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Poem for Practical Dreamers, or Dreams at Work
(to
the Class of AISI/ICT4D @ Addis Ababa, 15/06/03)
As for me, I dream the possibilities of rain in
seasons of drought
I think of open spaces in enclosures of despair and
doubt
I think of…
Physicists, chemists, mathe-magical wizards
of statesmen of Ideas, systems workers
sowers of real estate dreams
of super highway traders, and of cool bulldozers
To you, who love problems and treasure solutions
Here’s your mantra for the new age.
From Accra to Alexandria &
From Abuja to Addis Ababa, connect
From Mali to Somali, dream
From the Bight of Benin to the Mediterranean fringe
of Africa, connect
From Lagos to Lilongwe, connect
From Tunis to Timbuktu, dream
From Harare to Hadejia, dream
From Niamey to Nairobi, connect
From Cape Town to Kano, connect
From Monrovia to Maputo, dream
From Dakar to Dire Dawa, dream
From Mauritania to Mauritius, connect
From Futa Djallon to the Zambezi, connect
From alluvial Nile to the Niger delta, dream
From Jos to Johannesburg, dream
From the Cape flats to the Rift valleys, connect
No more famished roads rigged with bombs of ignorance
But new roadmaps, new desires to soar in knowledge
And in place of borders and boundaries, new bridges
Not digital divide, but digital dividend in search of
drivers
No more the fibre optics of conflicts all over the land
No more desperate quivers in our history of quicksand.
From Cairo to Kampala, connect
Over mountains, swamps and savannahs
let these dreams flower into million inventions
& let the Browser Bug byte us into a new age.
One day soon, our vision shall become energies
In every City, every Village and every Hamlet of the
mind
Many languages. One dictionary…
Many peoples. One passion…
Multiple traditions. One heritage. One virtual country
in one diverse continent.
Many buzzwords but one password to the luminous future:
AISI/ICT4D!
© Remi Raji
The
“African Sun”
Oh! Africa
The land of my Mama
Where did you go wrong!
Political dilemma!
Development dilemma!
Social dilemma!
Education dilemma!
Aah ! all were buried
And now
A new information society
We go back to the graveyard!
No……………
Every morning in Africa
A gazelle awakens
It knows
It must run faster than the fastest lion
Every morning in Africa
A lion awakens
It knows it must run faster than the fastest gazelle
But when the sun shines
It shines on both the lion and the gazelle
ICT! The New Sun of Africa!
©
Juma K. E.
E-mail: Wasonga@yahoo.co.uk
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