Zubeida's Blog|
Jul 03
2010
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Ghana - Africa's Brilliant Black StarsPosted by andrea in Untagged |
I woke up this morning overwhelmed by sadness. Ghana had so deserved to win last night. It was so close yet not to be - that sense of victory for the African continent that so many of us long for. A part of me feels that there is almost an injustice here. Then I pull myself together and admit to myself that it is just a game and that on the balance of things, we have taken a step forward. South Africa and Africa has successfully hosted one of the largest sporting events in the World. Having an African team excel would have been a nice to have but should be required for us to feel that we have succeeded in achieving most of our objectives. Some times I think that so much of life is about what we feel and how we feel. South Africans are no different to who they were before the World Cup Soccer Tournament - a passionate, generous people who have sacrificed enormously to secure basic rights. The only difference now is in the way we feel about ourselves. This month's experience has made us appreciate ourselves. Our strengths are on display for all the world to see and suddenly we too see it. The world and we choose to see the bleakest side of ourselves and for a short while now this has been turned upside down.
The challenge is how are we going to be strong enough to hang onto this feeling. It is a feeling that certainly will do much to help us through all the tough difficulties that we face as a country.
No doubt we have something beautiful going here and again and again it will show itself to us in different ways. How do we want to lead our lives ? Focused on the bleakness? This is no way to live. A life without hope is too painful to contemplate.
The Ghanaian team persevered in the face of great odds and this is an admirable condition. We have to take what has been given to us and build on this all the time. The work to improve each of our countries on this continent will have to be done with care. Let us not send our best people to work at a broad continental level. Let us keep them focused on the ground where we live so that we can see an improvement in the daily lives around us. This will give us the strength to reach out and cooperate across countries and build a truly strong continent. I have no doubt that Africa's time has come. It is clear in so many ways.
The challenge is how are we going to be strong enough to hang onto this feeling. It is a feeling that certainly will do much to help us through all the tough difficulties that we face as a country.
No doubt we have something beautiful going here and again and again it will show itself to us in different ways. How do we want to lead our lives ? Focused on the bleakness? This is no way to live. A life without hope is too painful to contemplate.
The Ghanaian team persevered in the face of great odds and this is an admirable condition. We have to take what has been given to us and build on this all the time. The work to improve each of our countries on this continent will have to be done with care. Let us not send our best people to work at a broad continental level. Let us keep them focused on the ground where we live so that we can see an improvement in the daily lives around us. This will give us the strength to reach out and cooperate across countries and build a truly strong continent. I have no doubt that Africa's time has come. It is clear in so many ways.
