More Credits to Africa
By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter
Costa Rican Ambassador to Seoul Fernando Borbon has rediscovered Africa as a land of hope through his first trip to the continent in August.
The approximately two-week long trip took him to Ghana, Togo, Benin and Kenya. On his return he began to advocate, "Let's focus on Africa."
He said what is portrayed in the minds of many people about Africa, especially from the part of the world he is from, isn't at all about what Africa really is. Poverty and hunger are widespread, yet what he noticed most importantly were the determined goals set for higher values such as peace and the restless efforts to attain it.
Peace seems foreign to the African continent when seen through the media. Yet, like any other people in the world, "Africans are peace-loving citizens and love one another as themselves," he said.
A former acting pastor, he is registered as part of the congregation of the Good News Church and Manmin Church in Seoul. Borbon, along with nearly 200 young Christians, participated in the International Youth Fellowship (IYF) World Youth Camp held in Ghana.
He said he had witnessed a sense of optimism run deep in people's minds, especially the young. He talked with the locals, ate with them, sang and danced with them and said his skin color and accent were at the center of people's attention, but at the end of the day they were all children of God.
Borbon, in particular, remembered the excitement from one occasion. It was the wedding of the minister of youth and sports in Kenya, and he was invited to preach before the bride and bridegroom and hundreds of guests. The number of guests just overwhelmed him, he recalled. "I was really excited and blessed."
He urged African people to get up as Latin America did after years of subordination and dependence on Spain and Portugal. "We did it and I hope Africa will be able to do it as well. This is time for Africa," the ambassador said.