Africa, my mother continent, is where I was born and raised. After many years of being away, I went back to explore and reassess my mother continent.  Africa is a continent still in evolution. It is partly developed, partly underdeveloped, with some parts still in the development process. Like all evolving things, Africa is experiencing some changes, some positive and some negative. There are also some by products from this process of development; some poisonous and some good. Africa is full of stories; wars, poverty and, diseases. Nevertheless, there are political changes, cultural transformation and economic development taking place in this continent I call home. Although Africa experiences a number of social, economical and political problems, there are some positive changes.

In these circumstances, Africa is experiencing a variety of problems such as the scarcity of resources. Also, the demand of commodities is far greater than the supply. Inevitably, this exerts great pressures on societies, economies and governments, contributing greatly to the deaths of preventable diseases such as Malaria and water born parasites. The situation is also worsened by the world phenomenon of HIV/AIDS. The natural resources in most countries are not yet developed or processed to service the needs. Technology is either not in existence or in its infancy. The capacity to address the many problems is either over-whelming or non-existence at all. The mortality rates keep on climbing, so are the birth rates, causing population growth unprecedented. Nigeria, the largest of all African countries, has a population of over 130 million people in an area of 904,235 km². Africa’s smallest countries include Swaziland, Comoros and Seychelles with populations of 1 million in an area of 17,410 km²; 715,000 in an area of 2,046 km² and; 83,000 in an area of 196 km² respectively.

According to the UNFPA, between 2003 and early 2005, sub-Saharan Africa has seen some improvements in economic growth levels and in governance. However, as this region strives to meet its development objectives, the challenges facing sub-Saharan Africa are the most daunting facing any region in the world. These objectives include reaching the eighth Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for 2015 and the closely related goals for 2015 set at the International Conference on Population Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Egypt, in September 1994.  Another objective is the ICPD+5 follow-up in 1999. Improving universal access to reproductive health services, gender equality and women's empowerment are among some of sub-Saharan Africa’s objectives.

There are eight millennium development goals, seven of which are poverty and/or social development related. The eighth goal is about international cooperation envisaged for the achievement of the seven goals. The Goal No. 7 and Target 10 relate specifically to water – “Halved, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water”.

This region, which is home to 34 of the world's 49 least developed countries, will continue to need the highest per capita levels of technical and financial support of any region. It will also need sustained political commitment by all stakeholders, if it is to make major progress towards meeting its goals by 2015.
Unfortunately, efforts to eradicate poverty, empower women, reduce child mortality and improve maternal health in this region continue to be severely undercut by a few factors. These include the devastating AIDS pandemic and the massive human displacements in the wake of natural disasters, violent conflicts and debilitating political strife. Addressing the reproductive health needs of the millions of women and adolescents currently at risk for contracting the infection is critical to this effort. Two-thirds of those newly infected with HIV in the region are women. About 7 per cent of young women and 2.2 per cent of men aged 15-24 years in sub-Saharan Africa were living with HIV at the end of 2004.

Making motherhood safer is another urgent priority. Women in sub-Sahara Africa face a 1 in 16 lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes, and millions will be disabled. The high rate of teen pregnancies creates additional risks for mothers and newborns. Lack of access to emergency obstetric care and low proportions of births attended by professionally trained personnel contribute to the continuing high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity. Additional priority must also be given to advocacy, targeting the poorest of the poor in urban slums and in difficult-to-reach areas. There needs to be on-going efforts to stamp out harmful traditional practices and to reduce gender-based violence, which is associated with poor pregnancy outcomes. Expanded efforts are also under way to treat women who have been disabled by obstetric fistula, a devastating injury of childbearing.

The population of sub-Saharan Africa has grown faster than any region over the past thirty years, despite the millions of deaths from the AIDS pandemic. Between 1975 and 2005, the population more than doubled, rising to 880 million, and is currently growing at a rate of 2.2 per cent a year. The United Nations Population Division recently projected that sub-Saharan Africa’s population will reach about 1.1 billion by 2025. This excludes the El-Sahel regions of Africa: Egypt, Libya, Tunis, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania. The region's high proportion of young people signals that the population momentum will probably continue for decades to come, even with AIDS reversing decades of gains in life expectancy. Indeed, in the countries most highly affected by HIV/AIDS, life expectancy continues to decline.

The impression of Africa is different from what is projected in the Western media despite the aforementioned trouble. There are many positive developments.  A friend who visited Africa once said that even when he was given a million dollars, he would never go to Africa. Why, you may ask? Because it is full of wars disease and poverty, was his answer! Another friend who visited Africa refused to come back and thought he was in a little paradise!

Bata Shoe Company first started in Africa in early 1950s. When Bata sent a team for feasibility study in African countries, the result was not good. The feasibility report advised that there was no market there for shoes. The reason given was that African people do not wear shoes. Mr. Bata, a Canadian entrepreneur, then took a bold decision to invest in Africa. “That is where there is market for my product,” he said. Since then, Bata has made billions of dollars from selling Bata shoes in African countries.
A study of trade and direct investment between Canada and African nations was carried out in 1997 by the Secretariat for African Trade Development and Internet Services (SATDIS). According to Statistics Canada, here are the results: In 1997 export to sub-Saharan Africa went up to $876 million, creating or sustaining over 7,008 jobs in Canada. Moreover, the import from the same place was $1.38 billion.

