...WORD FROM THE FOUNDING CHAIRMAN #BDBAE

Mr. Agbor Martins the founding chairman had this to say about the Black Diamond Beauty Africana Entertainers:

Historically, many different cultures have come into existence. Through time however, higher and more influential cultures have emerged centering on rising new religions. Through a process of absorption of the varied and numerous lower cultures by the higher and more universally promoted and recognized ones, a consolidation of cultures have taken place. As a result, there are only four major remaining cultures left in the world today. They include: the Christian, Muslim, and Far Eastern (based on Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism) and Hindu. This convergence flow of history shows the trend towards the establishment of a one world culture. A social prophecy alerts us to prepare our minds to eventually be led by a single world culture in the soonest of time.

Should this happen, what becomes the fate of the African, Nigerian and Cross River State culture? The project Miniature Cross River State in Cross River State is aimed at fighting against adverse effects of the above global subsuming cultural tread that took its rise from the Middle Ages.

Since the culture of a people is their identity as it affords them due recognition, the indispensability of this project will soon be justified by its impacting vigorous and economic growth. Spreading on this horizon, the project’s regenerating impacts will in shortest possible delay be evidenced in its strong penetration in society, politics, and culture and above all, the economy of the state of Cross River, nation of Nigeria and the African continent.

The project aims at introducing a new African Renaissance in every aspect of its being, both educationally, scientifically, culturally and spiritually.

A practical example may be drown from our educational system were our pupils learn to despise even their own parents because according to Western belief and educational structures, parents are old-fashioned and ignorant.  Influenced by new Western thought patterns, there is nothing in our existing educational system which suggests to the pupil that they can still learn important farming techniques from their elders.

The result is that youths absorbs beliefs about witchcraft before they go to school, but does not learn the properties of local grasses; they absorb only the taboos from their families but does not learn the methods of making nutritious traditional foods. And from school, they end up acquiring knowledge unrelated to agricultural life. They acquire the worst of both systems.

Prior to independence, many Africans were socialized within indigenous contexts. At present, traditional institutions of customary law, land tenure systems, inheritance rights, and rituals are disappearing due to changes in power relations inherent in modern techno-industrial culture, resulting in the devaluing or erasure of indigenous African knowledge.

Indigenous knowledge encompasses what local people know and do, and what they have known and done for generations. These practices developed through trial and error, and proved flexible enough to cope with change. Much of this knowledge, however, has never been systematically documented and is subsequently being forgotten and replaced by "modern" education and technology.  The mission of Black diamond Beauty Africana Entertainers is to call back yesterday, contemporary trends and finally construct an object for African focus. And as we dare into this new dispensation of African restoration, "modern" education, the formal, Western-style educational system associated with Western thought will no longer be perceived by Western influenced African educators as better than indigenous knowledge, which is typically associated with folk knowledge and hence considered "inferior." The term "indigenous" refers to the complex, culturally diverse societies of Africa which have resulted from decades of immigration and integration.

Such a complex includes Christian and Islamic traditions, which vary greatly and cannot be separated from other indigenous practices. The modern folk dichotomy contributes to a widening gap between youth and elders in many rural African contexts and perpetuates a false perception that modernization is a unidirectional process.

A curriculum which divides "indigenous" knowledge from "modern" knowledge fails to teach students about the unique cultural patterns by which Westerners develop and advance their social worlds, and ignores the ways in which "modern" cultural beliefs and practices draws from folk and indigenous ways of life. Black

Today in culturally and religiously diverse African societies where the extended family system is giving way to urban style nuclear families, education can only be relevant if it provides individuals with the intellectual tools, moral values, and skills needed to cope with this changing situation. Diamond Beauty Africana Entertainer embodies the historic task of addressing these imbalances.

In the contemporary African world, there is a dichotomy between what is secular and what is religious.  People’s view of the universe has changed.  The world is no longer viewed in the religious sense but rather it is looked at as something to be totally exploited for the benefit of the human being.  Nature now is viewed in terms of exploitation of natural resources. Africans in the contemporary time should borrow a leaf from traditional Africa.  They should use African cultural heritage in preservation and rehabilitation of the environment that has been destroyed and degraded by selfish economic motives of few people.

The efforts of different organizations like Green Belt Movement, churches, United Nations Environmental program and world commission on Environment, to preserve and rehabilitate the environment should take into consideration the attitude of the Africans.  These efforts should learn from traditional ways of nature conservation and try to come up with modified attitudes suitable to the contemporary African world. The African worldview and beliefs that encouraged the sacredness of the universe and all created beings should be taken into consideration if contemporary Africa wants to preserve the environment.  African religious heritage, which links Africa with nature and God, should be the point of departure in preserving the environment.

Through the present project embarked upon by Black Diamond there will be a rehabilitation of African Traditional Religion and Philosophy since it is abundantly evident that Africans are notoriously religious by nature. This implies that religion permeates and penetrates the whole life of the African whose traditional religion typically integrated in its daily life. For the Africans there is no clear-cut separation between what is secular and what is sacred. Everything and every act are looked upon in a religious perspective.

 African religion centered on human person as passed down by the African ancestry is found in peoples’ daily activities. It is oriented towards preservation of life and promotion of whatever enhances life. In promoting life, African Traditional Religion is connected with the environment because it is through healthy environment that life is enhanced. Environment is part of life. As a communal religion, African traditional religion is concerned with whatever affects human life. As a result, Africans view the universe as a profoundly religious universe; hence they treat it as such. The Africans view the human person as part of the environment. Environment to an African means a whole life. Everybody then in traditional African culture had a religious and moral responsibility towards the environment. They knew that to destroy the environment meant to destroy the human person.

