Seed for Africa

The Need for SEED

All the major charity organizations that offer Aid support to Africa are white-led.
While this generosity is appreciated by all, it also serves to cement the view that the African race is hopelessly incapable of supporting itself without assistance from others.
We assert that this subliminal message, though perhaps not intended, has an extremely negative psychological effect on the race as a whole - worldwide.
The material benefits derived from the aid received cannot compensate for this sense of being second class members of the human family who are eternally dependent on the "more competent" people of other races.
To reverse this negative effect there needs to be a highly visible black-led, black-run world-wide organization making a major contribution to Aid efforts in Africa. Black people need to be SEEN to be contributing. If black people who can afford to help Africa are not prepared to do so, then why should others? And what would it say about those who can afford to help but choose not to?
There is a significant number of Black sportspersons, entertainers, entrepreneurs etc. scattered across the globe. If each were to contribute a reasonable proportion of his/her income to this cause, such an array of black icons could collectively maintain a substantial level of support for Africa.
Such organized Black support would remove the (silent) perception that black people are totally dependent on others. Moreover, the high profile maintained by each of these stars would guarantee the global recognition needed and deserved by this organized effort. With such an organization acting to 'engage in the issues of Africa today' there would be a major shift in the way that black people see themselves and each other.

Below is a clip from another of our patrons, Benjamin Zephaniah (Rest in Power).

The clip is from our film - The African Safari.

He said: "I am with SEED because it recognizes that we have responsilities for each other.

The time has come. We owe it to ourselves".

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T-Shirts

Can This Be Acheived?

What

Before addressing this question, we feel we must clear up a misunderstanding that could possibly develop. SEED for Africa is not anti-white or anti any other race. We are simply pro-Black. To fully appreciate this important point, consider this:

Almost anyone - male or female - would agree that any organized effort to address women's issues, must be led by women. While men could make very useful contributons to such an organisation, total dominance by men at all levels would be absolutely counter-productive. Any male with genuine interest in women's issues would seek to support the effort rather than lead it. The same human principles apply to organising support for Africa and its people. People of African descent must be seen to be major players in any such effort.

We therefore will encourage and welcome support from all people of good will, but SEED for Africa must be black-led and black-run if its underlying purpose and objectives are to be fulfilled. We need to understand that the need for SEED is not simply about raising money. It is mainly about building and fostering self-respect and racial pride.

Having clarified our position for the sake of ones who might feel the need for such clarification, we will now move on to the question of "Can it be done".

If a non-black group should decide to setup an organisation similar to ours, we don't think anyone would wonder if the idea could be made to work. For us, what is more saddening than the question itself, is the fact that such doubt is most likely to come from our own people. But as Marcus Garvey famously said:

If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life. [But] with confidence, you have won even before you have started.

So we will not grace the question with a considered response. Instead we will simply say that what we aim to do must be done and will be done.

How Will This Be Acheived?

At this stage we are not seeking donations from anyone. That will come later.

For now, we are just seeking to let the world know of this initiative and to spread awareness of its purpose. In the meantime, you can subscribe to; share; and comment on our Youtube channel. By doing so you will help to grow the channel and that should eventually generate income for SEED. You can also help by purchasing and wearing our T-Shirts and by becoming a Patreon subscriber. Most importantly, as a fan, you can reach out to your favourite celebrities to seek to get them involved, and you can then email us to let us know that you have done so. We would also love to receive your email offering your comments and suggestions.

And if you are a celebrity, you can also email us to let us know that you are happy to offer your support when we become ready to accept donations. Until then, we will be finalising the structures that will be required to ensure the smooth running of our operations. Those operations will include a "Who is Who" of Black celebrities. This will present a profile of each celebrity and will indicate his/her response to SEED's clarion call.

What's Currently Being Done?

We said on the previous page that we do not presently seek or receive financial support from any source. Still, we currently offer (on a small scale) the kind of support we intend to offer on a larger scale in the near future. So, for example, the video above shows Geeza engaging with two football teams whose players range in age fron seven to fifteen.

The dedicated trainers for these teams - Coach Kauta and Joseph Mwalati - are using the youngsters' love of football to instill in them the importance of all-round discipline in Life, and of high standards of acheivement in school. We have therefore offerred them what financial support we can at this time.

