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Who gets to be called a hero? From freedom fighters to activists and social media personalities, we meet Africans who have changed lives and shaped the course of history.
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00:04what does it mean to be an african hero is it fighting for freedom speaking up for change or
00:10simply showing courage when nobody is watching and here's the question we want to answer today
00:16who gets to be called a hero and what does their courage actually cost but we are also going to
00:21look at what their choices can teach us today and together we'll find out who they are my name is
00:27and i am rachel duati who is africa's greatest hero lumumba mandela or someone else here are the
00:40candidates up first we have patrice lumumba the first prime minister of congo and a man who stood
00:46toe to toe with colonial powers the man who dreamed of a truly independent africa but got assassinated
00:52just few months after taking power the next candidate is none other than nelson mandela
00:5827 years behind bars but walked out of prison and into history becoming south africa's first black
01:04president and a global icon of freedom the third challenger kwame nkrumah he led ghana into
01:11independence in 1957 making it the first sub-saharan african country to break free from colonial rule
01:17he championed pan-african unity and inspired independence movements across the continent
01:22stepping up next elin joseph salib africa's first democratically elected female president
01:29she took on the challenge of rebuilding liberia after years of civil war and became a symbol of
01:35women's leadership in the process and finally julio sinierere tanzania's founding president who
01:42promoted african unity and created the vision of ujama a socialist model built around community
01:50five contenders five legends five very different paths to greatness only one question remains who
01:57is africa's greatest hero
02:01sk there that's just one of the hero stories we'll look at today because we have some more yeah and
02:07by
02:07the way guys we originally published a different version of that real on social media but you were
02:12really quick to point out that we left out kwame nkuruma and who doesn't know kwame nkuruma
02:17so thanks so much for double checking our content because we make sure to note your feedback in the
02:23best way possible yeah and you know like rachel there's something about fighting for a freedom you may
02:28never live to see but one thing about those people we've just seen is that they were able to change
02:34the course for africa to a certain degree for sure but you know heroes are also very subjective so
02:40my hero could be your villain for sure yeah and especially you know in that report we also talked
02:44about ellen johnson surliff but didn't she also face some criticism regarding you know nepotism and
02:51corruption yeah there's also that but i also believe that there's something about these people that we can
02:56definitely pick on you know it's the case for a lot of different heroes as well even in our countries
03:01we all have our national heroes in kenya we have like very big freedom fighters especially people who
03:07helped in the liberation struggle we have um dead and kimathi who was a field marshal who was
03:11apparently called a terrorist by the british but then um after we revisited history we realized that
03:17this guy was actually a hero he was an unsung hero but the problem is when it comes to heroes
03:22right
03:23sometimes women are not recognized because even in history books women did play a part but they were
03:28not mentioned in this case that's something that always comes up for example we had the likes of
03:32florence mahoney even in nigeria fumilai oran somkuti you know those are also stories that need
03:38to be told frequently and i think at the end of the day as well some of these people who
03:43are heroes
03:44end up sometimes also becoming dictators so you can never give a man power and he will show you the
03:50kind of person he is yeah which is why i'm thinking rachel are we looking too far maybe heroes i
03:55think so
03:55those are those in our communities as well yeah for sure and that is why okeri prepared a very
04:01beautiful and lovely piece let's see how it turned out when you hear the word hero who comes to mind
04:07maybe it's a football legend your favorite musician or maybe it's someone whose videos you secretly watch
04:13instead of studying for an exam heroes aren't just found in history books today they're on our phones
04:18our screens and even in our communities and our very survival as a species is brought into practice
04:24take fatu jeng from the gambia she's become one of africa's leading youth climate activists inspiring
04:30action on climate change and earning recognition as one of forbes africa's 30 under 30 leaders
04:37or trefina muthoni who made history in 2025 by hugging a tree for 72 hours without food or water
04:44trefina believes in the healing power of nature and the importance of preserving it for future generations
04:50but heroes don't always stand behind a podium some connect with millions through social media
