I can't believe my eyes! Or a traditional map....

(click on picture to enlarge) 

 I couldn't believe it when I looked at the 'True Size of Africa' map (shown above) and discovered Africa as a continent, is bigger in landmass than all of Europe, the USA, China, Japan and India - put together! In case you aren't convinced consider that it's 5.88 million sq km bigger than all of North America (And we have the 2nd, 3rd and 14th biggest countries of the world). 

Perhaps, not surprisingly, incorrect terms are often applied to Africa. It's not a country it's a continent - and a big one at that! 

Many times the assumption is made that because something happens in one part of the continent it must happen on another side of the continent.  I liken this assumption to believing that because Canadians believe one thing, or eat a particular dish, so too must Mexicans. It's easy for us to recognize the diversity accross our continent (and even our country!) but harder to see the same diversity present across one so far away. In reality food, language & culture vary drastically across Africa (even though there are still similarities).
___________________________________________________________ 
This evening I watched a movie with this awesome, beautiful, old African actor named Sotigui Kouyaté. When I googled him I discovered he is a Burkinabé*.


This was said about him: he was once asked if he felt he was carrying a message for Africa he replied: 


"Let’s be modest. Africa is vast, and it would be pretentious to speak in its name. I’m fighting the battle with words because I’m a storyteller, a griot. Rightly or wrongly, they call us masters of the spoken word. Our duty is to encourage the West to appreciate Africa more..."


And I kind of liked what he had to say...

* Kouyaté was born in Mali, but grew up in Burkina. He was captain of the Burkina (Upper Volta) soccer team in 1966. Following his death in 2010 he was buried in Ouagadougou.