Beyond Southward Borders

African People-Gifts Beyond Geographic Locations

People Gifts – Part 4

Every person and/or group of people God created, He made them a masterpiece. He gave each group of people 1) the ability to adapt and 2) the ability to adapt their gifts. There are a couple terms we commonly use to describe this, one is growth (or progress) and the other is evolution (or to evolve). Regardless, of the terms we choose to use, the fact still remains that there are gifted groups of people. The question is have you recognized the gifts found in those people? In this installment, we focus on the gift found in those who we consider a part of the “southward” group.

When we apply the concept of “beyond borders” to this “southward” group, it makes one wonder what region of the world this group is found in? Let’s take a moment to describe or review this “southward” direction. As we know and continue to unpack this idea of people group, you may have already guessed that this southward group of people are those represented in Africa. Don’t allow our normal thoughts or narrow thinking of Africa to minimize what Africa represents. It’s easy to mistake Africa as a small country, but Africa is a huge continent. It’s the second largest, depending on how you identify continents.

Regardless, Africa, better stated “southward” extends from “The Middle East” throughout all of the continent of Africa. What most of us don’t know is how to answer this next question. Is the Middle East a part of Africa? It’s funny that this is even a question which goes to show us how problematic it is when people try to group God’s people without God’s help. In fact, when you research the Middle East, you’ll find two answers; they say it’s transcontinental. Some say it’s considered Asia while others say it’s Africa. For our purposes, it doesn’t matter all that much because it proves the point we wish to make anyway. The middle east borders two people-groups (southward and eastward) that have blended together. We will share more about that momentarily.

Nonetheless, this installment has very little to do with the geography, but more to do with the people who exist in these areas. Again allow me to apologize before I continue. This topic can be very sensitive and because we lack the appropriate wording, descriptors, and terminology it can easily create offenses. If you would please forgive us in advance, we have no intention of insulting or offending anyone, nor to bring negative light on any of God’s people groups. With that said, when you hear Africa, what are your thoughts? I call this the elephant in the room. You obviously think of “black” people or “people of color.” The common belief is that anyone from Africa is “black.” In other words, all Africans are “black.” When thinking of Africa with limitations, one can be distracted by the obvious and miss the gifts that are so present in front of you. This group of people like any other has an array of defining characteristics like any other. While limited thinking is the norm, it’s not that simple to classify people who live in these areas in this way. Before we go there, allow me to share with you something very unique about these areas that include the continent of Africa and much of the areas we know of as the Middle East. These areas are what we refer to as “southward.”

Extremists
There’s a popular movement called minimalism. It means to make things simple, by reducing your lifestyle down to fewer possessions. What I’ve discovered in studying God’s people, specifically the “southward” people group, is that this group is not minimalistic in nature, but the opposite, maximalist or extremists. In fact, one the gifts that this group brings to the world is that of extremism, if I may call it that. Not extremist from a negative connotation. People in this group have an innate desire to make whatever they touch go beyond current norms. For example, this group of people are the most religious. They take the basic religious beliefs, rituals, routines to new levels. You can see this in the religious customs as well as how beliefs drive this group to give their life to a cause. This group does the same with foods, fashion, athleticism and the list goes on and on. This southward group has access to the most abundant resources on the planet. You name it, when this “southward” people-group puts its hands on it, it becomes much more.

The “southward” people-group is gifted in taking what others have given them to the next level. Did you know that the great pyramids are found in Africa? These extreme engineering feats are still studied to this day. Speaking of Egypt, most often we think of the children of Israel as being so different from the people in Egypt that they were of a different race of people. The truth is, they were one and the same as it relates to the people-group they represented. They were both people of this “southward” people group. Let me not continue down that path for we have more to cover. The point is, the Egyptians together with the Israelites, the “southward” people-group used their gift as extremism in engineering, which is still studied and marveled to this day.

Wealth and Resources
For people who have wealth and abundance, the things that are plentiful are not as precious to such people. Because the “southward” people have such availability to what the rest of the world would classify as wealth and resources, such things aren’t viewed in the same way by this group. For example, in a place that has an abundant supply of water, water isn’t as precious when compared to a place without it. This is what makes them appear even more extreme. People in this group will use what’s rare and extravagant in ways that other people-groups would treat as if it were not common. This is very important in understanding this “southward” people-group. They have abundance that the other people-group don’t have which gives this group wealth and resources.