04:57kabilame became the most followed creator on tiktok without saying one single word and when it comes
05:03to travel content ghanian youtuber warden meyer and nigerian filmmaker tayo oyena use the platform to
05:08tell positive african stories what is beautiful others inspire through advocacy and education
05:15zimbabwean british activist v kativu is helping others pursue education and dream bigger proving
05:21that one voice can encourage thousands of others to aim higher and of course many young people still
05:26find heroes in sport and entertainment whether it's davido feeling stadiums mohammed salah lighting up
05:33football pitches or eliot kipchoge showing the world that human limits are just often suggestions as for me
05:39i'd have to pick kasta samanya the two-time south african olympic champion has transitioned from an
05:44athlete into a prominent international activist advocating for women and athletes with differences
05:49of sex development also known as dst so fatu and rachel what do you think makes a hero today
05:57yeah so a lot of people there who have been you know davido's there putting somebody on the map yeah
06:03um but i also saw kipchoge you know and i am a runner because i'm kenyan wait stop it
06:11don't even try it run away this guy he's the goats i've been following him since like i was a
06:21kid
06:21even i've been following him and i'm not even kenyan yeah yeah but the thing is you know he has
06:28managed to do so many things for so many people inspired so many kenyans to pick up running people
06:33who had no interest in running and he has this sort of like humility in him that he sort of
06:39has this
06:39persona that makes people actually really admire him and you know i read somewhere that heroes became
06:45important when stories stopped focusing on gods and instead on ordinary people but now we say you
06:51know social media does the opposite and everyone now wants to show you know everyone now wants to show
06:56you know this is what i'm doing oh you see somebody going to a very poor country giving people money
07:00and
07:01being like yeah recording it recording and that's for me sometimes it's also like you know this is
07:05not the version of a hero is somebody who you know we see they're doing the course but it doesn't
07:10come
07:10you know to them like this limelight doesn't always come to them and i think those people that have been
07:15mentioned on that report they're really heroes khabi lame oh khabi lame the influencer and to be honest i i
07:21am not surprised if a young person says khabi lame is their hero for example like you remember growing up
07:27we
07:27had the community it was just people in a community there was nothing like you know social media now
07:33we have people on their phone like kids don't even go to the next door neighbor because they are on
07:37social media the algorithm has altered reality so the people you see often they actually become the
07:44reality now these are people you find to be familiar so sometimes the hero doesn't have to be a stranger
07:50for sure sometimes it's somebody you know or somebody you also like have been looking up to in your
07:55screen um and also you know some true heroes are not the ones who are in big platforms but they're
08:00the ones no one even sees and perhaps ayo from nigeria has something from lagos let's hear it over to
08:09you ayo thank you fatu thank you rachel you know when we speak about heroes many people think of
08:15celebrities or historical figures but the honest truth is not all heroes wear cape so ultra do you have any
08:22hero in your life my heroes are my parents and why are they your heroes because they always provide
08:28for me they're always there when i need them i'll say my mom my mom of course because that woman
08:35has
08:35been through so much and the fact that she's still standing strong for her and my siblings i would say
08:40it is beyond like what i can say because she's just my room she's supportive and you know she's done
08:47love for me man she has sacrificed a lot of things for me man so like i just feel like
08:53i owe it to her
08:54firstly god well i i give all the accolades to myself like yes i'm a hero i'm my own superhero
09:03because surviving all those hard times is not it's not easy i have had to do life myself
09:09and so with like experiences and you know going into the world without so much knowledge about it
09:17i've had to build resilience and depend on myself flash is my story because i grew up watching cartoon
09:26characters like spider-man for mine but particularly flash has been able to inspire me my superhero is a
09:33former director in my former place of work she wrote me my first check which uh it was the first
09:39external
09:39support i was getting beyond my family so it played uh a significant role in the achievement of my
09:45academic uh success and uh to general achievement in life wow that's so impressive so back to you fatu
09:52and rachel hey thank you ayo but yeah so many people were mentioned there um including mothers
10:00spider-man you know i used to say everyone wants to be yeah spider-man but no one wants to
10:07be peter
10:07parker and i think the reason why i said this is because also is the man behind yeah the man
