The forests of tomorrow…

Diaspora at work International Development

Last year I was giving a talk in DC. On the way to the venue, I was given a ride to the train station by this Zambian driver. He came to the US as a diplomat and now is working as a driver for the hotel in the DC area. This is one example of what Richard Cambridge, VP of the African Diaspora Program at The World Bank, would call “brain waste.” I didn’t get the driver’s name, but in my short conversation (and I don’t remember how I thought to record his nuggets of wisdom) I came away richly rewarded with insight on life, Africa and our future. It was one of the most rewarding taxi rides of my life. I didn’t get to record the whole conversation, but the little two-minute clip that I did record is worth a listen and worth pondering in the big picture.

“The young trees which are growing will be the forests of the future,” he says. “Who is going to take over from us. For us we are tree which are already old. Who is going to take over as an account… who is going to take over?”

In the span of those few minutes, I was struck by his truth, and his genuine concern for the future of Africa. Those who come here [ in the West ] to pursue a better life, but wasted the opportunity by being distracted from the goal depleted our future forest of trees of knowledge. On a continent of a billion people and counting, we need as many trees of knowledge as the forest can hold, and not simply for the benefit of the environment either.

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    August 5, 2010 at 4:49 pm

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  • Bwalya Chileya
    August 5, 2010 at 7:33 pm

    "Imiti ikula empanga" literally means that in order to have a forest, there must be trees growing in that forest. What a powerful conversation. Thanks for sharing!

  • missbwalya
    August 5, 2010 at 7:35 pm

    "Imiti ikula empanga" literally means that in order to have a forest, there must be trees growing in that forest. What a powerful conversation, and a challenge given to those of us in our twenties and thirties who are slowly over from our parents and grandparents!

  • Mohamed Matthias Gbassa
    August 21, 2010 at 6:17 am

    If we want to protect the young forest in the making, we have do beekeeping because bees can be the best security for the source of their own food and in return help to maximise food production for mankind.