Truth about Africa Marks 6th Annual Africa Summit in Denver

Africa Agen­da

Keynote speak­er Zane­ta Var­na­do Johns deliv­ered her remarks at the 6th Annu­al Africa Sum­mit at the Field House in Den­ver, Col­orado. Fri­day, Nov. 5th.

On Fri­day, Nov. 5, Den­ver-based Africa Agen­da held its 6^th Annu­al Africa Sum­mit where atten­dees par­tic­i­pat­ed in a vari­ety of table dis­cus­sions. Cen­tered on the sub­ject of Resilient Africa, the dis­cus­sions high­light­ed lessons the African con­ti­nent can offer towards bounc­ing back and thriv­ing in the face of adver­si­ty. Con­ver­sa­tion top­ics includ­ed peace and jus­tice, human rights, agri­cul­ture, secu­ri­ty, edu­ca­tion, ener­gy, people’s pow­er, and development. 

While the year­ly event was can­celed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, this year the orga­ni­za­tion used the time to reflect with a cel­e­bra­tion of the resilience of the African continent.

In the midst of the pan­dem­ic, the work of gov­ern­ments across the African con­ti­nent aimed at con­trol­ling COVID became the sub­ject of much spec­u­la­tion from Amer­i­can and Euro­pean media.

Africa Agen­da seized on the oppor­tu­ni­ty to remind atten­dees that the con­ti­nent has always used chal­leng­ing sit­u­a­tions to thrive and show the world its true poten­tial, and this pan­dem­ic was no exception. 

“A Pan­dem­ic of Hope,” Scott DuPree, mem­ber of Africa Agenda’s exec­u­tive board called it. 

“We start­ed out by talk­ing about the prob­lems of devel­op­ment in Africa, but we end­ed up going into all the things that Africa can teach us,” sum­mit attendee Steve Brooks, Archi­tec­ture and plan­ning direc­tor at Urban Plan­ning Con­stel­la­tion, Den­ver, said. “The leapfrog­ging of tech­nol­o­gy is one of the things that I report­ed. They are able to leapfrog tech­nol­o­gy in Africa beyond what west­ern nations have done. So, that’s affect­ing every­thing like ener­gy, bank­ing, transportation.”

“There’s also a pos­i­tive atti­tude that came from my group about how the youth in Africa is chang­ing the con­ti­nent, hold­ing lead­ers account­able and help­ing to cre­ate good gov­er­nance,” Brooks added.

While top­ics dif­fered across the room, dis­cus­sion meth­ods were sim­i­lar, acknowl­edg­ing what needs improve­ment while also high­light­ing what is being done well.

Con­ver­sa­tions like these are the core of Africa Agenda’s mission. 

“We want to change the nar­ra­tive about the African Con­ti­nent,” George Bamu, founder and exec­u­tive direc­tor of Africa Agen­da said dur­ing his open­ing state­ment. “We’re not dis­miss­ing the issues the African con­ti­nent faces or the chal­lenges which often lead to increas­ing pover­ty or the coup d’états. Those are real, they actu­al­ly hap­pen. But the thing that’s miss­ing is the oth­er side. In jour­nal­ism, they say there are two sides to every sto­ry. But where is the oth­er side of the sto­ry about the African con­ti­nent? That is when we as an orga­ni­za­tion we come in.”

“What mat­ters is Africa’s truth, the world must hear it,” Zane­ta Var­na­do Johns, an award-win­ning poet, and keynote speak­er at the event said to con­clude her speech.

About 100 peo­ple from across the US attend­ed this year’s event which was held at the Field House in down­town Den­ver, Colorado.

Since its foun­da­tion in 2004, Africa Agen­da took on the quest to give read­ers a bal­anced ver­sion of African news. Through its  Africa News Mat­ters web­site, the orga­ni­za­tion ana­lyzes and expos­es for­eign media’s one-sided nar­ra­tive of Africa.