It's Really Cool That You Studied Abroad In Africa. But The Way You Talk About It? Not So Cool.

I'll never forget the look of surprise and wonder on my sixth-grade geography teacher's face when looking at a photo of the Johannesburg cityscape. I can't remember the exact photo, but this one will do:

Beautiful right? I kid you not, she exclaimed: "WOW! I had no idea they had cities in Africa!"

Did I mention this was a private school? Talk about face palm central. The thing is, it's not uncommon for people, even EDUCATED people, to assume that Africa is just one big desolate country (ahem, it's a continent y'all) filled with starving kids, bare-breasted women, and wild animals. Spoiler alert: It's not.

This video, which was created for (RED)Wire, features actor Djimon Hounsou reading Binyavanga Wainaina's essay "How to Write About Africa". If you're interested in reading more honest and diverse stories about life in Africa, check out Wainaina's book "One Day I Will Write About This Place" and the follow-up to this essay, "How to Write About Africa II: The Revenge." The Johannesburg cityscape photo is by Nico Roets and used under Creative Commons license.

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