By Nana QUASI-WUSU
When I boarded that flight to Johannesburg, I carried with me the typical Ghanaian warmth and assumption of continental brotherhood. For 11 years on radio, I had dedicated my platform to promoting Africa, its history and culture.
What I discovered in South Africa would shatter my beliefs about Pan-Africanism and force me to confront an uncomfortable truth.
I met 30 South Africans during my stay – from 12-year-old students to 60-year-old professionals. I asked them a simple question: “What do you know about Ghana?” The responses broke my heart. “It’s a West African country,” they’d say. Some knew Accra was the capital. But when I mentioned Kwame Nkrumah – the man who coined “African Unity”, who inspired their own liberation movements, I was met with blank stares. Out of 30 people, only 2 knew who he was. Only 2.
The irony cut deep: I could recite Mandela’s prison number (46664), but they’d never heard of the man who sheltered their freedom fighters in Accra.
Here I was, someone who profiles Black heroes every February during Black History Month, whose Tuesday shows feature ‘Tym With PM’ segments on African history and culture, whose Friday ‘Aben a Aben’ quiz rewards listeners with African wear and food for answering questions about our continent; yet this knowledge wasn’t flowing both ways.
That night in my Johannesburg hotel room, I had to face an ugly truth. Despite all my efforts, we Africans are still 54 strangers living on the same continent, pretending to be family.
I thought about Sudan, bleeding for over two years while we treat it like a distant news headline. I thought about Congo, its resources flowing everywhere except to Africans. The question haunted me: How can Africa unite if we still know so little about one another?
This experience reinforced something I’d suspected through my work with the Blaklaaa Movement – our Pan-African organisation campaigning against skin bleaching while promoting African history, culture and empowering youth as legal hustlers. Even as we champion ‘proud to be black’ and made-in-Africa goods, we struggle with basic knowledge about one another.
While Europeans vacation in Europe and Americans explore America, we save money for Dubai and New York. I met South Africans who had been to London three times but never set foot in Lagos.
This is why I launched BlakTrip through PM Entertainment Consult, organising trips twice yearly to Ghana’s beautiful sites, with plans to extend across Africa. In two years, we’ve explored three regions, but there’s so much more work to do.
We need an African Knowledge Revolution – not just for cultural pride, but for our survival as a people.
Here’s what I’m intensifying beyond my current efforts:
- Expanding ‘Tym With PM’: Making Tuesday’s African focus more interactive across the continent.
- Upgrading ‘Aben a Aben’: Friday quizzes will now include heroes from all African nations.
- Growing BlakTrip: Accelerating our African tourism mission beyond Ghana’s borders.
- Strengthening Blaklaaa: Using our movement to build knowledge bridges between African nations.
I’m calling this The Mandela Test: If Africans don’t know African heroes, how can we ever become the heroes Africa needs? Every Ghanaian should discuss Steve Biko with the same fluency that South Africans should discuss Kwame Nkrumah. Every Nigerian should know Haile Selassie. Every Kenyan should understand Patrice Lumumba’s sacrifice.
My South African experience didn’t just change my perspective, it turbocharged my mission. For 11 years, I’ve used my platform to celebrate our continent. Now I’m doubling down because I realise individual efforts aren’t enough.
We need a continental awakening. Every afternoon from 3-7 PM on Y 97.9 FM, I’m not just promoting African awareness. I’m building bridges of knowledge between nations. The Blaklaaa Movement isn’t just fighting skin bleaching – we’re fighting ignorance about our shared heritage.
As I write this, one question burns: What if every African media personality took up this intensified challenge? What if we stopped treating African unity as a political slogan and started building it through deep, mutual knowledge?
My South African experience taught me that conferences won’t unite us; conscious, committed education will. The choice is ours, but until we can pass the Mandela Test, we remain a continent of strangers pretending to be family. I’ve thrown down the gauntlet again this time with 11 years of experience behind it. Are you brave enough to pick it up?
>>>the writer hosts ‘Dryve of Your Lyfe’ weekdays 3-7 PM on Y 97.9 FM in Takoradi. His 11-year commitment to African education through broadcasting, the Blaklaaa Movement and BlakTrip continues to champion continental unity through knowledge. He can be reached via [email protected]
