I want to ask you to do something for me. I want you to think real long and hard about this question. Sit back and make some head space. Now, ponder this, what comes to mind when you think about Africa? Maybe it’s thoughts of lazy lions laying in the afternoon sun. It could even be your favorite songs from “The Lion King.” The issue is, more often than not, Africa is painted out to be a sad place full of misery and poverty.

Anyone who’s grown up in America has probably heard their parents utter the phrase “don’t waste food; children are starving in Africa” around the dinner table. But that leaves one to wonder, how would the food get there, and how will they know I’ve wasted food? I recently had a conversation with a friend in Kenya about that phrase, and he thought it was ridiculous. He said, “what does your dinner have to do with anyone in Africa?” The misconception that the whole of Africa is just a place that needs everyone’s help, including your table scraps, to get by is dangerous and misleading. Africa isn’t just one great poverty stricken, uncivilized, bush. Africa is a continent with 54, beautiful, and unique countries with flourishing cities and breathtaking sites to see.

There’s beauty everywhere you look. The communities thrive, and the rich culture permeates everything you see and do. The assumption that African countries need your pocket change just to pull through is so insulting to the people who work hard and hustle every day. That, and generalizing the entire continent of Africa into sad, desolate villages robs the countries of their astounding individuality. Not to mention, that the villages themselves thrive and, frankly, aren’t begging for a savior to help them.I’m not saying there isn’t devastating poverty, in some areas, that should be ignored. There is, however, danger in perpetuating the stereotype of hungry, shoeless, Africans. For one, that stereotype is wildly inaccurate. Second, of all, the people there are in fact, people!

The stigma of a dismal empty Africa had to come from somewhere. American’s can’t be born that ignorant. A lot of blame can be placed in America’s school system. When we learn about Africa, we learn about it as a whole. Sure, I’m generalizing here, but I surely don’t remember learning about the different countries and their individual assets. Treating the continent of Africa as if it’s the country of Africa comes from our lack of education on the subject. It should make more people angry that they don’t know much about Africa. If I went out on the street in America and asked people to name six countries in Africa, how many would be able to tell me about six individual countries? Our school systems have failed us on the topic. I’ve had people joke around with me and say that all Americans think that it’s the country of Africa and not the continent of Africa. How embarrassing is that? Even Africans know we’re ignorant about their home, and they’re sick of it too.

So, we didn’t learn much about Africa in school, but what else is feeding our ignorance? The media has perpetuated the stereotype of a depressing Africa for decades. We all grew up watching that terrible commercial where that white guy is in some African village—God forbid they tell you what country—and he’s telling you all about how poor and hungry Africans are. For many people, that’s their only exposure to Africa, and it’s completely ignoring the actual individual communities and beauty of the continent. It’s infuriating to watch America’s ignorance on anything about Africa continue to grow. Recently, CNN referred to Kenya as a hotbed of terror. Sure, there are some risks in Kenya just like anywhere else, but I wouldn’t go as far as calling it a “hotbed of terror.” I don’t think the people here would call their home a hotbed of terror either. The problem with the media is, they forget that the continent of Africa is home to millions of people.

All the media chooses to see, rather, all they decide to show you, is that poor sad side to make you feel bad for Africans. Big organizations make tons of money by pulling on your heart strings, but most of the time they never actually care about that kid in the commercial. They care about their bank accounts. A lot of people are using Africa as a business, and they make their profit by showing people like you and me how badly people need to be saved. Let’s be real; they profit off of Africans, but they don’t make an effort to use that profit to help the people they’ve exploited. In reality, Africans have a lot of pride in where they come from. I can only speak for Kenya, but Kenyans love being Kenyan. Being wary of what you're seeing and hearing is important. Challenge what people have to say about the continent where the human race was born, and take some time to educate yourself on things before you talk about how Africa is some miserable wasteland that needs a westernized savior.

We all have a little save the world complex in us, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s important to put that energy where it’s helpful to the community—not just someone’s Instagram account. Posting pictures of people living in these communities, and trying to showcase how “sad” their lives are, completely negates everything about them aside from living in a world different than your own. They have names, families, and personal lives. Any picture you take of someone is only going to be a fraction of their life. If someone goes for the perfect “for $.18 a day you can feed a starving child” picture every time, the audience doesn’t see how excited that kid might get about playing a game with their friends, or how much they love to dance. The viewers of that picture will only see the sad face you captured in that moment, not the bright shining energy of a child.

I hate to break it to you, but going to a country in Africa for a few weeks and handing out candy at an orphanage before you go on safari isn’t helping anything but your ego. If you’re going to do volunteer work, make sure you can commit to it for longer than a week before you go on safari. Volunteer work and activism should be a lifelong commitment. I’m not saying that there isn’t actual work being done by people who volunteer, I am a volunteer with a bit of a save the world complex. I’m by no means the perfect volunteer, but I’ve fallen in love with the country of Kenya, and I’ve chosen to devote a lot of time and energy into helping out where I can. That is why it makes me so angry when I see voluntourism, and it’s ugly head around here. I once met someone who told me they spent a year in Africa, and when I asked them which country they were in they couldn’t remember. I felt so much second-hand embarrassment for the person who spent a year of their life in a country they couldn’t remember the name of. Painting a school that’s already painted isn’t meaningful work. Getting down on the ground in communities and listening to what the community needs from you, rather than what you think the community needs, is what matters.

When somebody refers to Africa as a whole, ask them to get more specific and have a conversation about what country they’re referring to. If they can’t answer you, it’s probably not a conversation worth having. Challenge your thinking. If you do want to take some time to explore and travel around Africa, which I highly recommend doing, educate yourself on the country, you’re going to. Get involved on a deeper level. Immerse yourself in the community and genuinely get to know the people that live there. Commit to the community that is kind enough to show you the beauty and individuality that lives all around the continent of Africa. Get to know Africa and all of her unique countries on a personal level instead of insisting that the entire continent is sad and heartbreaking.