The headline read: "From a village with no hope to a stage in London."
But I found myself asking: Why is a village automatically described as a place with no hope?
How does living differently become a symbol of hopelessness?
I have known people who left London and other major cities to settle in the very villages that many dismiss as "backward" or "without opportunity." To them, those villages represented peace, community, freedom, and a quality of life that money could not buy.
A nation that does not operate as a relentless machine of taxation and endless economic pressure is not a hopeless place. A village is not hopeless simply because it lacks skyscrapers, shopping centres, or global recognition. Sometimes the issue is not the absence of hope, but the absence of people willing to act on their dreams.
Having lived in both Africa and Europe, I can honestly say that some of the happiest years of my life were spent in Africa.
Not because I could shower morning and night. Not because healthcare or benefits were available. My joy came from something much deeper.
In Africa, I rarely had to think about the colour of my skin. I was not constantly reminded that I was Black. I could walk freely without carrying the burden of racial prejudice. My identity was not a problem to be solved, a stereotype to be challenged, or a reason to feel different.
In Europe, however, I experienced racism from a young age. I was called a monkey by classmates, and at times even by those who should have known better. Those experiences planted questions in my heart that no child should ever have to ask. They made me feel as though I had done something wrong simply by existing as a Black person.
Africa gave me something that cannot be measured by GDP, infrastructure, or international rankings: peace of mind.
If I were to rewrite that headline, I would say:
"With hope, a girl from a village made it onto a stage in London." Because the achievement was not escaping a hopeless place. The achievement was carrying hope, determination, and resilience wherever she went.
Too often, Africa is still portrayed as a continent of poverty and lack, while the emotional and spiritual poverty that exists elsewhere is rarely discussed. We celebrate economic wealth but overlook the cost at which it is sometimes gained.
Perhaps the people living in villages are closer to real life than we imagine. They know their neighbours. They value community. They live with the rhythms of nature rather than the demands of a clock.
Meanwhile, many of us in modern cities spend our days rushing from one obligation to another, connected to everything yet disconnected from ourselves.
Maybe the village was never the hopeless place. Maybe hope has always lived there.
©️ Niina Nia Kabesa
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