Page 24 - Volume 1_Go home mzungu Go Home_merged with links

Notes from the Author

My narrative

(Even a business millionaire depends on ‘the community’. He depends on ‘the community’ for the

education of his workforce, perhaps even some of his workforce live in subsidised social housing. The
sophisticated infrastructure that his business needs, roads, internet and so much more, has been
provided by ‘the community’.)

When people first grouped into communities, there was an inherent understanding, and

often a very explicit one, that each person had to contribute to their community. And yet now in
this modern-age where we live a quality of life which would be impossible without the

community, so many of our people have lost that sense of obligation.

It’s in Africa that you see a greater sense of what it means to be an individual in the

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community. It was there before the m'zuŋ u arrived. It’s still there. It was local Africans who
told me that if any of them did not offer any caller to their home something to eat before they
left, no matter how small the food, no matter how poor they themselves were, it would be their

neighbours who would scold them! There are things we could learn from Africa.
Communitarian-ism is very much part of the African culture.

(And no, communitarian-ism is not communism. Definitely not. During Africa’s post-independence period, a
time when USA had 40% of the world's economy, and so was able to overly dominate world affairs, African
leaders became the butt of self-serving politicians and the ‘communist’ label became over-used and applied
in a very negative way.)

Requiring that part of the UK government that administers UK International Aid to insist

that graduate applicants undertake a 12 month backpacking experience around Africa has an
impact well beyond that of producing administrators that are more ‘in touch’ with their subject

matter. Going further and pushing these same leaders of UK International Aid to integrate

informal aid resources such as the African diaspora and our country’s retirees has the
potential to better harmonise different parts of our own society.

***** ***** *****

It is a Personal narrative

There are instances within the narrative where I clearly show an anger. An anger not allowed

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with purely academic studies. I am angry. We should be angry. The m'zuŋ u have a right to be
angry with our politicians and our ‘Aid’ professionals. The African has a right to be angry with
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the m'zuŋ u.