Surprising reasons why Africa should accept being called a country

The world outside Africa considers the ‘dark’ continent as 'one country'. Every now and then, we watch videos or read articles whereby people living outside Africa have made rather politically ignorant statements about Africa. This is a group that somehow includes world renowned public figures and even celebrities of color as well. In 2013, African American rapper ‘Rick Ross’ posted on twitter, “Just landed in the beautiful country of Africa…”, a tweet that sparked immense ridicule from internet users who mirrored the rapper's then body to the size of a country.

Ruling governments outside Africa have also sensationalized the stereotype so much by issuing travel advisories on the African continent based on activities ongoing in a single country out of a land of 52 countries. The Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone and Liberia provides a strong testament to this. I recently learnt that allegedly, during the crisis a plane in Norway was not allowed to take off because a Kenyan on board had a fever. The distance between Kenya and Liberia exceeds 5000 Kilometres. Just think of the condemnation if an African country issued travel advisories against the United States due to its extreme weather conditions such as hurricanes. But it is not in the DNA of an African to be hostile towards prospective guests. We know this from our parents and they knew the same from their parents. That hospitality is what has gotten us into this situation we find ourselves currently.