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Brave Nigerian sisters making positive impact on Africa!
Sisters' African good news trip
By Nikki Jecks
BBC World Service
Two Nigerian sisters are hoping to reverse the trend of bad news out of Africa by touring the continent documenting its good news stories.
Chioma and Oluchi Ogwuegbu's journey across Africa started at the end of last year in West Africa.
By the end of this year they hope to have changed people's perception of a place still called by some the "Dark continent" through their website CelebrateAfrica.net.
It is an ambitious goal - common perceptions of Africa paint it as a continent littered with corrupt governments and plagued by civil war and natural disaster.
The sisters freely admit that they did have some concerns about their mission at the beginning.
"From what I've heard Africa is so dangerous. People told me that I would be raped, killed," Chioma Ogwuegbu confessed.
But, as her continued presence attests, none of that has happened.
In fact, Chioma and Oluchi report that their experience has been just the opposite.
“ Many of these people don't know about the positive things, all they see is the negative ”
Chioma Ogwuegbu
"So many times what the media projects about Africa is negative, there isn't that much positive news, positive stories about what is going on," Oluchi Ogwuegbu says.
"When [people] hear what we are doing, they embrace it. Total strangers who don't know us just want to help out."
Chioma and Oluchi are nothing if not ambitious. They plan to visit 22 countries in all.
Hidden jewels
Their journey so far has seen them visit Ghana, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Mali, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Cameroun, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.
And what they have discovered is a land of friendly people, beautiful landscapes, unusual dishes, and unexpected hospitality and kindness.
For example in Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world, they discover the beautiful Cascades de Karfiguela waterfalls and breath-taking rock formations in the Domes de Fabedougou which geologists say date back 1.8m years.
In Ghana, the sisters have visited Breman Bedum a sleepy village three hours from the capital Accra.
There they were given a tour around an essential oils farm which is providing a reliable income and a better way of life to local villagers as well as ensuring the area's threatened woodlands are reforested.
"Many of these people don't know about the positive things, all they see is the negative," says Chioma.
"But there are so many things here that we can be doing as Africans to better this continent."
Even turmoil ridden Guinea-Bissau gets a positive spin: "The good thing about Guinea-Bissau was that you could see that the people were happy, they were forging ahead, despite the hardship and suffering around them they were still moving along," says Oluchi.
Although the pair do admit it was one of the most challenging countries they have visited so far.
The audience for their webtour is not just foreign readers, but also young Africans, who the sisters believe need to be encouraged to see their countries as places of hope and potential, not just as a place of hardship and poverty.
"Many young Africans, they all want to leave Africa. I'm not saying that Africa is perfect," Chioma says.
"But our aim is to first tell Africans about what is here, what we have here."
Story from BBC NEWS:
My name is Chioma Ogwuegbu, some people call me Blue, but I'm not going into that story here on the web. I'm a young, vibrant Nigerian woman who has left Lagos for a life on the road where I hope to find adventure and beauty in the most exciting continent on earth!
I have always dreamt about traveling around Africa but never made any moves towards that until 2007, when I met Tim Hull ( www.globaltimoto.com). Tim’s story inspired me to do this trip and now I wonder why it took me so long to decide.
This is the craziest, most exciting thing, I’ve ever done (trust me, I’ve done some crazy stuff) and I’m loving it.
My life seems to get more exciting as I get older. From university where I got a first degree in Law, to working for KIND (www.kind.org) since 2004 as a program manager, responsible for designing and implementing a leadership program for young women undergraduates, I’ve grown into a woman who has found her purpose in life. I want to explore my creativity, grow in spiritual awareness and contentment.
I plan to volunteer for community-based non-profit organizations in Africa on this trip, amongst many other things, so if you know of any organization looking for program consultants, send an email to chioma@celebrateafrica.net .
And Also Meet
I find it very difficult to describe myself and I always tell people to meet me and form their own opinions of me. Now Chioma is making me write a profile, so I guess I’ll give it a shot.
One word that describes me is adventurous and independent, well I know it’s two words but I cant sum myself up in one word. I was brought up to be very independent and to always go for whatever I want. Taking a trip around Africa has always been something I have wanted to do, so when Chioma (my sister) packed up her bags to leave, I knew I would be joining her on the road soon.
With a first degree in Economics and working for a global shipping organization for more than 2 years, some people consider me crazy and ask why I need to quit my job to do this, but I ask, why shouldn’t I? Going for this trip best describes my personality and my love for adventure. The beautiful continent has lovely stories to tell and who better to tell them than Africans themselves. I intend to have a lot of fun, learning and telling these stories with my video camera.
One more thing, my name is Oluchi Ogwuegbu but you can call me Luchies.
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Name: Bamidele Barry
Country: United Kingdom
Birthday: 2/23/1965
Gender: Male |
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