The Challenge For Africa- #2

In Chapter 6, Maathai reinforces the fact that Africa needs a strong group of leaders in order for the country to move forward. She states "I firmly believe that unless Africans from all levels of society recognize and embrace the challenge of leadership, Africa will not move forward." Leadership is not simply a matter of filling the top positions in a government, institution, or private businesses. Instead, leadership can be demonstrated by those who are marginalized and poor as much as by those who have had all the privileges that society has been able to bestow on them. Many aid and development scholars and practitioners have pointed to Africa's leadership deficit and wondered why it has been so hard to overcome.

The missing leadership goes hand in hand with the identity crisis for Africa and its citizens. Maathai states that the importance of African's cultural heritage to their sens of who they are still isn't recognized sufficiently by them, or others. Culture gives a people self-identity and character and if they cannot identify themselves, Africa cannot be identified. Culture could be the missing link to creativity, productivity, and confidence; without them, Africans lack a foundation on which to build the future. Maathai stresses the need for unity through culture in Chapter 8 to reunite the country.

Ultimately, one of the biggest problems is summed up in Chapter 10, The Crisis of National Identity. Maathai states the problem as a superficial creation: a loose collection of ethnic communities or micro-nations, brought together in a single entity or macro-nation, by colonial powers. It is going to be hard to unify Africa with all the diversity and language and cultural differences but without doing so, Africa cannot be together as a whole. But the solution is no easy task either.