MODERN-day materialism has destroyed mankind’s perception of wealth.
What do you perceive as wealth?
Most people simply equate wealth to riches and thus view money as the main symbol of wealth.
Money is simply a tool of trade which overtook barter trading which was practised in most places in Africa before the advent of colonisation in the last century.
Thus money is not the wealth we are speaking of here, but that which you would wish to possess with the money.
In ancient times, one would be called wealthy if he had abundance of land, authority, livestock, grain reserves and so on.
Money was known and used in African countries like Ethiopia as a portable measurement of wealth.
African money, which was mostly in the form of measured shekels of gold, was universally accepted.
In the Zimbabwe Ruins, ancient coins have been found from places as distant as China.
Nowadays, people would rather possess money to splurge rather than convert it to fixed assets like land that would qualify them as wealthy instead of just rich.
Is one wealthy because he has man-made cars, buildings and roads?
Surely these concrete jungles that seek to replace the green earth were built by people who were not gifted in natural resources.
Such is the saying: “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
Archeology has time and again evidenced a strong link between the emigration of humans out of prosperous sub-Saharan Africa to places with less natural resources and an increase in innovation and invention.
This was evident with the ancient Egyptians who lived in a pre-desert area and had to invent some irrigation methods like the shaduf, flood irrigation schemes and canals, among others.
Livestock rearing was also begun by these people because they were not in places that were full of impala, wildebeest, sable, buck and all the other animals that can be found in sub-Saharan Africa.
The ancient Egyptians are the ancestors of Zimbabweans and most sub-Saharan Africans and they found in these lands the Bushmen, called Pygmy and Khoisan.
Indeed the indigenous people were so wealthy.
They did not rear livestock, but hunted nomadically as they followed the God-given herds of wild beasts.
They did not need to cultivate, but depended on gathering seasonal wild fruits, roots, grains and herbs.
Accompanying their eco-friendly lifestyle was the wealth of knowledge about nature which they used to tap into these resources without much labour.
The land clearing for habitation, grazing land and cultivation, ground digging for mining and water began with the people who migrated from the Sahara and this further proves the point that necessity is the mother of invention.
Agriculture prospered in ancient Egypt and so did mathematics as our ancestors needed to calculate dates, seasons and measure objects.
The ox-drawn plough was also invented by our ancestors when they were in need of it.
Why then should an individual who is born in a country like Zimbabwe, wealthy in fertile land, favourable climate, minerals, water resources, quality grass veld and wild animals among other things, need the concrete and metal cities of the West which is impoverished in terms of natural resources.
The Europeans looked upon their land and found it non-fertile, non-spacious, the bad water and a horrible climate for cultivation.
They found no minerals and the fruit of their land is sour because sweetness is from the sun which is insufficient in Europe.
No wonder their minds had to favour a concrete jungle which they could make in their image to escape their devastating reality.
It also explains why whites are prepared to permanently settle in lands besides their own as they did in the US, Australia and South Africa.
There is probably nothing to miss where they came from.
Fertile land produces quality organic food which sustains and fuels human and animal life.
Indeed, one who has access to fertile land can be considered wealthy and this state will reflect in his family’s good health and peace of mind when they are secure from hunger and satisfied daily by the produce of the land.
Good climate is also a form of wealth which is often taken for granted.
Breathable and non-toxic air, tolerable heat and cold, sufficient rainfall and sunlight for human habitation and agriculture are a rare match that some people never get to experience.
Yet Zimbabweans are born into this comfortable life and only appreciate it when they experience the extreme cold of the North in the UK and the extreme rains of the Far East in China.
Only then do I hear Zimbabweans say it is good to be home upon their return from the Diaspora.
This good climate of ours partly led to our colonisation because it invited the infamous Cecil John Rhodes from Britain to live in our country for he had respiratory problems.
Minerals are not only found in metal ores and stones, but also plants.
These minerals such as iron are important for many biological processes.
For example, haemoglobin production needs iron to carry oxygen in our blood.
A place like Zimbabwe is wealthy because it enjoys a rare combination of fertile land and good climate.
This condition facilitates for effective plant mineral production.
By this logic, Africa is undoubtedly the wealthiest continent on earth, yet its population is considered to be financially the poorest by the West.
Is it not clear that there is a hoax which is leading Africans to want to be in Europe while the whites are trying by all means to occupy our land?
When whites were in control of the country, they called Zimbabwe the bread-basket of Britain, testifying to the value of our fertile land.
Malawi, Kenya and many other former colonies of Britain are still sustaining European economies with their resources and yet their citizens would do anything to go to Europe.
Have man-made things become more important to mankind than God-given ones? Why then are Africans so eager to leave this paradise on earth which was appropriately called the Garden of Eden in the Bible for resource-impoverished lands?
It is because they have not comprehended both the wealth of Africa and the poverty of Europe.
By far the most notable resource that Africa has is the sun.
The plants store the sun’s energy and this energy can later be extracted from the plants and used as fuel in the form of firewood, coal or ethanol.
The latter is environmentally friendly and Africa is bound to enjoy an industrial boom when it finally exploits fast growing low lignin and high cellulose plants like hemp which carry a lot of easily extractable ethanol in their stalks.
Ethanol is extracted from plants by fermentation and plants naturally carry oxygen for combustion.
Solar energy is clean and efficient in places like Zimbabwe which have abundant sunlight even during winter.
These are some almost untapped renewable natural resources that are eco-friendly and make Africa a possible future model for eco-friendly industrial development.
Fossil fuels are one of the main causes of pollution in developed countries and lead to a decrease in air quality.
This leads to countless deaths through respiratory problems caused by inhaling harmful fumes like Carbon monoxide.
Thus using ethanol and solar energy instead of fossil fuels will be a way of sustaining our good breathable air and passing this God-given wealth to future generations.