We have also engaged with the Rastafari Society of Kenya whose office is in Kibera, which is said to be Africa's largest slum. Here again, we have offered some financial support.

What

And we have offered small scale support in other areas. For example, a young couple whom we know personally has available land but needed other resources to be able to start farming. With the assistance that we provided the land is now ploughed; an irrigation system has been installed; and seeds have been acquired and planted.

In adddition to making small donations here and there, we are presently engaged in an outreach campaign. Discussions are now ongoing with the Jamaican chapter of the UNIA as well as an important new body - Forged by Time Ltd.

Lots more to come...

What

Money Matters

What

Yes, Money does matter! And that is part of the reason why we are presently not seeking money from any source. We will explain this below.

The idea of SEED for Africa was conceived in late 2003 and soon after, in 2004, we made our documentary film - The African Safari. After a couple showings in Birmingham in the UK (at Akamba and The Drum), we were then being advised to become a registered charity. The rationale that was being put forward was that people - especially celebrities - would be reluctant to donate money to any organization, (but particularly a black-run organization) that is not a registered charity. However, we did not have to consider this idea of registration for too long before rejecting it. But why?

Well, at the time we were based in the UK, and so registering as a charity would really mean that we would be going to the British authorities to seek approval for doing what we want to do. But doing that would undermine the essential principle on which the organization is founded. In effect, for the sake of being able to get money, we would be abandoning our core principle and, in reality, we would be acting out a lie.

This would be similar to a group of women going to a body of men to seek permission to operate. No. We would not do it. Instead, we considered registering in Africa, but that idea presented too many challenges at the time. So, SEED chose to go underground and into hibernation. That hibernation turned out to be for a period of twenty years...

Looking back, we now realize that the idea of SEED for Africa was ahead of its time. But as we now say:

There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.

So what are the differences between today and two decades ago, such that the time for SEED for Africa has now come? Well, check the short clip below from our 2004 documentary - The African Safari, then look at a sample of what is being said today on a Google Search for "Aid to Africa poverty".

What?

And this from this website.

What?

The world is now acknowledging what our Tanzanian sister, Mwanaidi, pointed out two decades ago. Yes, SEED for Africa was way ahead of its time! And apart from the issues with western aid, there are other factors that are different today than they were twenty years ago. For example, a rapidly growing number of Black people from the diaspora¹ are now wanting to connect with their roots and so are going forward to Africa. Additionally, there is a new crop of young African leaders with a clear agenda for Africa², that includes refusing aid money and expelling western diplomats. In short, Africa and Africans are creating a new vision for the future. We will talk more about this in coming posts.

There is one more thing that is different today from twenty years ago. Today, a company or an organization can now seek and give donations without having to be registered as a charity. But in order for us to fulfill our primary aim of mobilizing and organising financial support for Africa and Africans by celebrities worldwide, it remained necessary for us to become an officially registered body. Therefore SEED for Africa has now been incorporated as a limited Company in the UK. That being the case, we will accept donations only from well-known celebrities and establishments, and we will publish a bi-monthly report that presents a running total of donations received and funds disbursed. Additionally, our annually audited and published accounts will show that 100% of donations received actually go towards supporting Africa and Africans. The company's income will be derived from merchandise online and from other online activities"

So, when all things are considered, its clear to see that the time for SEED for Africa has come, and Garvey's whirlwind with the spirits of Black people from America; the West Indies; and Africa are finally coming together to fight for Liberty, Freedom, and Life!

References

¹ Go Black 2 Africa

¹ African Diaspora Development Institute

² Senegal's New President

² Burkina Faso's President

² Ibrahim Traore's Enemies On the Run

Meet the Team

Before listing the key members of our organization, we feel it is important that we repeat here what "Money Matters" already said regarding our operational structure. It states:

"But in order for us to fulfill our primary aim of mobilizing and organising financial support for Africa and Africans by celebrities worldwide, it remained necessary for us to become an officially registered body. Therefore SEED for Africa has now been incorporated as a limited Company in the UK. That being the case, we will accept donations only from well-known celebrities and establishments, and we will publish a bi-monthly report that presents a running total of donations received and funds disbursed. Additionally, our annually audited and published accounts will show that 100% of donations received actually go towards supporting Africa and Africans. Our company's income will be derived from merchandise online and from other online activities."

