Dear Wakanda

You know everyone is talking about us, me and you and everyone else here. They just can't stop talking and envying us. Ours is a story of progress and development. A story of prosperity and innovation. A story of protection and care. A vibrant story of Vibranium. It feels so good when they are talking about us like this - when they've got good and positive things to say. The past weeks I've been in euphoria. This is us, this is our story I would say whenever I hear your name. We all thank the Black Panther for that alternative voice. Our story has been told differently this time around.

But the excitement of the past weeks is finally dying down - the flame is almost gone, just left with some glowing embers in charcoal dust. Now is time to reflect and let reality sink in again. In fact, we don't have Vibranium here. That's the truth! But we have tungsten and bauxite in Sierra Leone. Both tungsten and bauxite are on-demand world over. But a whopping 7682.00 Sierra Leonean Leones are equivalent to just 1 US dollar. How does this work?

Reality is that we have a little kid in Ivory Coast who has no idea of how chocolate tastes like. But he works in the coconut fields every day. Out of Ivory Coast, one tonne of coconut leaves at less than $1 400 per tonne but once processed in Switzerland, 1 chocolate bar comes back at high prices that less than 4% of chocolate sold globally is consumed here in Wakanda. But still, Ivory Coast contributes 33% of the cocoanuts needed. Do you think it is for health reasons that we don't consume that much here? Think again. After paying us 77 cents per pound, they get $77 per pound of chocolate... We can't afford it.

There's no Vibranium here but just Lithium which is used in batteries for electronics. Lithium deposits are found in most places here. I don't know about you, but I haven't seen any batteries manufacturing industries in DR Congo or Malawi. But I have seen over 6 million cell phone users in Zimbabwe only. All their phones are powered by Lithium batteries. One tonne of raw Lithium cost US$14 000 against an average of $5 for one small cell phone Lithium Ion battery. Why don't we have lithium batteries manufacturing factories here?

Instead of Vibranium, we have Gold here. Real Gold. But the reality is that the Liberian dollar, which is supposed to be backed by real Gold, has a value which is 100 times less than that of the US dollar. Where are we going wrong? We have Gold, but no Gold backed economies. Our money is so weak, something not consistent with the gold deposits that we have around here.

The last time I checked, we had plenty of diamonds here. High-quality diamonds. But we can't afford diamond rings. In Zimbabwe, the former First Lady could afford it though for a whopping US $1 million. Apparently, it was to celebrate her wedding anniversary. Is this where all our Vibranium is going? I'm sure she didn't want us to know - it's only that the issue spilt into the courts of law that we came to know of it. Those working in the diamond industries have no diamond rings to show for it. Their take home doesn't take them anywhere closer home.

We have zinc, copper and tin. We have lead, iron, coal. We have cobalt, methane gas, uranium, vanadium. But we don't have enough power to drive our industry. We don't have enough jobs for our people. We don't have enough money for our industry. We don't have state of the art infrastructure. And yes, we don't have Vibranium. But what Vibranium does, collectively Columbite and Tantalite from DRC can do. We have coltan, yet coltan is failing to be our silver bullet here. We ship it away as raw and unprocessed ore to those who can fully exploit its potential. They develop their countries and create jobs for their people. We then use the meagre proceeds to fund confusion and conflict among brothers. Brothers spend time plotting and fomenting to torment each other. Let's be honest, this is not a story of protection and care. This is not a story of hope and victory. This is not a story of warmth and homeliness. It's the same in Somalia, Sudan and Nigeria where oil is failing to wash away our hardships.

The world watched our story and we felt good. But now let's be realistic. Is there anything to smile about? The kids aren't going to school. Children are being armed to fight perceived enemies. Politicians promise everything and deliver nothing. They promise to gather but they scatter everything. They scatter relationships, they destroy what binds us, they divide us. They roast seeds meant for planting. And they destroy our story. That's what's here! Not the fallacy of the past few weeks.

But you know, Wakanda, you and I can graduate into something true. We can be self-sufficient here, from Cape to Cairo! We can use what we have to have what we need. We have seen it elsewhere and yes, we can be! Yes, we shall be.

We believe. We have faith. We are ready!

Yours,

Me, Phenias F. Sadondo

PS: Tell me about Vibranium again? They say it's fictitious but I'm thinking it's probably buried in the vast mineral resources of Mozambique or perhaps it's just hidden in the Copper Belt of Zambia. Or let's start searching in the mountainous Kingdom of Lesotho.

This letter appeared here; Facebook on March 8th, 2018