Yes, there's more to Africa than poverty

But with the same breath, let us also be brave Africans who stand for the brand Africa, highlighting the hard work of our people, and acknowledging the things we have done right.

In the past few years I have had three separate encounters that have occupied the same box in my memory.The first was a few years ago. I attended a photo exhibition of two photographers: a South African who went to Belgium, and a Belgian who went to South Africa, each taking photographs of the other's country. What stood out in the exhibition was that the South African focused on the beauty of the cities, the wonderful architecture, and the famous statues. Apart from one or two photographs with graffiti, the pictures were clean, as though there was no poverty in Belgium, no slums. The Belgian focused on the least developed areas of South Africa, dust and paper balls, as though there was no middle class in South Africa, no tarred roads, no fancy buildings.