10:12behind
10:12the mask and there's also a reason why heroes have secret identities because i feel that when
10:17they take that mask out yeah then the glory comes in and that's what exactly you said but there's also
10:23you know heroes who don't have armies they're not in banknotes they're just this everyday normal
10:29people yeah like mothers you know and for some people that's a hero for them even like the the people
10:34who are behind heroes like nelson mandela for example can you imagine nelson mandela's professor
10:39if the professor would have decided okay this child is so like such a nuisance nelson mandela would not
10:45have become the man he is today and i think the people who are in the background also really count
10:51as heroes yeah no i like that perspective actually i mean what we've heard just solidifies the statement
10:57that a hero is different for everyone for sure there are those that are heroes considered heroes by
11:02virtue of the power they hold and they are those who are just being heroic in service and for some
11:07they're just heroes in your life because of the role that they play in your life the presence that
11:11they have in your life like your mother someone said in the gambia you know we grew up having this
11:17one auntie in the neighborhood who would there's always that one auntie who would constantly tell the
11:22kids to look up to some that person in the community who is leading a selfless service or just being
11:27a
11:27good student at school and the kids could go to this person for cancelling but why do i do it
11:31like
11:32this because even in kenya there's always that one yes so they're like the role model that they're
11:36looking for you in the community and the kids could go to that person look up to the person for
11:41advice
11:41and cancelling and so i think it's very very you know different for everyone clearly but the thing
11:47about comic heroes really caught my attention because who doesn't know batman oh my god this is my
11:53childhood i used to have like a stack of comic books you know african kids have been looking
11:58up to comic heroes and who doesn't love this yeah let's take a look here lagos there is a new
12:05kind
12:05of superhero in town they are battling mystic forces supernatural powers and threats from worlds beyond
12:11our own but these aren't just any kind of hero they are proudly african created to tell stories that feel
12:20a little closer to home a superhero is someone who uses their abilities to help others protect people
12:27and stand for what is right they don't necessarily have to have superpowers what makes someone a hero
12:33is their courage and their willingness to help others irrespective of how they feel or whatever
12:38time of the day it is founded in 2015 comic republic set out to create comics for african audiences using
12:46characters from a galaxy not so far away one of their most popular characters is garden prime by day
12:53he's tundi jayi an ordinary nigerian but he's also known as the fifth element a near perfect being
13:00created in god's image and tasked with protecting humanity our ideas come from african culture history
13:08mythology everyday life and our of course your own imaginations we take things we know and experience
13:16and turn them into exciting superhero stories but many superheroes don't get all the attention comic
13:23republic has also created powerful female heroes like ireti a warrior whose story draws on african
13:29strength resilience and heritage for the creators here representation is a superpower in its own right so we
13:37need african heroes because i mean representation matters african children should be able to see
13:42heroes who look like them and come from cultures they understand we also need to tell our own stories
13:49and show the world the richness of african culture and creativity so now that you have met the superheroes
13:59of comic republic the question is which one would you choose to serve the world with or maybe the real
14:05lesson is that heroism isn't limited to comic books as comic republic founder jide martin likes to say
14:12you know we see our african comics we see our characters as a bridge between africa and the world
14:19in general we can all be heroes and you don't have to have superpowers to do good that's what our
14:25comics say
14:29yeah representation clearly matters really really showing the right examples to african kids like
14:36showing them african characters whether it's in you know the comic series whether it's in the
14:40animation they watch in the children's book they need to see themselves reflected in these stories for
14:45sure in kenya for example we had a very famous comic book and this comic book was called super
14:50strikers and if you mentioned this in kenya if you it's not fancy but if you mention this in kenya
14:57in south africa in namibia i'm sure people know like east southern africa this was a very big thing
15:02when we were growing up and the thing was that the the comic was centered on you know a super
15:07african
15:07team that is playing football and everyone wanted to be and there was this comic character who was
