I had a dream! Joining an international humanitarian NGO to help, save and take care of people around the world, especially those living in vulnerable African countries.

In recent years, I realized this dream cannot come true immediately. So, there’s two scenerios; whether postponing this goal or riding it to another level in which I could fulfill my duty towards Africa following a second path.

This time, it was different. It was so special. Knowing and working with citizens from neighbour countries, countries belonging to my continent, had always been a real pleasure for me. Whatever the type of collaboration was and whatever was the impression, I’ve always enjoyed it. But this time I over-enjoyed it.

Meeting, knowing, discussing and sharing different experiences with active communitarians from diverse African countries was so interesting and fruitful way to take part of the continent move. Touching this reality led me to ask a crucial question: what would this world be without media & press? (talking about the influencer media not the copier one). An obvious answer emerges: we would have far fewer stereotypes. People will look for getting in touch with others to know the truth behind each country situation and will privilege intercultural relationships (with no stereotypes).

This experience was more prominent for me than the past ones. I’ve learned so much from a “new old friends” I met and from the session we all take part of.

– One personal remark: “We, YOUNG AFRICANS, all have the same frustrations”. In other words, we belong to different countries with different development levels but this, does not preclude that the substance of our problems is the same. Maybe it’s due to the history that most of us shared and maybe it’s a result of external pressure we all bear.

– One common lesson: “To make a change, we’ve to consider ourselves a part of a system”. We always talk about the others as a source of problems when it comes to finding solutions. When we decide to change any situation we often forget that, in some way, we participated in the issue we would like to solve. In this sense, it would be worth to play the others’ roles to know exactly how to act considering all people’s worries, expectations and values.

– One general advice: “It’s high time to combine our efforts so as to build one community”. Getting in touch with each others (Africans), leading projects together and sharing ultimate goals, must be the motto of our relationships. It’s high time to stop conflicts and it’s high time to say “we are here! we have a voice and we’re not gonna wait for foreign people to deploy our resources“. Hopefully, our continent incubates a big percentage of youth that are whether talented or ambitious. Both of these qualities would serve Africa’s development but to do so we should raise the awareness about the necessity of mobilizing people toward these goals. “Together, we form one Nation”.

– One addressed message (to Moroccans): “We should learn more about our history and also about African history”. It is true that we’ve been always influenced by western cultures and justified this fact by cultures proximity. I’m sorry to tell you it’s not true. The countries with whom we share a similar or approximately similar history are the African ones. We’ve been colonized, almost by the same countries and more important than that we showed the same resistance to get free, to overcome local issues and to build developed communities. One way will make us understand this reality: we have to master our African history and to write the coming one.

Furthermore, I won’t let this opportunity slip without expressing a deep gratitude to the country in which I was born and educated, Morocco. Being a Moroccan citizen affords me a special respect from all individuals around the world but it never equals the fact that among all these people you may meet, only African a countryman would tell you: “I love Morocco! It’s my second home”. And I’m sure that visiting one of these neighbour countries will make us say similar expressions and feeling its real meanings.

So, to every single person who will read this words, take the chance to know people from Algeria, Tunisia, Mali, Senegal, Cameroun, Nigeria, South Africa… the list contains 54 African countries. If we all consider that we constitue one community and that we’re all representing humankind, we’ll unconsiously forget about political conflicts and we’ll start thinking differently. In fact, we’ll start figuring out how to use politics to reach the peace, how to deploy its means to achieve meaningful changes and how to make it work for all.

Regarding the exprience I did share with those “new old friends” (people you meet for the first time and have the impression you’ve known them since a while), it was an effective occasionto dream about an amazing continent with no frontiers. And believe me, this dream will come true soon as it’s not a dream I own but it’s a dream we all own.

Together, we are one Nation!  Together, we form one Community ! Together, we’ll make it happen exclusively by Africans for Africans.

Greetings to all from an African, Maghreban, Moroccan… Proud of having all these affiliations.

#Africa #Maghreb #Morocco #Youth