Creative thinking for me is an important element of thinking, because well for one to be ‘creative’, one has to involve some level of knowledge, critique and raison d’etre into his/her work. Agreed. But how do we get people to think creatively? How do people know that they are able to think creatively?
I look back on my educational background in Nigeria, and yes we did some learning, some thinking – mostly critical though, not a space to ‘brainstorm’ and let your thoughts run wild and seeing how things go. I learnt that in an altogether different environment, and I am still learning this.
How does this even have to do with Africa? What is the relationship? Well, yes we know there are many issues in Africa. You need only spend a day watching T.V. (not something I do very often, thankfully) and see the many appeals for Africa. But maybe we are all looking at things from the wrong angle, the wrong perspective. Perhaps we need to get a bit creative and brainstorm. Draw mind maps and throw ideas around for ways that we can all get involved with our desire for a better continent.
How do we do that? I leave that to you. One suggestion: it can be an individual brainstorming session, or one with friends, or with colleagues. Just be prepared to let the ideas run with the session. Do not discard anything until it has been considered and then share these with a platform (for example, CREATIV), and together, we can find ways to implement these ideas. But with no ideas to start from, we cannot implement.
Adun