15:12called shakes mckenna and you know everyone wanted to be like shakes mckenna this was the hero of our
15:18you know the way people watch um or read comic books this was our own you know person who we
15:23affiliated with yeah and i think there's something that really is interesting especially when it comes
15:29to representation and when you see somebody who looks like you and instead of looking at you know
15:33every time the hollywood hollywood hollywood because that's what african countries have
15:38always been consuming at least now we have our own you know people who at the end of the day
15:42sort
15:42help us to see like all these things yeah no clearly i agree with that point and the last statement
15:48he
15:48made there about you don't have to be a superhero to be a hero i think it's very interesting i
15:53mean we
15:53all like the idea of kids wearing you know the spider-man costume for example and wanting to be
15:59spider-man you know doing all of the things and now you have comic doing something that they can
16:03even relate to you know at a local level but at the end of the day all these comic heroes
16:08also have
16:09their challenge like you said they're not perfect when peter takes off the mask yeah it's a different
16:13thing so i'm there and saying that do you have to be perfect to be a hero you don't have
16:19to be and
16:20that's the lesson that i learned from this you don't have to be perfect to be a hero because if
16:24we
16:24want to say heroes have to be perfect i think that also sets an unrealistic standard but it's also the
16:29thing that people sort of tend to put heroes on a pedestal yeah where they expect them to have
16:35this sort of perfection this you know idea that that's why i told you they have a mask every single
16:40time and you know like when we were growing we were told humans are sinners right so it's clear that
16:46human beings cannot be perfect but what can happen is despite your flaws despite your imperfections
16:52despite being vulnerable you can still choose to do the right thing and i think that is what makes
16:58people different yeah doing the right thing for your sake but for the sake of others around you
17:02100 you know but let's bring it home let's bring it home because you and favor have been up to
17:08something yes favor and i we were in ghana and you're going to see this video favor is obviously the
17:1577 reporter and she's based in nigeria and we're doing a project called science unlocked yeah um and
17:21sometimes i'm always just there behind the scenes seeing what favor is doing and this time you know we
17:25i decided to crash the trip it's number science unlocked is basically this incredible interesting
17:34show where we explain huge and very gigantic scientific concept and we try to bring them down for
17:44anyone and everyone to be able to understand so what would you say is your crazy shared experience i
17:49will say the care project gonna have some fish oh wait but this boat is really bending but yeah we
17:58can see some fish it's so funny because now we're dipping our legs into the pool and this project had
18:04to do with water we were on a lake in a very tiny boat i was terrified i thought i
18:11wasn't gonna make it
18:14this guy i kept looking at rachel because i was wondering how we should i was like calm down come
18:19down i think right now i i will be a good i would be a good birth coach what is
18:26that birth coach where
18:27they help with like breathing okay like i think i would do a really good job to teach someone how
18:33to
18:33breathe because i've been breathing ever since ever since science unlocked started this is a lot of muscle
18:40work who would you consider is your utmost biggest hero my hero will be patrick now patrick was
18:49one of the researchers that we followed learning about the tipping point and it was a big challenge
18:57for him because he's such an academic it was really difficult for him to break down this huge concept into
19:03something that we could understand and into something that you could understand um and for this
19:10particular scene it was supposed to take about 30 30 minutes it ended up taking about two to three
19:16hours because it was really difficult for patrick to you know break it down but i really loved that he
19:23he took his time even though we did this take like a million times he wasn't tired he was still
19:29energetic
19:29i really love that well done patrick but yeah so looking forward to the next project of course of
19:35science and locks yes back to you in studio of course i'm going to be there at the 77 show
19:40bye fatu
19:43yes i have successfully snatched you back in the studio but you know honestly i'm from the river
19:49gambia and i can tell you this i i don't like entering the canoe or a boat it has to
19:54be a ferry or i
19:55take the six hour journey but the water is so nice lake victoria it's lake victoria i mean you did
20:01you
20:01not say your team beach yeah i like it i can just be by the beach that's fine but i
20:06will not enter with
20:07a canoe it's frightening so i get favors point what do you usually encounter during the science or lock
20:13production like what are the kind of things the things i've seen the things i've seen favor will come
