What Africa Day Means to Africans and Friends of Africa

The founding Father of the Organisation of African Union whose formation is remembered through Africa Day. Public Domain photo by Abbie Rowe - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Kwame Nkrumah, the founding Father of the Organisation of African Union whose formation is remembered through Africa Day. Public Domain photo by Abbie Rowe – John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Kwame Nkrumah

Africans and friends of Africa celebrated Africa Day on May 25, 2015. Some celebrated on Facebook and Twitter by sharing messages of unity and optimism about the continent.

Africa Day is the annual commemoration of the 1963 founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), when the leaders of 30 of the 32 independent African states signed a founding charter in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Remembering this day on Facebook, Steve Sharra from Malawi asked:

How many countries celebrate ‪#‎AfricaDay‬ as a national holiday? Answer is 4. Didn't know either. Wonder which ones. Anybody knows? ‪#‎AfricaDay2015‬

Kenyan blogger Daudi Were wrote:

Happy ‪#‎AfricaDay‬! Unity, solidarity, justice, peace, cohesion and cooperation among the peoples of Africa and African States.

Green Beings encouraged others to appreciate the continent's beauty:

Happy ‪#‎AfricaDay‬ everyone! Take a moment to appreciate this beautiful continent we are blessed to live on. A moment to acknowledge the immense treasures available to us.. And mostly to salute all the amazing people that call Africa ‪#‎home‬

Grazia SA explained what he thinks it means to be an African and shared a link about ‘nine unknown things” about Africa:

We are not African because we are born in Africa, we are African because Africa lives in us.
9 things you didn't know about ‪#‎AfricaDay‬ http://bit.ly/1FaC0wa

CCTV Africa asked:

What kind of Africa do you want? What should bring that change?

To which David Ugo replied:

I want an africa that is not alway motivated by foreign culture which is applied in a stupid sense at the expense of the entire populace.#iwant an africa that is eager to avoid all forms of corrupt practices.

On Twitter, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, wrote:

The Chairman of the African Union, Dlamini Zuma, noted:

Nigerian satirist and lawyer, Elnathan John, advised:

Ugandan Public Relations practitioner, Sarah Kagingo, shared her African dream:

South African lawyer Barry Roux warned:

Miss Earth SA—a semi finalist in the 2015 “I Am an African” contest—emphasised the need to maintain trade relations between African countries:

Jay Naidoo, the chairman of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, described the ideal Africa Day:

Most people online shared messages of Africa Day expressing the hope that Africa will change from its image of corruption, internal division, and lack of development and become what the founding fathers of the Organisation of African Union had in mind.

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