In comparison, Canada’s export to Sub-Saharan Africa was 84% more than export to India and 16% greater than exports to the Indian subcontinent, namely India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. They also compared well with Eastern European countries ($929 million) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members, namely Iceland, Norway and Switzerland ($1215million). Canadian exports to South Africa alone in 1997 ($371 million) compared well with those of Chile ($392), Argentina ($409 million) and Peru ($270 million). Export to the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) ($501 million) was greater than export to newly independent states of the former USSR ($460 million).

Additional statistics indicate that the Canadian Direct Investment (CDI) in the Emerging Markets (EM) of Sub-Saharan Africa also nearly doubled to $777 million between 1993 and 1997; excluding the Egypt, Libya, Tunis, Algeria and Morocco in North Africa and the Middle East investment which went up to $998 millions. CDI in South Africa ($172 million) alone was greater than Canadian investment in Spain ($130 million), South Korea ($131 million), Netherlands ($130 million), Malaysia ($128 million).

The latest Statistics are even more impressive:

• Compared to BRICK, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is very competitive (Fig.1):

• SSA is a more important investment destination for Canada: (C$ ,000) Fig.2

The sectors most wanted are the services and development sectors. Merchandising and investment are still of very great importance to African countries as can be seen from the above figures.

Now, the question is how does Algonquin College’s Small World Big Picture Expedition Africa project link into such opportunities? More precisely, how does this project assist Africa? Remember that for every 1 billion dollars in export trade create 11,000 jobs or maintained them in Canada! The Expedition Africa project needs experts like SATDIS and the undersigned to link them to such continental opportunities. The main reason for this is that SATDIS has a well-developed network of decision makers in the continent. The Expedition must translate to similar successes like the ones of the earlier explorers. The difference is that this is not to conquer Africa but to assist in partnership, the African needs with mutual understanding and respect as articulated in NEPAD document and the G8 at Kananaskas.

The First Europeans who went out to explore the World, such as Vasco da Gamma, Hanington Speak, Dr David Livingston and, Columbus as early as 16 Centuary were the first white men to see the continent of Africa. They did not discover this continent as some writers asserted, as Africa already had human beings living there. These people passed through Africa to look for Asian-spices from the Asian Sub-Continent and China-ware from Chinese people, moving around the continent of Africa. Hence, the establishments of the trading centers in places like Alexandria in Egypt, Timbuktu in Ghana, Zanzibar in East Africa and Durban in South Africa. Interestingly, some of these centers already existed when these people explorers arrived. They traded in goods including clothing, elephant tasks, Chinese-ware, spices, Arabian arts and artifacts. They also participated in slavery.

Africa needs a much closer and more positive look. The Western mass media does not portray the rich history and significance of this continent. It is in Africa that math, especially algebra and calculus, was first used in the engineering work of building the great pyramids of Egypt by the ancient Egyptian Kings during the Before Christ (BC) era. For more information about such stories, please refer to the Biblical stories of Moses and King Farao; all found in the Islamic Quran, the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible.
 
Africa is an interesting continent. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea across the Sahara desert, down the Savanna and forested regions of the Eastern and Central African states, to the Kalahari Desert and temperate region of the Southern Africa. The African Continent contains 53 independent countries. Africa is home to the Nile River life-line of Sudan and Egypt, and the longest in the world (over 4,000 miles) meandering from Jinja City at the Lake Victoria in Uganda, to the Mediterranean Sea passing by the Alexandria City in Egypt.

On July 15th 1910 at Sagamore Hill, President Theodore Roosevelt said the following:
“Africa and Europe excited throughout the civilized world, there was one--and I am inclined to think only one--note of common agreement. Friends and foes united in recognizing the surprising versatility of talents and of ability, which the activities of my tour displayed. Hunters and explorers, archeologists and ethnologists, soldiers and sailors, scientists and university doctors, statesmen and politicians, monarchs and diplomats, essayists and historians, athletes and horsemen, orators occasional speakers and traders met me on equal terms.”

“In my Egyptian address”, he continued, “my endeavor was to hold up the hands of these men, and at the same time to champion the cause of the missionaries, of the native Christians, and of the advanced and enlightened Moslems in Egypt. To do this it was necessary emphatically to discourage the anti-foreign movement, led, as it is, by a band of reckless, foolish, and sometimes-murderous agitators. In other words, I spoke with the purpose of doing good to Egypt, and with the hope of deserving well of the Egyptian people of the future, unwilling to pursue the easy line of moral culpability which is implied in saying pleasant things of that noisy portion of the Egyptian people of to-day.”

As this exciting Expedition advances, the readers will be entertained by stories of “My Africa,” covering the history, the cultures and the economic developments of each country that the expedition passes through, from Egypt to South Africa. I will also examine African values vis a vis culture and art, as well as explore the mode of trade and the value of doing business. Thankfully, the expedition runs through an economic hub in Africa. These are the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) states. SATDIS has a strong link with this group and can be of great help.