20:17for me but um sometimes we um talk to people who are doing massive incredible research um physicists
20:25astronomers like astronauts are you a science nerd because i am a nerd and you know this
20:30i love reading well i was i was a good biology student i'm not sure about the rest next time
20:36we're talking to a mathematician so you know it's all this nerdy if you're into science kind of things
20:41yeah and of course you can follow our science unlock series on social media it's all on youtube
20:47so go there and see what favor and rachel have been up to for sure but we've been talking about
20:52all kinds of heroes from politicians the strong men and women to the activists influencers and just
20:58everyday people but there are others who are fighting special battles and in the 77 we have
21:03our teen reporter on girls off mute she's gladys you know despite being visually impaired
21:08she is shattering boundaries for herself using her talent and just encouraging more people beyond
21:14borders yeah it's a very beautiful story by the way and last year she even performed you know the
21:19librarian national anthem at the expo in japan and i even saw a video here maybe i can play
21:31you know what gladys what do you have for us that is amazing hello i'm gladys and this is my
21:39first
21:39report for the girls off news from my country liberia
21:47i am going to show you how liberia's education policy makes it possible for students who are visually
21:54impaired to learn alongside students who can see what's really went through your mind when you had
22:02the chance to welcome a student with disability in your class firstly i sat and thought like how is he
22:12or
22:13she going to write their notes get their assignment done to their test or write their test and their
22:20quizzes it was shocking to me to see a blind student or disability student sitting with me because i've
22:27never sat there with one before going viral changed everything gladys is making waves far beyond liberia
22:36but her story started long before the world discovered her voice she grew up in a small liberian
22:42village where as a blind girl her future felt flows off no school no opportunities i actually dream of
22:49of coming to school that that was one of the things i worried about when i was in the village
22:56when i saw my
22:57my siblings going to school learning and i would just be at home playing and her passion for music
23:06it follows her everywhere even to school where it's helping her build friendships
23:11and she entered they brought her and she said can you sing for me and as long as she said
23:16he's my
23:17friend and music is connecting the both of us because she likes someone who have a good voice she's
23:22on the scholarship i have the kids she can make impact in people's life these days gladys also writes her
23:31moderation scripts in braille as a teen reporter for dw's girls off mute how has it been for you sitting
23:37in
23:38class with students who are visually impaired yeah i've had a good time with blind students they're
23:44so nice a lot of kids don't really hang out with them because like these days kids there are like
23:49want to be cool or hang out with other kids like blind kids are actually really nice gladys is more
23:57than just a singer or teen reporter she's become a voice for blind kids across liberia and beyond
24:02proving that talent and dreams don't need sight to shine if gladys can do this anyone can do this
24:11yeah if gladys can do this you don't have an excuse get out of your bed yeah for sure it's
24:17a very
24:17inspiring story and you know like people who are you know able differently or disabled um sort of have
24:23this uh economic exclusion when it comes to the job market they have maybe not adequate infrastructure but
24:29this is a story yeah even social even the friend there said that you know it's really difficult
24:34for her to make friends but you know community behind her the people who are behind her really
24:40really supportive yeah gladys is like the hero in her story but her community yeah those people are
24:46also heroes yeah and that's what this is all about everyday people you and i yeah and all of us
24:52but
24:53that's why we also asked you on social media right yes think about this yeah we asked you what makes
24:58a
24:58true hero in africa today and majority of you actually said that it's courage in the face of
25:05adversity i mean save yourself instead of waiting for a hero to do so because who's gonna save you
25:12yeah really needing a hero should not be the reason why you don't do a good thing like start from
25:19where
25:19you are be the change you want to see yeah and also you know sometimes people are always waiting for
25:24heroes but you know you can always be a hero on your own so keep going and stay being your
25:29own hero
25:30thank you so much for watching it's been great having you with us on the show but you know what
25:35go on our social media and tell us about an unsung hero today someone who is simply doing
25:40the right thing let's continue the conversation there i am fateli kamulushi and i am rachel ndwadi until
25:46next time let's see us later bye bye
25:51always
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