Ambassador in a split second, always an Ambassador

In two minutes, I became the ambassador of Ghana to the Southern Africa region in Harare, Zimbabwe during the SoCreative Summit 2020 where southern Africa creative hubs and entrepreneurs together with some from East Africa, Central and West Africa had gathered to dive into our creative economies and creating more conducive ecosystems!

It was 6th March 2020, on my first visit to the southern region of Africa and I was put on the spot- called up to the stage just two minutes after I had been told I was going to be called up to say something about my country and my views on our independence since I was the only Ghanaian in the Summit. I am not super great with crowds and was so nervous I did not share the things I had carried for so long in my heart but I did realize after, that I am always an ambassador for something-who I am, what I believe, what I offer and at any point in time, I could be called upon to represent. I sincerely wish I had known beforehand so I would have structured my thoughts better to share both the challenges and the opportunities but given one opportunity, I wasn’t going use that to wash dirty clothes in public.

What did I say on the lighter note? Our friendliness and hospitality, our amazing variety of great spicy food, love for dance and the way we love to laugh out loud and freely.

What did I say on the heavier note? My fishing community and great space for educational institutes, the colonial history we embody to face future, our priority for peace therefore the work we put in forgiveness and letting go to settle political, cultural and religious differences so we can continue living together, our need and call for our brothers and sisters across the world to come back home with their resources, experience and exposure to help build their own home first. The need to travel more within Africa and get to know other Africans and their way of life in order to join forces and build the continent. The fact that there was so much soul in South Africa, a lot of laughter in Ghana, an amazing strength in Rwanda and Kenya, just to spotlight a few of the regions of the continent I had been exposed to.

What did I really want to share if I had known I was going to speak? The need to see ourselves as fundamentally human and fundamentally African with the best continent in the world and not just a people of colour (since all human beings are literally just different colours of the same frame)! The need to stop being afraid of each other, sabotaging and blacklisting ourselves and collaborate to work together. The need for stronger and youthful leadership that fights for its own people instead of just working hard to fit the schedules and terms of the dictators of the world. The need for more focus in being creative with our economy build-up (as the Ghana Design Network is working to achieve with the value of Design) and creating our own content and owning our own stories (with reference to PICHA, creating Afrocentric visual content by African content contributors for Africa to own our own narratives and tell our own stories). The need to stop believing that we are not enough and start believing in our quality. The need to stop celebrating independence and start celebrating nationalism as way of moving our mentality from that of dependence from advanced countries which we, by the way have helped build with our sweat, energies and resources (reference to Bold New Normal by Lucy Quist). The need for the New African Mind that renews itself daily for its own development and sees the good in us (seeing the diamond hub in Angola and the world copper bank in Congo instead of the wars, the vegetation, the reserves and wildlife in Eastern Africa instead of political unrest, the hospitality, freedom, peace and political stability in Ghana, the mass human resource and human capital and oil reserves in Nigeria, the business industries built and authenticity in voice in South Africa through music, the sustainable city in Rwanda, the mass historic modernism in Egypt, the amazing tree culture in Zimbabwe-the 'House of Stone', the potential glass industry in Mali instead of just the sandy lands, the beauty of our people and languages, the diversity on the continent just to mention a few).

To be honest, I had had conversations with a lot of people since the start of the summit and I was surprised by the extent to which they held Ghana in such high standards, knowing some of the challenges we faced and were trying to change. From leadership, politics, financial systems, work, social life, to marriage, food and personal life, we had so much in common as Africa. From Hunter-Gathering to Agrarian economies to Industrialization and Information ages, we as Africa have it all, not forgetting the Society 5.0 which is embedding our deep rooted community and connectedness, human to human relations on a global scale. As Africans, we cannot take what we have for granted. We simply cannot let ourselves down, not with the quantum and diversity of who, what, where, when and how we are.

It is important that we understand and be mindful our ambassadorial positions at all times, of ourselves, our families, our countries, our faith, our fiber and our being. It is important that we prepare to represent, anytime we are called upon. In that sense, we will be ready any day. God bless my homeland Ghana and make our continent Africa Bold and Strong to defend forever! Khanimambo Afrika!