As a South African man. Africa to me in one word is home.

Although I am white and I no longer live there, I do miss it immensely. In Chuck D's words I live in an African state of mind. I try and surround myself with reminders of my roots. The music, art literature and anything else related to home. Nelson Mandela sits on my desktop and Nkosi Sekelela hangs on my refrigerator. I am a whitey trying hard to be African.

Being educated under the apatheid regime and studying the great trek and the boer war was boring as hell and also false. To think that those two events were a mere spark in Africas true history! What a great big lie we have been living. I guess I live with a certain amount of white guilt. What kind of heritage do I have? My forefathers plundered raped and commited genocide and then hid the facts and said that these people were savages.

Even America lives with this aswell as all colonialist countries. America whith it's great democracy. Yet, what was that democracy built on and what are the implications for our children. Prophets like Mandela and Tutu have taght us how to reconcile and to live together in peace. This will take time as there is a deep wound to heal, yet I look forward to the day I can take my children "home" and let them experience Africa. The real Africa.