Callie was taught that “people in Africa are poor” and “people in Africa don’t usually wear shoes”. She learned an “African” folksong, but when I asked the teachers what language it was in they had no idea; it was simply “African”. Can you imagine lumping all French, Polish, Greek, Serbian and Danish cultures together as “European”, making no distinction between them?

I’ve also noticed that when talking about Africa, there is a disproportionate focus on wildlife rather than human culture. Callie’s workbooks, and our Dorling Kindersley encyclopedia both have many more pictures of African animals than African people.

Last week, when the Chinese government hosted a trade summit of African leaders in Beijing, billboards featured elephants and giraffes roaming the savanna, and welcomed representatives from “the land of myth and miracles”. Perhaps the summit would have been more successful had the organizers recognized that Africa is also a land of human beings.