I have never been to Africa, but I really feel for that continent and like to follow the news.
Nobody suffered more than Africans during the colonial period. We here in Sub-continent suffered too but when British went they at least left us with some state apparatus, institutions, a railway system and a gigantic canal system, not to forget a professional and modern military. What did Africa get, depopulation (because of slavery), new ethnic divides (like Hotus & Tutsis of Rwanda created by those racist Belgians), looting of their resources and no state structures at all.
The worst part is world still doesn't care much about Africa. Boko Haram is as much an evil as ISIS is, but what is the international response to that. What real effort was put in place to eradicate the LRA. The world allowed the genocide in Rwanda to go on for a while before it intervened, would the response had been the same if Rwanda was located in ME or eastern Europe. The most ridiculous thing is even those who like to champion the cause of Muslim sufferings don't care much about what is going on in CAR.
I would like to visit Gambia one day, perhaps 30 years from now when I get retired, at least I would be able to enjoy myself in peace knowing Yahya can take care of any unwanted STD that i might get in process. That is if he is still around and I am still functional.
To be honest with you, I agree with everything you said. Africa indeed is the forgotten Continent even though its the mother of the Cradle/birthplace of humanity and the cradle of Civilization.
It's really unfortunate that the whole world forgets about Africa even when there are far worse wars/conflicts going on there like the one you mentioned in Northern Nigeria, where its estimated that Boko Haram kills thousands of people every year. Yet the response from foreign powers/media//International community isn't the same like the one they give to even the Middle East. The hell, the war in Congo Kinshasa alone has killed close to 6 million people and is still continuing to this day, yet we don't hear the media/newspapers talk much about it like they do with other conflicts in other region.
The most saddest thing is that Africa(Sub saharan) is the continent i love the most of all continents/places i have been to in my whole life( and i have been to a lot of countries believe me). The people are the most welcoming/open/accepting/friendly people you will ever see anywhere in the world. Whether you are Chinese, Indian, Filipinos, European, Latino or Arabic people in sub Saharan Africa welcome you with open arms and they don't discriminate at all(if anything they treat their guest better than locals at times).
Yet people still look down on them/discriminate against them everywhere more than any other race/people.
Africa also has alot of natural resources(probably the most endowed continent in the world in terms of natural resources), but the leaders/rulers are all corrupt/incompetent to the core(with the exception of a very few). The continent is ruled by despots/dictators and elite family who will never cede power peaceful to another even if it means destroying their whole country/civil war just like Assad in Syria and most recently the president of Burundi who modified the constitution to seek another term.
Burundi Chaos Shows Anger Against Long-Time Africa Rulers - Bloomberg Business
The good/friendly people of Africa deserve better than these old corrupt despots. At least a few countries in Africa are showing a good example like Ghana, Botswana, Senegal etc.So there is still hope that things can one day change. Since African countries are growing very fast as well. Over the past decade six of the world’s ten fastest-growing countries were African. In fact, eight of the past ten years, Africa has grown faster than East Asia. Even allowing for the knock-on effect of the northern hemisphere’s slowdown, the IMF expects Africa to grow by 6% this year and nearly 5.6% in 2015, about the same as Asia. However, the commodities boom is partly responsible. In 2000-11 around a quarter of Africa’s growth still came from higher revenues from natural resources. Which to my opinion isn't sustainable like we have seen with the recent plunge in natural resource prices which has led to a slow down in growth of many African countries.
Also, Clean portable water is rare in most of Africa (even those parts outside the sub-Saharan region) despite the fact that the continent is crossed by several major rivers and contains some of the largest freshwater lakes in the world(even electric power isn't enough even for a country like Congo Kinshasa who has the worlds largest hydro electric power potential.
). However, many of the major population centers are coastal, and few major cities have adequate sewage treatment systems. Although boiling water is a possibility, fuel for boiling is scarce as well. The problem is worst in Africa's rapidly growing cities, such as Cairo, Nairobi, Lagos and Kinshasa. etc
Anyway we are going off topic. lets stick with Gambia's president Yaya Jameh and his healing powers. Hope you will have the opportunity to one day travel to Africa, you should , its a stunning continent you wont regret it. Plus you don't need to be careful President YAYA of Gambia will treat you if you get infected with any STDs.
world would be a much better place if we stop judging people and we let nations live their lives the way they want too. nobody knows what the people of Gambia want, maybe they want Islamic statehood. just dont compare Islamic statehood with Islamic state
. sharia is not what the west define it is but it is the teachings of prophet MUHAMMAD(s.a.w) and the teachings of Quran and spending our lives according to these teachings.
the west sold themselves so many times (hate against muslims and muslims prophet and the holy book) that nobody is buying their crap anymore.
and yes dont google sharia, most of what you will get is crap and lies.
LOL isn't it