Africa Is a Country

As the cliche goes, there are only 3 things that an African child can be

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

As the cliche goes, there are only 3 things that an African child can be

By
Mawuena Akyea

We could call this: The Afro-Trifecta, if you will. They are a lawyer, some sort of business person, or a doctor. Teacher? Respectable, but not enough money. Artist? Quickest way not to be invited home during the holidays. And god forbid, an athlete. Most African parents consider the term “student athlete,” a gross oxymoron. Which is why the story of Ezikiel “Ziggy” Ansah is that much sweeter.

Hailing from the land of the Black Stars, Ziggy came to Brigham Young University in Utah with an academic scholarship. (He’d been converted by Mormon missionaries in Ghana.) Ziggy probably told his mother, “I know I’m 6’5, 270, with athletic prowess, but all I am going to do is just study hard. His major was actuarial science (I do not know what this is either), and then tried for two years to be a basketball player. That did not go so well.

Stuck in a foreign land, moonlighting as a custodian and running low on fufu and palm soup what is a young Ghana boy to do? Play football, of course.

Ziggy shined at BYU, playing as a defensive end and registering impressive numbers. So impressive, that he became a top prospect in the 2013 NFL draft, even though ESPN didn’t know who the hell he was:

No matter. He ended up being the fifth overall pick for the Detroit Lions and is delivering substantially for his new team.

From not being able to wear his pads, to being a rising star in the NFL is truly a story to behold. So please African parents, next time your child tells you that they want to be something else than a profession in the Afro Trifecta, try to keep your eyes from rolling and a blood vessel popping. Who knows? They might just be like Ziggy.

Further Reading

Kenya’s vibe shift

From aesthetic cool to political confusion, a new generation in Kenya is navigating broken promises, borrowed styles, and the blurred lines between irony and ideology.

Africa and the AI race

At summits and in speeches, African leaders promise to harness AI for development. But without investment in power, connectivity, and people, the continent risks replaying old failures in new code.

After the uprising

Years into Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict, the rebellion faces internal fractures, waning support, and military pressure—raising the question of what future, if any, lies ahead for Ambazonian aspirations.

In search of Saadia

Who was Saadia, and why has she been forgotten? A search for one woman’s story opens up bigger questions about race, migration, belonging, and the gaps history leaves behind.

Binti, revisited

More than two decades after its release, Lady Jaydee’s debut album still resonates—offering a window into Tanzanian pop, gender politics, and the sound of a generation coming into its own.

The bones beneath our feet

A powerful new documentary follows Evelyn Wanjugu Kimathi’s personal and political journey to recover her father’s remains—and to reckon with Kenya’s unfinished struggle for land, justice, and historical memory.

What comes after liberation?

In this wide-ranging conversation, the freedom fighter and former Constitutional Court justice Albie Sachs reflects on law, liberation, and the unfinished work of building a just South Africa.

The cost of care

In Africa’s migration economy, women’s labor fuels households abroad while their own needs are sidelined at home. What does freedom look like when care itself becomes a form of exile?

The memory keepers

A new documentary follows two women’s mission to decolonize Nairobi’s libraries, revealing how good intentions collide with bureaucracy, donor politics, and the ghosts of colonialism.

Making films against amnesia

The director of the Oscar-nominated film ‘Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat’ reflects on imperial violence, corporate warfare, and how cinema can disrupt the official record—and help us remember differently.