The Night Is Not Darkest Before Dawn

The international news nowadays focuses on ongoing battles and conflicts in Africa, Western Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere.

The limited participation in meetings and summits intended to find solutions allows aggrieved, excluded parties to accuse others of political one-upmanship and score-settling.

It is quite disconcerting, as those who follow international events and the impact on their countries or geographical regions are exposed daily to ghastly images of death, destruction, starvation and the suffering of the masses caught in the wars.

At home and work, a cloud of gloom and doom is slowly descending upon us.

The proverb, “the darkest hour is just before the dawn” is often used to describe when people, individually or as a group, are down, depressed and at their lowest level.

The use of this proverb goes back centuries but not much is known about its origin other than it first appeared in print in 1650 in the English theologian and historian Thomas Fuller’s religious travelogue, ‘A Pisgah-Sight Of Palestine And The Confines Thereof’.

While it is true that it is coldest before sunrise, the widely held belief that the night is darkest before dawn is false.

In the future, donors and their development aid may become scarce, yet that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Let’s go without handouts, as there are many positives to be harnessed to make Africa, with its abundance of resources above and below the ground, the world’s continent of the future.

In contrast to other continents, Africa has fewer people, even less than China and India, but 27 of the 30 countries with the highest birth rates are in Africa.

The researchers suggest that Africa’s population will double to 2.49 billion by 2050, approximately 26% of the world’s population, and to 4.28 billion by 2100, just short of 40%.

Africa’s countries must tackle development effectively and swiftly, using their own resources.

Africa has a young population in comparison to the ageing population of countries in Europe with shrinking populations, and 70% of this continent’s population is under 30 years old.

In the future, Africa’s population will be comprised of productive individuals who could be educated, trained and skilled to provide what is needed in a technologically-driven world.

Donor dependency must be abolished, as the danger of continuing with such a mindset is being exposed.

Countries with a blatantly obvious developmental lag, where little, if any, attention has been paid to upgrading urban and rural water and sanitary needs, housing, hospitals, schools, rail, roads, electricity, and other basic human needs, will face the consequences if change is not ushered in.

The African Union (AU) must take action to stop the politicking, bickering, skirmishes, and squabbling that hog media headlines.

With its regional economic groupings like the Southern African Customs Union, the Southern African Development Community, the Economic Community of West Africa States and the East African Community, the AU must persuade countries to refocus attention on economics and regional integration, promote infrastructural development partnerships between countries to upgrade roads and railways, and build clean, energy-generating facilities.

Let’s transform a feeling of negativity into a positive one, and in the long-run, find ways to eliminate reliance on aid and handouts.

Investment in infrastructure and the youth will lead to a brighter future for Africa and its inhabitants.

• Danny Meyer is reachable at danny@smecompete.com