AFRICA ARISE

We're all in a box, a box the system has created, to contain us all, so we don't see what's ahead.

And so they tell us, go to school, graduate, serve, then queue up on the unemployment list, if you're lucky get a job shortly after, or much longer, every month get paid, use your pay to pay bills the system has created and so the money flows right back to them, in fact, if you're being very compliant, you'll probably be in debt before the next pay comes along, a vicious cycle, on and on it goes, how comfortable we've become with the way things are, loyal lab rats, every experiment pushes us even further down into the box.

Who would save us from this box, the ones who make it out of this box, when they've seen the light,never come back, even when they do, they're no longer in the box, they become shareholders in the affairs of the box.

Sometimes though, someone tries to enlighten us of our situation, we listen for a fleeting second but then we quickly recover from all the big grammar and unrealistic views they share, we met things this way, no point trying to change them, is that even possible? Change? What's that?

I'm Amaka, I'm a young lady and in a few days time now, I would turn 23, I'm suffocating in this box, I'm sick of sticking to the status quo, I'm tired of feeling guilty because I want more, I want more because I know that there is more, outside this box, there's more, out in the open, there's so much more, it's x raised to the power of infinity.

I demand for more, not just for me but for others like me, if there's a future I can foresee for myself, it's life outside this box, out in the open, making mistakes, learning from them and making a lot more mistakes,as long as I don't stop doing. That's it, I want to actively do, to not be afraid of failure because who knows some day I may actually win, winning, that's not the point, its the experience I acquire in the process, the person I become.

An Amaka who isn't afraid, who's comfortable in her own skin, who can walk down the corridor alone with head held high, who like Faraday would try over and over again until the room lights up, who is not limited by my gender or account balance, an Amaka who is awake.

In summary, I would like to wake up and when I wake, I would like to wake Africa, she's slept for too long anyway.

Africa Arise!!!!

Written by Chiamaka Ohuobah