The Pan-Afrikan and The Christian in ME...

The Pan-Afrikan and Christian in Me - The Abstract

Disclaimer: The title is reserved for a future book of mine... and, my thoughts are all over the place - kinda my new normal. :)

I am a staunch Pan-Afrikanist, an unapologetic black and a Christian. Now, for most, it's either they are Pan-Afrikanist or a Christian, hardly both. Lol. 

I'm born and raised into the Evangelical Lutheran Church faith. I am baptized and confirmed into the above mentioned faith. But, along the way, with all my travels and various stays in different Afrikan countries, I got to experience the Islamic religion too. Albeit, God himself found me in March of 2006 in my room. I've had super personal and extraordinary encounters with God. I've experience the ministry of Angels on 1st April 2010, it's a date I will NEVER ever forget in my life. I've had dreams about Jesus Christ and I've also experienced the miraculous in July 2015. I'm a very specific and thorough person, so, it's only normal to keep a spiritual diary and engrave extraordinary dates in my heart. There's NOTHING on this earth that can convince me that there lives no God. Nothing can tell me and or persuade me otherwise. I've seen God in my life over and over and over and over again; and, I've also tastes the goodness of the Lord. 

I've been in situations were God pulled me out, encounters were a mortal being can't take credit for, I've experience divine protection all my life, I can't explain it in any human language. My supernatural experiences can't be described without a sense of spiritual maturity. Someone with little faith won't be able to comprehend and fathom my testimonies and encounters. 

Now, I became a Pan-Afrikanist at the age of 8/9. Super early on in life. One day, I went to the library, stumbled upon Afrikan literature and it so happened to be on the history of Thomas Noel Sankara of Uppervolt now Burkina Faso. I swear to you all, I couldn't put the book down. Hence, I've never ever written Afrika with a c, and that put me in trouble all my life at school. My compositions were always about Afrikan history. Always. Teachers forced me to write Afrika with a c but I never succumbed. 

...Now, being someone raised in the church, and being a Pan-Afrikan created a lot of internal conflict. At some point, the Christian and Pan-Afrikan in me couldn't stand each other. You know, I love Afrika! So, whatever happens to Afrika and her children affects me a lot. The civil wars, hunger, poverty, apartheid, racism, slavery, dictatorships, looting, corruption and and almost sent me into severe depression. I would spend hours and hours questioning the Christian in me about God and whether He really cared for Afrika. In fact, The Pan-Afrikan in me was somehow convinced that Afrika was created by a different being, because, there was no way God loved the world yet He's allowed so much doom and gloom over Afrika. The innocent women and children didn't deserve to suffer under the mis-decisions of men. The Pan-Afrikan in me would question the Christian in me why God allowed apartheid? Why  He'd allowed a minority to kill, rule and oppress the majority? What did the whites have that the blacks didn't have? Why did God allowed and continue to allow racism? Why can't He stop all civil wars, dictatorship, hunger, poverty etc in Afrika? Why did He gave Afrika natural minerals without proper strategies; because,  those that are governing don't know how to utilize the natural minerals to the benefit of ALL people? 

Like I said, My heart and mind would go at each other over and over and over and over again, until I started to make each realize that sometimes, there are no answers to certain questions. There's no rationale. It felt as though two different people shared my body. 

As a Pan-Afrikanist, I've learned that our leaders are the cause of most of our failures as a continent. We allowed and continue to allow the oppression from The West. Because, we don't know how to feed ourselves and our people. Our leaders are nefarious in every sense. Their levels of corruption runs deep. The Pan-Afrikanist in me learned to respect the Christian in me and vice versa because, I've realized that it's not easy to believe in someone you've never met yet call him Abba and it's also not easy to believe in ancestors who died whilst trying to protect their countries and citizens. At some point, I asked myself, How did Thomas Sankara not see Blaise's plot? Or, If Patrice had a premonition of his end, why didn't he do something different? Of course, some of these questions are dumb, but they are questions I have, had. 

The Christian and Pan-Afrikanist in me taught me the following; 

1. Respect opinions, thoughts and contributions of people that don't necessarily share in my views; 

2. Understanding requires wisdom and patience; 

3. Intelligence is resilience personified; 

4. Political correctness isn't everything. Political correctness is intellectual terrorism. It's partially intimidating but it won't make me change my mind; 

5. God doesn't need my defense; 

6. My ancestors walk besides me... 

 (Thomas Sankara, Patrice Lumumba, Frantz Fanon, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Natanael Maxuilili, Kwame Nkrumah);

Hence, the merge. And boy oh boy, did I not encountered unspeakable joy when the two finally merged! I have an inner peace inside of me that words can't begin to express. 

I shall remain the daughter of Thomas Noel Sankara. #Sankarist #MyDada