Using the African Worldview in Overcoming Poverty in Kenya

Abstract

Africa has been dominated, exploited and humiliated because of poverty. Images of hungry crowds of refugees, children dying by their thousands because of diseases, skinny children begging in streets, indecent huts…are almost all that the world knows about Africa. Poverty seems to be synonymous with Africa despite its immense mineral riches. This study of the analysis of government policy documents shows the limited success these documents have had on development. This study argues that knowledge of the ‘African way of life’ is imperative if we are to address the poverty crisis in Africa. This research seeks to draw from Africa’s way of life, thought patterns, cultural values and frame of references to help alleviate poverty in Africa by arguing that Africa will benefit from its own initiatives and address its own problems using tools and methods familiar to her.