African Unity?

African club is a group filled with diverse people. They are from different places and have different beliefs and values. It is a community in the school, a backboard for students with a shared African heritage at the school. They have created a covenant to make the club feel more welcoming to the members and to build a strong bond amongst the African students. But there is also a different club for a different group of Africans, the Ethiopian club. The Ethiopian club is there to support and help Ethiopian students. A controversy came up: why were the two clubs separate if both clubs were African and they both seemed to have a similar agenda? Why not bring the clubs together?

Members of the African club said their club was there to support the African youth Diaspora, and the Etheopian club said their club was there to help the people for the Ethiopian people. Unlike the African club, the Ethiopian club shared the same culture and language, and they wanted to expose younger Ethiopians that have never really known the Ethiopian history to their culture. The clubs have so many differences, yet they seem to all have some similarities too, and they all shared some different thoughts on each other.

I discovered that once you defined a group, it separates them from everyone else, puts them apart. The Ethiopian club had been defined as the Ethiopian club, so they were not considered part of the African club, and they were not African, they were just Ethiopians. Why couldn’t they be together? Coming together could be easier; they could deal with issues better. Coming together to teach the world, and the Blair High School community, that even as two separate groups, we can come together to be stronger. A member of one of the club said, “Yes, we can have an African club, but in the club we could also have branches, and also we can come together too, as somewhat of an African Union”.

They decided to break the barrier between the two clubs, creating a platform for all to be together. Thinking of different ways of dialoguing to break the barriers, and to end the way we classify us as African and Ethiopians, and become one Africa.
Questions still remain- where are the African and Ethiopian clubs headed? What is the future for younger generations of Africa? And last, but not least, what are the purposes of the two clubs?

More info on the African & Ethiopian Clubs Coming Soon!

Pictures By Adame Lemma