We now list below SEED's personnel.

Geeza

Godwin Graham aka Geeza - founder and CEO

Geeza holds an Hons degree in Computer Science and has worked in the computing field in various capacities since the mid-1980's.

Geeza worked for a year as a junior reasearcher in the Human-Computer Interface Research Unit at Leicester Polytechnic (now the DeMontfort University) in the UK, but since then his professional career has been as a lecturer and as a freelance software developer. But despite his involvement in the computing industry, Geeza considers himself to mainly be a community activist. Among other things, such activism led him to:

Establish the Raddle Computer Training Centre which provided free training to unemployed youngsters from a specific inner-city area of Leicester. This was a government-backed initiative in response to a series of nationwide rioting in Black Communities in Britain during the 1980’s. While he was providing training at Raddle, he was also very engaged in the activities of Leicester's Black community. For example:
He was instrumental in establishing the Leicester African-Caribbean Business Association (LACBA) and was the association’s first public relations officer
He was the longest-serving founding member of Talking Blues - which was a weekly two-hourlong African-Caribbean magazine program on BBC Radio Leicester
At one point, he was the chairperson of Raddle Bookshop and Resource Centre which provided to the public and to universities, books and artefacts relating to Black history and culture
At another point, he was elected joint-chairperson of Leicester's Black History Consortium
But the period of his life which Geeza found most fulfilling, was eighteen months spent in Vryburg in South Africa as a volunteer between 1999 and 2000. During this period Geeza provided residential computer training to groups from the two small towns of Ganyesa and Kuruman. Alongside this, he also trained three individual members of South Africa's Ex-Combatant Association to be trainers who would then take over the training when Geeza would eventually leave. It was his time in Vryburg and the reactions of people in the region, that made him realize and understand how much it means to Africans on the continent to see Black people from the west helping Africa. This realization has lived with him for the past twenty-five years and, as he now sees it, "there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come".

Robert

Robert Lee - Director

Like Geeza, Robert has worked in many areas during his illustrious career. In fact, he was the other co-chairperson of Leicester's Black History Consortium along with Geeza. Yes, Black History is one of Robert's greatest passions.

Another of his passions is teaching young people. He has been a university lecturer, but most recently he has worked as a supply teacher, and the way he engages with his students means that when his contract comes to an end, staff and students usually don't want him to leave. But so far, his greatest impact - though not widely known - has been on Reggae music.

Being a qualified graphic designer, Robert joined the Reggae Sunsplash outfit at its inception to provide stage decor and lighting. But his sharp business acumen told him that Reggae Sunsplash should not simply be a one-week tourist attraction in Jamaica, but could be a global event that would take Reggae around the world. He eventually convinced the board that this was a good and profitable idea and so he was charged with making it happen.

So starting in London in 1984, Robert would subsequently take Sunsplash to USA; Japan; Canada; Europe; South America; and the Far East. Having direct contact with all the top Reggae artistes in Jamaica and the rest of the world, he ended up managing some of them including his long-time bosom friend, Freddie McGregor. Even very recently, Chaka Demus and Pliers have called upon Robert to organize a tour for the duo.

With such a huge catalogue of Reggae artistes, Robert is in a position to bring many to SEED's calling.

Geeza Abel Graham - Director

Abel is a filmmaker, content strategist, and a designer with a passion for storytelling, branding, and digital media. As the creator of Wagwarn Abel - a dynamic YouTube interview series, he brings a sharp creative eye and a deep understanding of audience engagement.

Abel designed SEED for Africa’s first line of T-shirts, contributing to the organization’s merchandise and branding efforts. [We hope other T-Shirt designers will join us on a freelance basis].

With his background in video production and creative strategy, Abel is well-positioned to help shape SEED’s digital and media presence as it grows. His long-term focus is on leveraging media to amplify voices, build strong narratives, and connect communities globally.

Nancy

Njoki Chege - Comms and PR

In 2023 Geeza met Njoki at her place of work in Nairobi where she is a Healthcare Administrator. He was immediately impressed by her very thoughtful and people-friendly nature, and so they have kept in touch ever since.

From their subsequent WhatsApp communications, Geeza became further impressed by her focussed and positive outlook on Life, and he became equally impressed by her verbal and writing eloquence. Her obvious readiness to take on new challenges meant that Geeza didn't need to ask her if she would want to join SEED. That was taken as a given.

