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By Kamali Godwin

They call her
the Pearl of Africa—

land of green hills,
golden sun,
and children who laugh
barefoot in the rain.

But tell me—

how can a pearl shine
when some of her people sleep hungry,
watching abundance
from a distance?

How can beauty boast
while mothers boil water
to quiet the stomachs
of their children?

Some already have everything—

big cars with dark windows,
homes taller than hope,
children in expensive schools,
speaking fluent comfort,

while others sit
beneath leaking roofs,
sharing one textbook
like a borrowed dream.

Still, the hunger for more continues.

More money.
More land.
More comfort.

More promises
wrapped beautifully in words.

Hands already full
still reach deeper,

while empty hands
wait patiently
for tomorrow.

And when fortunes disappear,
when resources meant for many
somehow benefit only a few,

we give the loss
comfortable names.

We speak carefully.

We move on.

Yet somewhere,

a hospital has no medicine
while another mansion rises.

Somewhere,

a classroom has no desks
while luxury multiplies.

Somewhere,

a child walks kilometres
towards an education
that keeps moving farther away.

This is not merely
about wealth.

It is about conscience.

About what happens
when having becomes more important
than humanity.

When people become numbers
and suffering becomes ordinary.

We wave flags.

We sing the anthem.

We speak proudly
of the beauty of our land.

But beauty should be more
than mountains, lakes
and green hills.

A nation must also be beautiful
in the way its people live.

So no—

this cannot yet be
the Pearl of Africa,

not while wealth is worshipped
more than human life.

Not while children sleep hungry
beside overflowing tables.

Not while greed sits comfortably
where compassion should be.

A pearl is precious
because it survives hardship
and still becomes beautiful.

Perhaps ours can too.

But first,

we must remember
that the true wealth of a nation
is not what it possesses—

but how it treats
the people who possess nothing.

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