What does Africa really look like? How do Africans really live?

The honest reply is - Not really. I have lived in African continent and traveled to 5 countries in East (Tanzania, Kenya), West (Ghana) and Central Africa (DR Congo, Chad) and based on this would like to share my experiences.

First of all, Africa is a continent and not a country and there are 54 countries in Africa. Geographically entire Africa is 10 times bigger than India but population (1.2 Billion) is lesser than India. The way in Asia some countries are poor, developing and developed, in the same manner in Africa some countries are in extreme poverty, poor, and developing, but many areas in South Africa are very developed. Don't forget that Egypt and Mauritius are also part of Africa. Here are few facts that I would like to present based on my stay in Africa:

1) Poverty: Not all countries are poor. When I was working in Dar-Es-Salaam (Tanzania), I saw less slums and beggars than I see in Delhi or Mumbai. Tanzania is a very big country and with less population comparing to India. Accra in Ghana looked pretty much like any Indian city. In general, Nairobi looked more developed than New Delhi and Mumbai. Many roads and restaurants in Nairobi looked very much the way I saw in USA and UK. Chad (Central Africa) was the poorest country i have ever been to - poor in many ways (infrastructure, science & technology, social-cultural setup, etc.)

2) Safety: I have to accept this fact that safety wise many countries are not so safe. But still there are many that are pretty safe. If you are in Ghana or Senegal you can walk alone in day and night both as you walk in India or UK. But in Tanzania, Kenya, Congo, Chad it’s a distant dream. I saw many brutal accidents and snatch and run cases in front of me - this will scare you to death (scarier than movies). But If i start counting, there are not more than 20 countries out of 54 where you will be scared to walk in day-time. Therefore, still more than 50% are safe to work and live.

3) Health & Education: Most of the African countries need to work a lot on improving health and education standards. I met many Germans and Americans who were working with Tanzanian Gov. and they told me that Tanzanian education system is very outdated and pupils are not reading right book and not solving right problems that will help them to develop their brain - this is a serious concern. While working there I observed that among colleagues the best performing Tanzanian colleagues were the ones who had done their studies in India, UK, USA, China, etc. It proves that if they get proper education they can change their economies and social-political structure.

India in every sense very developed than entire Africa when it comes to Health and Education - many rich African students come to India for studies and many rich Africans visit India for medical reasons.

Once, when I was terribly hit by Tropic Malaria, my German doctor advised me that if i don’t show positive sign in 3 hrs time after given medicines, immediately i will be transferred either to Nairobi (Kenya) or Cape Town (South Africa) through helicopter - that sounded very scary, but luckily my malaria was controlled. Only South Africa and Kenya boast to have good or international standard Hospitals in African continent (East-West-South) - excluding North Africa.

4) Social-Political Structure: Most of the countries are very new to democracy and many still under military rule. Media power and social awareness is seriously missing. I was in Mombasa and one Bomb Blast happened, but it didn’t appear in Media. I only got to know when few French friends told me who were working with embassy there. Hence, you never know what is going on. Similar trend I observed in Tanzania. It will take another few decades or maybe 1-2 centuries for African continent to improve their democratic process.

5) Life Style: The lifestyle is highly westernised. No matter they have money or not, they love going to clubs, pubs, drinking beer and dancing whole night. In general most of the African countries are very open minded when it comes to relationship, dating and partying. On weekends pubs/clubs are open till morning. Women have equal rights as men, at least more than India. Their dressing sense is heavily influenced by colonial rule, so, western culture.

As an expat you will have the best lifestyle that you can imagine. You will find the best beaches, sun shines everyday, and you will live in the best areas sponsored by your Embassy, NGO, Corporate MNC - No wonder many Europeans/Americans/Asians don’t want to come back from there.

An honest advise - next time if you have an opportunity to work in Africa - please go. Also, please don't consider entire Africa war torn and poor.