The AFRica They Never Show...By Jackie Tsiga

I’ve been dying to write about this for a while now because this is an issue that I have had to explain MILLIONS of times before. Basically the story is this. I was in Greece with my friends’ Kayleigh and Jaide. I was talking about my heritage as I usually do and these two were listening intently. One of them said; “so when you were in Africa did you walk five miles for water, live in a mud-hut, go hunting and wear those neck-stretcher thingies?” I was in awe but then I remembered this isn’t the first time people have asked me this. Is it their fault that they think all of Africa is either in poverty at war or experiencing some form of disaster? They view Africa as this continent that has never developed and only awaits Aid from countries that are more economically developed.



God bless whoever invented Television because we can all see things and learn about current affairs. But what are the effects of the media going into overdrive? Well you have people in Europe, Americas, Australia and Asia thinking; “oh I never want to visit Africa because there’s war and disease everywhere”. The problem with the media is that they have only shown one side of Africa. The bad side and that creates an extremely biased view of the continent. Don’t get me wrong there are poor places where people live in poverty but for the lucky few we grew up in a good clean safe environment. So this is why I have decided to educate you all on MY REAL AFRICA; the one they never talk about.



I’m from Africa, Zimbabwe, Harare, Hatfield, Kikintilloch close born and bred. I lived in a nice safe neighbourhood. I started nursery school at five years old and progressed onto primary school - Hatfield primary school. I had competent teachers and learnt in an actual building and I was taught how to read, speak and write English. I didn’t live in a mud hut; I lived in quite a big house in-fact with an electric gate and a big yard to play around and have fun. I remember when I was young I would wake up eat porridge go outside and play all these different African games nhodo and tsoro. The African lifestyle is healthy because I exercised, ate organic fruits all day and didn’t live in fear of the local paedophile.



The suburbs in Africa where normal people live are equivalent to Los Angeles and bell air where the richest celebrities reside. A typical house has six bedrooms, three bathrooms, two toilets, lounger, dining room, two verandas and a kitchen. Not to forget the large yard and gated area with swimming pool. This is the norm in many areas in Africa. If there was an African MTV cribs they would have visited my neighbourhood. The same amenities that you have in England, Australia or wherever you are right now are in Africa too.

The unique thing about living in the suburbs in Africa is that although we are surrounded by the modern world it is still complimented by nature. Our garden had large jacaranda trees which bloomed many beautiful flowers which in turn brought out the AFRICAN bees which pollinated other flowers and also stung me many times. I distinctly remember these yellow spiders (Lamborghini spiders I call them) and up till now I haven’t stopped talking about them because they never moved no matter how much I tried to scare them. There were also these scorpions that lived in bark and they would come out when we chopped would for the fire place in winter.

I hated all these crazy creatures then but l love them now because they are part of my memories of the real unique beauty of Africa. I learnt from a textbook but I also got to experience nature and see these things first hand; that’s something most kids in Europe have never done.

Kayleigh: So if you had such a great life in Africa why don’t you go back?

Me: I came to England to enrich myself on western culture, to earn a universally credited education and to create more opportunities for myself. I am an intelligent young lady raised from the roots of Africa. I am proud of my ancestors who wore neck braces and went hunting because it is my culture and I will never forget it. I am a part of AFR Clothing because I believe in enriching the lives of my brothers and sisters to help them achieve what I achieved so far and also to shine a light on the AFRICA THEY NEVER TALK ABOUT!