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| Black Panther (2018) – Wakanda |
Read on to find out more about the real-life Wakandan villages being built by the African Union.
Marvel’s Black Panther introduced the world to a unique vision of a technologically-rich fictional African country with sweeping social infrastructure.
Now Africa is working to bring that world to life across the continent with a project to build, run and operate across the continent paid for by the African diaspora.
The term “African Diaspora” is commonly used to describe the mass dispersion of peoples from Africa in the 1500s to the 1800s during the Transatlantic Slave Trades. These millions of people from Western and Central Africa were sent throughout the Americas and the Caribbean.
According to Face2Face Africa, it’s dubbed the “Wakanda One Village Project”, and will “consist of five African Centres of Excellence in each of the five regions of the continent which will serve as nerve centers for development bearing state-of-the-art healthcare facilities, hotels, industrial homes, shopping centres among others”. The five regions are listed as Northern Africa, Eastern Africa, Central Africa, Western Africa, and Southern Africa.
Where would the money support such an endeavor come from? Back in March 2018 Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao, African Union Ambassador to the United States of America launched the “African Diaspora Global Bank”. It’s expected to raise $5 billion that will fund the project.
In those regions, the land will be donated for the project. The Zimbabwean government has already promised to donate 2000ha (4942 acres) to the “Wakanda One village to be shared by Zimbabwe and Zambia as part of joint development efforts across Southern Africa”. Zambia has offered 132ha (326 acres) for the project. Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao also says Kenya and Tanzania have also pledged land for East Africa’s “Wakanda One Village” project.
The site also noted, “The African Union said it will first sensitize the Diaspora before forming an investment board from all the regions of Africa headquartered in Washington DC to manage the fund and decide on the value of shares and conversion factors.”
“The establishment of an Investment Board should lead to the opening up of the African Diaspora Savings and Investment Accounts in the four banks. We will also encourage African Diaspora to open individual accounts with a minimum deposit of US$10 a month while the board will decide on the transition to a credit union,” Sydney Kawadza quotes Dr. Chihombori-Quao.
“We are looking at raising at least US$2 billion in the next two years with the first groundbreaking set for the end of the year 2020 … We are going to build the Africa that we want so those Diasporans who say I cannot go home because home is not what I am used to will make it what they want,” she added.
So one day in the next few years you may be able to head to a real-life Wakanadan village. It would make a great tourist attraction if nothing else.
Would you visit a real-life city of Wakanda? Let us know in the comments?
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