Can you tell me
What happened to Greece after Aristotle?
What happened to Spain after Christopher
Columbus?
What happened to Rome Where all roads used to
lead?

Why is Turkey now begging for a seat in Europe?
After ruling the Ottoman Empire for centuries?
If you have no answer, then listen.

I don’t know either, but let me tell you my hope.
My hope about our motherland, Africa.
I learned about the time Caesar,
Pythagoras and others Went to Egypt.

' If We stop begging,
Crying and humiliating ourselves,
We could build a better Africa.
We could restore Africa’s dignity.
You call me utopian, idealist?
Yes, I might be one.
Theodore Herzl was a utopian,
Though Israel is a reality today.
Martin Luther King Jr. Was a utopian,
Though his grandchildren are now sitting
At the table with descendants of slaveowners.
Gandhi Was a utopian,

Though an untouchable is president in India today.

Mandela Was a utopian.
Thank God he lived long enough
To Witness the birth

Of a free and democratic South Africa.
I’m not as great as they are,
But What I’m learning from them is that
We should believe in our destiny.
That’s the reason Why I strongly believe
In a different Africa, a great Africa.
Let us stop lamenting

And Work towards Af1'ica’s rehabilitation.

We’Ve suffered from slavery
As Jews suffered from Nazíism.
Today, Israel is awake and proud.
Because his children
Kept the flame for centuries.
They never stopped believing

They’d make it one day.
Let’s learn from them
And prepare Africa.
The Africa I have been dreaming about
For the next generation.

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