In the contemporary African world, there is a dichotomy between what is secular and what is religious. Upon the arrival of the Europeans in the African shores, Africans’ view of the universe underwent a dramatic changed. To the African, the world is no longer viewed in the religious sense but rather it is looked at as something to be totally exploited for the benefit of the human being.  This view has caused environmental problems in Africa, such as soil erosion, de-forestation, water pollution and desertification.

Africans view themselves as part of the environment. Man is conceivable only in this cosmic interweavement. This web of relation is what makes Africans view the earth as their mother and themselves as her children.

This means that, though God, humanity and nature are distinct concepts they are ontological categories that are interrelated and interdependent. Therefore plants, animals and other non-living beings are part of nature, which is the product of God’s creation deserving to be respected as much as human beings who are also part of nature. The relationships between persons and nature are rooted in God as the creator of all. So plants, animals, minerals and other inanimate beings form a unity and depend on each other. This is what makes Africans regard themselves as being in close relationship with the entire cosmos. Africans, especially in the traditional setting, were nature-oriented. A person in the African sense is the one who is in good relationship with nature.

In traditional African societies, many people believed that trees and forests were the manifestation of the power of the Supreme Being. They saw these things as ideal places to meet God. Traditional African societies had many shrines, which were associated with big trees such as fig trees and baobabs. These trees together with the vegetation around were preserved as sacred places for worship.

Traditional Africans in their purest past regarded trees, shrubs, grass and forests as valuable gifts from God. They respected big trees especially as a place to meet God. Thus, sacrifices and offerings were done under trees, stones, rivers and waterfalls.  Until today, it is a taboo to cut down certain trees in Africa because it is considered plants that embodies the sacredness of God.

The Africans did not attach much importance to trees and herbs just for spiritual purposes, but also because trees, herbs and plants in general were useful in enhancing human life. Apart from being symbols of God’s presence among people, trees were seen as medicine to man and animals. Trees, leaves, roots and grasses provided herbal medicines to human beings and to wild as well as domestic animals.

Apart from providing shade for various social gatherings, trees are also used for some purification ceremonies and rituals. The community protects trees used for this purpose. The wood, bark and leaves of trees may be used in, certain purification ceremonies, to avert supernatural misfortune

The Black Diamond Beauty Africana Entertainers Land and water concept in the miniature Cross River State

For traditional Africans particularly the Crossriverians, land and water were precious gifts from God the Creator. Africans have a strong connection with the land not only as an economic resource, but as a home, a place of sacrifice and offerings. When traditional African people struggled or fought for land, were not simply struggling or fighting for it economically but for social, moral, cultural and religious motives.

As land was strongly connected to life, then traditional African people had moral responsibility to take care of it. Land bound people together in one community. Its absence threatened to tear them apart. This was because for many Africans, land was communal property. Land belonged to the community and God allotted it to the community through ancestors. Land was respected because it produced plants, which sustains life in Africa.

In traditional African societies, animals were viewed as creatures of God. That is why many myths and stories use animals as main characters. They were respected as part of the whole creation. Some ethnic groups believed that fierce wild animals such as lions, leopards, buffalos, and elephants were just manifestation of the great power of God. Therefore, they would not kill them.

Some totemic beliefs and taboos helped in the preservation of some animal species. For example, some traditional African people who are named after names of animals were not allowed to kill or eat meat from animals and birds, which they were named after. They considered themselves to be bounded together by not eating the animals. They respected these animals. This attitude helped in preserving the animals.

As a practical religion, African Traditional Religion involves many beliefs and practices, traditions and customs, which are the ways the African people express their religion. Religious values beneath these beliefs, customs and traditions helped them to have a good relationship with their environment.

Conclusion

Prior to the advent of explorer into the African continent when Africans were united as one,  Africans were never faced with many environmental problems. Unfortunately however today, Westernized African activities cause environmental hazards, which have negative impact on human beings and other beings of the universe. The negative interaction of the human being with his environment affects negatively. This causes soil erosion, deforestation, pollution and desertification. Individualistic and utilitarian Western attitudes towards nature’s gift to Africa have led people to plunder the environment recklessly. People are after economic profit through natural resources rather than being responsible taking care of the resources. Land grabbing for economic use causes problems. The land grabbed is used recklessly in the way the owner desires.

The African worldview and beliefs that encouraged the sacredness of the universe and all created beings is now being taken into consideration by Black Diamond Beauty Africana Entertainers in order to preserve the environment. African religious heritage, which links Africa with nature and God is one of the points of departure in Black Diamond Beauty Africana Entertainers effort in preserving environment.

Africans revisiting their traditional religious heritage will henceforth recover the African spiritual wisdom, which has been affected by contemporary scientism, and draw from it what is proper and blend it with contemporary ways of environmental preservation. Since Black Diamond Beauty Africana Entertainers view Traditional religious education as important in environmental preservation, Traditional African education will henceforth be focused on preserving the sacredness of life and whatever enhanced it. We are proposing that contemporary Africa should borrow a leaf from traditional education systems as far as environmental conservation is concerned. African traditional education can be integrated in contemporary environmental studies. Like Asians, let Africans be Africans.