George Ansi writes: In love with the African continent

Many years ago, at a press workshop in an Asian Arab country, after the end of a busy day, I had a fun session with colleagues from different Arab countries, and the conversation was about football, about the priorities of support for each of the attendees in international tournaments!

Despite the lightheartedness of the dialogue and discussions, my opinion seemed strange to those present, as I had put my support for the national team of any African country first, before any Arab country, in the World Cup tournaments, and as I said at the time, “Africa first.”.

Those humorous discussions were a true expression of my appreciation and love for the African continent, where all my attempts to conduct journalistic tours failed. For more than 20 years, traveling between countries in Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, and three Arab countries in North Africa, I did not succeed in conducting a tour that would satisfy my desire to explore and get closer to a different world and a simpler, more spontaneous life.

However, I finally made my decision in 2019 to take the plunge and travel to the Republic of South Africa, hoping it would be a real compensation for visiting most of the countries of the African continent. This actually happened, and at that time I found myself impressed by a real giant on all levels, which I summarized at the time in a press survey that I published and titled: “A continent in a country.“.

My visit to South Africa was - and still is - a different experience from all my trips and visits around the world, and perhaps it is the only one - in addition to Rwanda - that succeeded in changing the world’s view of our unique continent, capable of development and progress and avoiding the sins of the past. Therefore, there is great hope for Africa’s return to the global arena as an economic powerhouse through the cooperation of all the countries of the continent, which is something that only lacks political will and sound planning.

Managing Editor at Rose El-Youssef Press Foundation