Maybe Africa Is A Country

The Journey That Sparked a Thought

In August-September 2024, I was headed to Cotonou, Benin, for a project. That meant crossing two borders … Ghana to Togo, and Togo to Benin.

Initially, I wasn’t thrilled when my company insisted we travel by road. But apparently, there are no direct flights between Ghana and Benin (personally, I think it’s because the average Ghanaian swears Benin is where the first-ever juju was discovered but whatever).

Most flights would take way longer than necessary and at that point, walking almost feels like a better option.

As we drove from one country to the next, I couldn’t help noticing how familiar everything looked.

Me, A hookah set, and an amazing flight crew. This could be anywhere in Africa tbh

Same dusty roads. Same kids that should clearly be in school but are out here hustling.

Same unnecessarily hostile border officials, shabbily uniformed, and visibly tired but ready to take a bribe for whatever silly “offense” they could invent.

The only real difference?

The Ghanaian officers spoke something you could qualify as English, and the others spoke that language from the premier Gauo song by Sound System.

Breakfast in Cotonou and the book I have been reading for 4 years

If I tweeted, “My country is so corrupt. The leaders are stealing taxpayers’ money, neglecting citizens, and building no hospitals or proper roads,” how much would you bet that almost every African would think I’m talking about their country?

Don’t bet. Why? I’ll give you two reasons.

First, I rarely ever bet. Second, I cheat when I do bet.

And I know you’d lose this bet because I’ve actually posted something like that before and saw the replies from every corner of the continent.

A Tweet That Could Be From Anywhere in Africa

If a country is defined as a nation with its own government occupying a particular land, and if all governments across Africa seem identical in behavior and leadership… then maybe those who think Africa is one big country aren’t entirely wrong.

Of course, it’s not all gloomy. Africa’s beauty is vast, diverse, and full of soul.

We have Highlife music, Amapiano and parents who keep their finest cooking utensils locked up in kitchen drawers reserved for guests that would probably never show up.

A random photo from Cotonou

The average person from the “country of Africa” is warm, generous, and always willing to share.

After all, haven’t we all received that famous email from a kind-hearted African prince offering to share his inheritance… if only we could share a few credit card details?

You know how that goes…

Let’s rewind a bit.

In November 1884, a group of white men from fourteen European countries met in Berlin.

By February 1885, they’d reached an agreement on how to share a massive piece of land far from their own and drew lines across it however they pleased.

That land was Africa.

Those lines they drew became the borders we now call countries.

So before you look at another African as a stranger, remember this: if those dirty alcoholic men in 1884 had drawn their lines even slightly differently, that African could have easily been part of your “country.”

If you’ve read all the way to this point, you’re far too kind. You could have been reading anything else on the internet, but you chose this — and I genuinely appreciate it.

See you again in a bit.