So, alongside her present job, Njoki will now handle all our external communications on a part-time basis.

Geeza

Idris Omar - East African Coordinator

Idris resides in coastal Voi in Kenya where he is a conservationist, politician, activist and a passionate philanthropist.

With a deep commitment to social causes, Idris dedicates himself to volunteering and advocating for positive change. One of his volunteering roles is to serve as the president of Maungu All Stars Football Club, which fosters community spirit through sports.

As the CEO of Save Our Environment (SOE) - which is a Community Based Organization - he leads initiatives focused on environmental conservation and climate action. A dynamic freelance influencer and climate champion, Idris is determined to create lasting impacts through his multifaceted leadership and dedication to sustainable development. SOE's aims include:

Promoting environmental and wildlife conservation activities including tree planting and preservation of natural resources.
Encouraging and supporting youths to establish tree nurseries to raise seedlings for sale as income generating projects. The youths are also trained on tree management practices and record-keeping regarding the income generated from the sale of tree seedlings.
Collection and disposal of waste or 3Rs - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle – particularly on the Nairobi-Mombasa highway and other densely populated areas.
Creating public awareness of the urgent need for us to educate each other about the consequences of environmental pollution and degradation. This calls for environmentally sustainable methods to minimize multiple forms of emissions, such as eliminating waste; saving electricity; limiting the unnecessary usage of fertilizers; pesticides; etc.
Improving oversight and protection of the environment, including wildlife; the indigenous forests; and water catchment areas. Such oversight and protection will mitigate against climate change, which is a major cause of poverty.
To educate the community on social economic and life skills activities.

When Idris became aware of SEED for Africa, he saw a natural overlap between SEO and SEED and was therefore keen to play a part in our initiative. So, in November 2024 he invited Geeza to Voi where they did a joint interview on Citizen TV. You can watch the interview here.

Idris will now coordinate and manage SEED's activities in the seven member states of the East African Community (EAC). These are: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania.

DonDada DonDada - Southern Africa Coordinator

Ever since his first trip to South Africa in 1994, Geeza has always been welcomed to stay with the Gibbons family whenever he is in Jo'burg, and so he has known Menelik from when he was a child. Up until today, Menelik still refers to Geeza as 'Uncle', so Geeza can tell the world that he knows DonDada to be a respectful and a very disciplined youth.

It is therefore a great joy for Geeza to witness DonDada become a multiplatinum recording artiste; the first South African to be signed as a Reggae artiste to Tuff Gong International Distribution; a successful entrepreneur; and an online broadcaster who avidly advocates for social justice.

As part of his engagement with social activism, DonDada is passionate about contributing to the African Millennium Goals, and works with the Johannesburg Moral Regeneration Movement by having conversations at schools where he addresses social ills, and encourages youths to attain high academic qualifications and to develop exemplary moral principles.

Menelik is keen to play a significant role in SEED for Africa's agenda by being our co-ordinator in Africa's SADC region. We are now looking forward to DonDada lending his voice, in more ways than one, to this movement. This movement which aims to energize and accelerate Africa's empowerment and economic development for the benefit of Africa and Africans and, ultimately, for all mankind.

Final Note Regarding the Way We Operate

At the moment our team has only six core members and, apart from Geeza, each has other commitments. So, while we desire to see African countries and communities develop economically and positively without reliance on western aid, we do not intend, nor do we have the capacity, to implement programs that could achieve these long-term objectives. Instead, we will be a Black-run centralized organ through which high profile agencies and individuals can channel support for Africa and Africans. We will disperse those funds to bodies and individuals who meet our vetting criteria.

Please email us if you would like to request our support, and we will respond with details of the our support procedures.

In addition to the six core members mentioned above, we want to acknowledge another four individuals who have been supportive in one way or another throughout our development and will almost certainly become more actively engaged in the near future. In no particular order, they are:

Steven Golding - Broadcaster and UNIA President in Jamaica
Selwyn Brown - Original Member of Steel Pulse
Lumba Sabhuza - Sound Engineer and Sound System Operator in Birmingham UK
Dennis 'Sugar' Christopher - Entrepreneur and Community Activist in Leicester UK

You can click here for a little more detail about each of the individuals listed above.

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