almost too painful to bear. We could physically return to Africa, find jobs, learn languages, even marry and remain on African soil all our lives, but we were born in the United States and it was the United States which had rejected, enslaved, exploited, then denied us. It was the United States which held the graves of our grandmothers and grandfathers. It was in the United States, under conditions too bizarre to detail, that those same ancestors had worked and dreams of “a better day, by and by.” . . . I shuddered to think that while we wanted that flag dragged into the mud and sullied beyond repair, we also wanted it pristine, its white stripes, summer cloud white. Watching it wave in the breeze of a distance made us nearly choke with emotion. It lifted us up with its promise and broke our hearts with its denial.”

HopeSymbolsHypocrisyAfricaAfrican AmericansBlacksAmerican FlagFlag
Book:All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes
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“As increasing human population and fires from the savannah are continuously eating into the forest belt, it seems likely that the distribution of the forest members of the fusca group will continue to retract. In 1912 Simpson described how G. Fusca was found in Sierra Leone along a certain 37-mile stretch of road which ran through thickly wooded country skirting mountains densely clothed in thick forest; in 1946 I visited the area to find no fusca, but bare mountains, grassland, and only a few patches of low secondary thicket.”

DiseaseAfricaDeforestationEntomologyNaganaSleeping SicknessTsetse Fly
Book:Africa's bane: the tsetse fly
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