Africans who educate their siblings seldom ask for anything in return. There is no materialistic agenda. Its all done froma pure heart and desire to do whatever you can so that other people can have a better life!

I know many Africans who have achieved financial independence and still actively pursue learning opportunities simply to further their knowledge.

To them learning, just for the sake of learning, is enjoyable and essential.

Moody Awori for example…

Those people who are working 2 jobs and using the money to educate their siblings are doing it for what purpose? so their siblings can get an education right? but why are people so hung up on getting an education? is it because they want to become sweepers after school? no. It’s because many believe that education is the path to getting a good job (read: a highly paid, office job) aka, a job with money and presumably that money will then enable them to buy all the materialistic things that we all desire.

People don’t spend years in school just for the “love” of learning.

You epitomize the typical chest thumping redneck – claiming credit for other people’s achievements.

The need for Material possessions is one of the “lower needs”. It is basic and primitive. It can cloud all other judgement and can make human beings behave like mindless animals.

Once you are free from this basic need, you will reach a level of development that Africans effortlessly achieved and continue to achieve (but few realize it – thanks to brainwashing). Marslow defined it as “Self Actualization”. Status symbols and inanimate objects mean nothing at this level.

I have seen people working 2 jobs (18 hours/day) and using all the money to educate their siblings and extended family. Objective: Self sacrifice for the benefit of society – rather than the individual. The person forfeits status and power symbols for the sake of a higher objective.

You probably don’t understand the essense of what I just wrote. Based on your post, I seriously doubt whether you are an African. The hoarding instinct is too strong.

I’ve heard this argument before — that the west is to materialistic, but I’ve come to believe that being greedy and materialistic may not be such a bad thing because it spurs innovation and creativity.

However, beyond that, I think it’s a facade (to use your words) to suggest that Africans are not materialistic. We are. In fact, everyone is materialistic because everyone likes, wants and needs money. If I gave you a million dollars in cash, would you turn it down? I somehow doubt it.

While the bankers screwed up the financial system, America is still a land of innovation and that innovation has created real wealth in many instances.

So, being materialistic is not bad. In fact, I think it’s a natural phenomenon inherent in all human beings. We want, want, want….all the good things in life (sex, money, power, etc, etc). The question is not if people want these things (they do), it’s how to get them.

You wrote:

“We don’t know how to use our brains to do anything and we make nothing — we don’t make cars, tv’s, roads, bridges, nothing.”

Hmmm… May I suggest a resolution for 2009?

1. Decolonize your mind.
2. Decolonize your mind.
3. Decolonize your mind.

Stop using someone else’s yardstick to bash your self dignity! The west measures the worth of human beings on the basis of Material accomplishments. Do not fall for this trap!

This is one of the reasons they have a credit crisis – since the majority of their impoverished citizens had to sustain a facade – a fake image of wealth, based on things that they did not own, could not afford and had no clue of how they would repay for them.

Look around you and see what we have and had in Africa, then ask yourself what was missing…

Its all a facade. First they declared your forefathers “primitive” and tried to “civilise” you. Now they declare you “poor” and try to “develop” you. In the meantime, one constant remains.. CONTROL.

Merry X-mas to you too and to everyone!

I can’t get away from the internet, even on christmas day!

Good luck believing those numbers put out by the politically infused CBK

The problem with Africa is not really the IMF. It is that we come from a culture that does not believe in production. We don’t know how to use our brains to do anything and we make nothing — we don’t make cars, tv’s, roads, bridges, nothing. This is not the fault of the IMF. This is a fundamental cultural problem that exists throughout the continent.

BN Mwalimu:
Now, now…how has Roubini brainwashed me? And by the way, I am not a fan of the IMF, which I have referred to here by it’s synonym, the Infant Mortality Fund, but AFricans need to stop blaming the IMF and world bank for all their problems. Don’t we have brains of our own?

And Roubini has been right in his analysis of the U.S. economy. He has not talked about Africa. So, I don’t know why you are hating on him.

My posts are not put here so you guys can believe everything people say. I assume that each one of you has a brain and you will come to your own conclusions about things. The posts are here to simply inform you. I don’t know why Kenyans have such a hard time understanding this? I think some of it stems from the lack of a reading culture in the country. There’s a general disdain for information and a tendency to look at it with anger as opposed to looking at it with thought and rationality and allowing the information to broaden your perspectives about the world.

Merry X-mas everyone!