Not Broken, Not Defeated, Still Rising. Happy Africa Month to African Queens.

On Africa Day people often speak about freedom, independence, and the beauty of our cultures. They post pictures of traditional clothes, drums, dances and smiling children beneath golden sunsets. But this year I want to speak about something quieter, I want to speak about survival.

I come from a land where women wake before the sun and carry nations on their backs without ever being called heroes. A place where grandmothers sell vegetables by the roadside to pay school fees. Where young graduates move from office to office carrying CVs that nobody seems ready to receive. A place where girls are still taught to shrink themselves so the world can feel comfortable. And yet, Africa continues to breathe.

Sometimes I think of Africa as a baobab tree. The world sees its rough bark and twisted branches but beneath the surface lies a deep reservoir of life. The baobab survives droughts, It survives storms, It survives generations of people carving their names into it and taking pieces of it away but still, it stands.

Like us, African Queens. As African women we have inherited both pain and resilience. We carry stories interrupted by colonialism, poverty, conflict, patriarchy, and silence. But we also carry songs, wisdom passed down beside cooking fires and crowded buses, innovation born from necessity and we carry the ability to rebuild from almost nothing.

In my village i see women balancing buckets of water on their heads while babies slept on their backs. I see market stalls lit by candles during power cuts and mothers still finding ways to smile after long days of struggle. I hear young people speak about leaving Africa everywhere, not because they hate their mother land, but because they are desperate for opportunities.

A new generation of African women is rising. We are writing stories, starting businesses from single smartphones, leading communities and entering spaces that once rejected us. We are no longer waiting for permission to exist loudly.

Africa Day is not only about remembering where we came from. It is about deciding where we are going.

I dream of an Africa where a girl from a rural village can become anything without first overcoming impossible barriers. An Africa where leadership looks like service instead of power. An Africa where young people do not have to cross oceans to find dignity. An Africa where women are not merely included in conversations but trusted to lead them. Most importantly I dream of an Africa that remembers its own worth.

Because for too long, the world has told Africa what it lacks. Rarely do they speak about what Africa gives: strength, creativity, humanity, rhythm, courage, and hope.

I think about women like who planted trees while planting courage in generations of African girls. I think about young Africans creating businesses despite unemployment, artists reclaiming our narratives, and communities rebuilding after disasters with little more than faith and each other.

This Africa Day I honour the women who survived quietly, the mothers who carried water and generations, the girls who continue to dream despite limitations, the youth building futures from broken systems and the voices refusing to disappear.

Happy Africa Day African Queens!!