Donald Trump has upset quite a lot of people recently. In a meeting with various congressional leaders, a discussion about restoration projects to help people from various African countries as a potential part of a bipartisan immigration deal came up. Mr. Trump grew frustrated at this topic and posed the question: "Why are we having all these people from s***hole countries come here?". He then proceeded to recommend Norway as a “better” country for this project. In this essay, this topic of the views on Africa will be discussed.

If you think about Africa, what words come to mind? “Starvation.”, “Crime.”, “Hunger.”, “War”, “Corruption”, What scenery comes to mind? Is it the beautiful and modern cities such as Johannesburg or do you think about the kids and families that are starving in villages every day?

How come most Africans don’t own a house, how come millions of Africans starve to death every day? But more importantly, how come Africa is not only one of the best and most popular tourist destinations, but also an incredible home for everyone born in it? Sure we can sit down and discuss how “poor” and “uncivilized” Africa really is, but think about the thriving cities and accomplishments that Africa has been achieving in the recent modern era. Have you ever been to, Johannesburg, South Africa- the second biggest city in Africa and the world’s largest city not built on a coastline, or to Windhoek, Namibia- where the only water plant that reclaims domestic sewage for drinking water purposes in the world exists. However, you look at Malawi’s need for help from other, richer and more advanced countries.

“Africa is full of diseases”, “Africa has the worst healthcare in the world”. Well, let's take a look at the largest acute hospital in the world, with 2 964 beds, the only public hospital serving the 3.5 million people in Soweto, Johannesburg. The world’s first heart transplant was also performed in South Africa, by an African, all for American and Europeans to see. Yet, we must not talk about this. Ever. We must instead consider how Africa’s problems only seem to be getting worse over the years. On paper, this continent would seem like much more than an underdeveloped community, but looking at the negative side can change the entire world’s minds. The beautiful scenery gets overshadowed by the “pitiful villages” that the media reports, with absolutely no trace of any successes or beautiful things that happen daily in Africa.

Historically, Africa is also known to be the start of the world civilization. However, like a maze without an end, never has a historical wonderland been suppressed like this. But no, we must look at the historical successes of Rome or Greece which completely overshadow this. “Africa does not know how to read”, this makes almost no sense considering that, according to the World Bank, Seychelles had a 92% women literacy rate in 2010 and South Africa had a 91% literacy rate. Instead, the entire world paints a picture of a “perfect” country, where basically everyone can read, with no illiterate or uneducated people.

Let me tell you the story of Herman Mashaba, you may have heard of him before, he is the current mayor of Johannesburg. Mr. Mashaba’s story starts at the age of 15, at this age, all of his friends went into the white cities and neighborhoods to look for jobs and ways of getting money. Mashaba did not, he wanted to represent something, he wanted to show the world that he did not need the help of the whites to be successful. He stuck to school, unlike his brother who dropped out at 15. While at school, Mr. Mashaba started selling "SuperKurl" African hair-care products and became their number-one earner. He soon realized that these products motivated him and that he wasn't content to be just an employee. Finally, having asked for an R30,000 loan from his friend, businessman Walter Dube, he launched his company “Black Like Me”, what started out as a small manufacturer of hair care and grooming products for the black consumer has grown into a multi-billion rand business and a household name.

Stories of African people can be found everywhere, and their success is undeniable, though you never mention the background and origins of people like Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote or Ghana’s Fred Deegbe, who is one of the leaders of the company “Heel The World”.

However, whenever you talk about Asia, you talk about the beautiful sceneries and the amazing culture and rarely ever is the unemployment rate in Myanmar mentioned. Not to talk about the beggars and scams found all around the continent. The “amazing and beautiful” beaches of South America also cover up the crime, corruption, and poverty found in the continent. You can go on all day about how your “perfect vacation” is to a beach in Brazil but not consider how Latin America is seen as “the world’s most violent region.”

So why do people like Donald Trump describe African countries as “sh*thole”? Why do they look at Africa as if it were less than other continents are? Just like people, certain qualities in continents are best left ignored, and not looked at, while always keeping the good parts in view. The story that one person shares with the world can change an entire region’s point of view and has the ability to create an “unbalanced” picture of what should really be seen. We paint a picture of an “unstable”, “underdeveloped”, “unsafe” environment, and this picture does not do anything other than cover up what should really be seen, the breathtaking sceneries, the constant technological development and most important, the incredible sense of unity that all Africans feel and how proud they are to be from such a wonderful continent.