Africa Positive launches Ubuntu Series animations

In 1998, Cameroonian computer scientist and journalist Veye Tatah founded Africa Positive. The organization, focused mostly on Africans in Germany, sought to promote a positive coverage of Africa through its magazine Africa Positive.

Africa Positive launched the Ubuntu Series aimed at “sensitizing people of African descent about behaviors that disrupt the development of our countries.” Armed with the belief that change in attitudes can empower Africans to find homemade solutions for the challenges they face, Africa Positive started producing animations.

The first episode of the Ubuntu Series titled: We Turn the Page has four characters, representing young Africans on the continent who see the West as their escape route. While educative, the episode is equally a clamour for Africans to refocus their energies on the continent. The episodes are both in English and French.

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The misconception of Africa as a continent is still a huge issue around the world. According to Africa Positive, “global media predominantly highlight the negative about the African continent. They generally project Western Countries in a most positive light. The youth in Africa consuming this information believe everything and are ready to risk their lives for perceived greener pastures abroad”.

The Ubuntu Series was conceived due to media reports in 2017 that showed Africans being sold as slaves in Libya and so many young Africans dying in the Mediterranean sea Africans need to create conducive environments in our communities and countries that encourage development at both the individual and national levels.

Africa Positive believes that “the renaissance of Africa lies in the accomplishment of the African Identity, by realizing the black consciousness and back-to-our-roots agenda, and by reloading our sense of humanity, fairness, justice, empathy, naturalism and the legendary consideration of the human being”.

While the continent is “is very rich and truly offers a lot of hidden opportunities that are not always obvious to young Africans,” many Africans focus on the West glamorized in the media.