Rwandan children in school (Wikipedia)
Africans tweeted in celebration of the continent’s countries yesterday when the hashtag #IfAfricaWasASchool emerged. The trend took on fashion, history and economics, scaling it down to the classroom.
Users creatively took various categories and cleverly described situations in high school under the African umbrella.
User Young Wealth took a cue from a popular image from the Olympic Games. He compared Canadian runner Andre De Grasse’s facial expression to Ghanaians’ reaction when Nigerian jollof rice is served for lunch.
https://twitter.com/Skiwo/status/768728154441592832
While Lil Dounz praised the cafeteria’s meal offerings.
#IfAfricaWasASchool the cafeteria would be so lit 🔥 pic.twitter.com/75IWau5Jxt
— Big Daddy Dounz (@LilDounz) August 25, 2016
Flea Larcen pointed out history classes would teach comprehensive Black history.
https://twitter.com/WhoIsFlea/status/768631473058484224
As @BunaTime showed Ethiopia’s pleasure in learning about the colonization of Africa, knowing they have never been colonized.
https://twitter.com/BunaTime/status/768591679376928768
@somaliadev called out Egypt for pushing away its African membership.
#IfAfricaWasASchool
Egypt: I don't think i fit in, I'm switching schools.Somalia: pic.twitter.com/s7jVAzMdmr
— Mire (@somaliadev) August 24, 2016
So did @youaintnoking.
https://twitter.com/youaintnoking/status/768615513606021120
@abraham_lou nodded to the #AfricanProm trend of dresses inspired by the motherland.
https://twitter.com/abraham_lou/status/768664811051872257
The annual school dance celebration became the look of spring fashion among high school students around the United States. Atlanta Black Star reported Ohio high schooler Makalaya Zanders won praise on Twitter for her traditional look in May.
Ghanaian-American Karen Attiah got on board the hashtag too.
She tweeted a GIF showing how Ghana would behave as a pupil reminding classmates about gaining its independence before other countries.
Ghana likes to remind all the other countries that it got its independence first 😜 #IfAfricaWereASchool #1957 pic.twitter.com/aK8OWRZmtE
— Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah) August 25, 2016
Afterward, she used a GIF of an annoyed child rolling her eyes to show her reaction to Ethiopia’s reminders about never being colonized.
.@_Almaqah every time Ethiopia reminds the other kids for the 1000th time it was never colonized #ifafricawasaschool pic.twitter.com/iM4nFl6NOO
— Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah) August 25, 2016
@MumboSauceWalka used humorous images of stars like Chris Brown and Beyoncé to show Africans’ reactions to an ignorant request by an imaginary white exchange student.
#IfAfricaWasASchool
White exchange student: Can y'all teach me African
Everyone: pic.twitter.com/5sTBIKuQCr— 9k(tw¡tter user) (@burntcobain) August 25, 2016
Caster Van Niekerk poked fun at long-standing school principals. He pointed out Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. He is the oldest and one of the longest-serving heads of state in the world.
#IfAfricaWasASchool Ladies And Gentlemen Meet Your Principal, Your Kid's Principal & You GrandKid's Principal 😂😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/4iRwDnce1k
— Nkululeko Ncube (@UNcubeOthungayo) August 25, 2016
Meanwhile, Nigerian Trapboy imagined a teacher assigning students to convert $1 million to their home country’s currency, leaving a Zimbabwean in tears.
https://twitter.com/mikerrezzy/status/768906578305118208
The country decommissioned the Zimbabwean dollar last summer after hyperinflation and a nearly decade-long recession ending in 1999. In May, Zimbabwe announced it would print its own version of the U.S. dollar to ease a cash shortage.
