‘Clearly Africa is like a New World Again’

Alan Patricof of the Huffington Post writes about his time spent in Kampala, Uganda; Nairobi, Kenya; and Abuja, Nigeria following the election of Barrack Obama to Presidency of the United States. In it talks about the growing middle class of Africa and what Obama represents for them…

While Africa clearly has a very high level of poverty with incomes of under $2 per day, there is a growing lower-middle and middle class that have jobs, cars, trips, vacations, eating out, new clothes and accessories. These types of Africans are looking to a period of doing with less and don’t seem to express any hardships in the process. I was intrigued to hear a group of ten around a dinner table talk about the fact that not only do Americans have to cut back but they, Africans themselves, could do “without another suit” have a “staycation” (vacation at home). And probably most simplistic or impactful, they universally said “you know we don’t have to turn in our 3, 4, 5 year-old car when with a little fix up the car can run for another few years.” The conversation vividly brought home to me that we, in the U.S., have been living in a society where few of us have been spending on real needs, but rather, satisfying our shopping impulses, subliminally put into our head by advertising and by the media. We have been indulging ourselves for years in excess in every aspect of our lives. We think we “need” things when, in fact, we all have more sweaters, shirts, ties, shoes, cars and “things” than we really need, while the Africans that we conjure in our minds as “needy” are cheerfully willing to do with less. Obviously, those in poverty who don’t have their basic needs met will be more severely impacted and deserve our concern, but the rest of us – both African and American – can afford to cut back.

via HuffPo