Bright Side of Continent

Oscar Kimanuka (East African)—A group of Africa’s media practitioners have been in China to assess how Africa can relate with China in the exchange of information and experience but most importantly how perceptions about both can be changed in the challenging era of globalization.

In Chengdu city, Sichuan province, an important seminar took place a few days ago to promote Sino-Africa friendship and co-operation.

A senior journalist from the Beijing Review set the tone of the meeting when he observed that the Chinese view Africa today from three perspectives.

So when a Chinese is asked about Africa he or she thinks of pyramids, the Safari or Nelson Mandela, the symbol of Africa’s humanity. Mandela has increasingly come to salvage Africa’s battered image, which has often been seen through the Western media as a continent of famine, hunger, disease, ignorance and conflict.

But fewer Chinese know that Africa is a continent of diversity in cultures, languages and hospitable people.

From Africa’s perspective, China is a huge country with the largest population in the world - 1.3 billion - rapid economic growth and development, and a friendly people.

Africans have consistently shown their admiration for China’s increasingly important role in world affairs.

But that is only one side of the story. China too has many serious challenges.

There is evident disparity between the haves and the have-nots. There are also serious environmental challenges, arising from the rapid industrialisation.

More than 150 million people live below the poverty line but the Chinese have proudly managed to feed themselves.

This aside, there is a need to change negative perceptions about Africa in China and about China in Africa by increasingly exchanging information through the mass media.

Thus the launch by the South African Broadcasting Corporation of an international news programme that will focus on Africa’s real stories that portray our development and less on hunger, disease and poverty must be welcome by all.

Rwanda too, is hosting an international telecommunications summit, with about a dozen heads of state and government as well as senior executives in the private sector expected to address issues of digitisation and how this can contribute to poverty alleviation and prosperity.

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