AFRICA (I'M WAVING AT YOU)

I wrote this on our first trip to Uganda in 2015. Jonny Fitch turned into the catchiest of songs and added the "My name is not Muzungu" line. It is a reasonably simple poem BUT, for me, expresses a lot of depth. The last lines might not be the best I have ever written but, when I shared them with my brothers and sisters in Onialeku Primary School at its opening in August 2015, they became my favourite!

 

Africa, I am waving at you

And you always wave back and smile

Roads teeming with fascination

Red dust mile after red dust mile.

 

Africa, I am staring at you

All the wildlife through the trees

Elephants under the mangos

The smell of your welcoming breeze.

 

Africa, I am singing with you

Your joyful songs of being free

Ubuntu, what a great refrain

Without you, I can’t be me.

 

Africa, I am praying for you

Water and education and health

That you don’t get all our poverty

With justice, peace and wealth. 

 

My name is not muzungu

We may have a different skin

But all of our blood is red

The same grace colour

That Jesus bled.