Resilience
One additional gift that this group has that I’d like to point out can be illustrated with a historical account that we are all familiar with. Let’s go back to Egypt during the time of Moses. The “southward” group of people who were descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph and so on, moved to Egypt during a time of famine. They remained there for hundreds of years and became very populous in the land. At some point, the Pharaoh was convinced that they would be a threat, so he enslaved the people. He used them as laborers in building. What’s interesting is what happened when Pharaoh intensified their harsh working conditions. He took away their supplies and increased the level of productivity required of them. Instead of not meeting the productivity levels which is what should have been expected, they were successful. They were resilient. This group of people is known for having an ability to overcome even when facing insurmountable odds. In fact, if you study this “southward” group of people, this ability to endure and overcome is a common theme that no other people-group on earth has.

Blended Southward Borders
Now that we’ve identified a couple of the main gifts of this “southward” people-group, I would like to offer a missing dynamic and provide another reason why I find it inappropriate to segment people by locations like the continent of Africa and the Middle East. As you know, the southward migrants have invisible borders with the eastward section and the westward section. Because of this, we have to consider what happens at those borders that have gone unsaid. That brings me to the question I’ve asked of each of the other groups. What does it look like at the borders of the sections?

Have you ever heard of “African-Asians” (eastward border) or “African-Americans” (not the people referred to as “black” in American, but the people at the westward borders)? Again I must state the obvious, most people have not. Most people, in the case of African-American, think of those who are “black” in America and influenced by Europeans. This is not the group that I’m referring to. Instead, we are speaking of people who would have originated on the continent of Africa with no European influences and the people who inhabited the continents of America prior to European (northward people-group) influences. This group is what we are discussing. When speaking of the southward people-group, there is a dominant southward descent that at its borders have been blended by the descent of its bordering people-groups. Therefore, in the southward people-group you have a noticeably diverse group which blends with the Americas on its west boundaries and Asians on its east boundaries.

• African-Asians
  There is an African population who have some degree of Asian descent. African-Asians exist in places like India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, but aren’t just limited to these places. Who would have guessed? In these locations are inhabitants who are mostly African and partially Asian in nature, so to speak. In fact, they have a term for such people, “Blasians.” No joke. As a result, we have two amazing people-groups that have blended together. With such knowledge, our view of the world is becoming totally different.

   

• African-Americans
  In places like the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Brazin, you will find this blending of the people-groups. Many who live in these areas are the product of the southward and westward borders meeting. When we speak of westward, we are speaking of those who are native to the Americas (South, Central and North America). In fact, I’ve discovered that there is a widespread disagreement on who is considered “black” in South America. ^[1] The point still remains that this array of human-being exists and can be found on earth.

The sad truth in studying people-groups is that it is dominated by racially influenced biases such as produced by the slave trade. Many would rather have you believe that the southward people-group’s migration to other areas of the globe did so primarily due to slave trading. However, there is one agreed upon fact about humanity that contradicts this slave-trade theory and that’s the fact that all human-beings came from a single place of origin which began in this southward people-group. In other words, regardless of any other conclusions all the people-groups emerged from one place of origin. And it’s by God’s design that we have such a unique and masterfully crafted world.

I have to say, I am beginning to enjoy these discoveries. As we unpack the relationships between the groups of people, it explains answers to questions we all have wondered and have had no answers for. The invisible boundaries for the southward people-group from east and west show us not only how diverse the world is, but also how it became such an array of beautiful people, cultures, and gifts. When the eastward and southward people-groups joined together, what you find are extraordinary innovations along with vast resources. In fact, at their border exists the three major world religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Just one more example of this group’s gift of extremism when this southward people-group merges with the westward group. The results create something altogether different, but world changing. We will bring you this blend in our next installment.

Question: what new thoughts are you having after discovering more about the people-groups and the gifts they bring to our world?

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[1] Unknown. “Afro-South Americans.” Advameg, Inc. Accessed May 3, 2023
https://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Afro-South-Americans.html#ixzz80Z5XFcUv

All Scripture references used by permission, see our Scripture copyrights.