100 Days, 54 Countries, One Promise

It starts at home

My name is Bertin Vick. I was born in Goma, on the shore of Lake Kivu, in the east of DR Congo. Every morning I see the water, the hills, the motorbikes, and I think the same thought: people outside Africa think this continent is one country, one story, one problem. They are wrong, and I can prove it in 100 days.

So here is the promise. For 100 days, I visit all 54 African countries. In each country I make one real friend, and I learn one word in the local language, and I post one video about it. Every day. No crew, no script, no studio. Three minutes and six seconds, because that is how long my videos have always been.

Why 54 countries

Because 54 is the truth of this continent. Somali in the east, Wolof in the west, Arabic in the north, Portuguese islands in the ocean. We do not agree on everything and that is exactly the point. Africa is not poor and it is not sad. Africa is loud, funny, ambitious, young. Africa is fun na. I say it in every video because it is the most honest sentence I own.

A friend in every country is the hard part, and the part that matters. A friend is not a follower. A friend is someone who shows you their street, their food, their argument. When this is done I will have 54 phone numbers that are not for business. Try that with a studio show.

The name on the road

This project carries the name of Miguel Masaisai. Miguel was a Congolese cyclist. He rode from Goma to South Africa, and on his second attempt, heading for Morocco, he died on the road. He could not finish the crossing, so we finish it for him, the only way the internet allows: every country, no visas, no borders, no obstacles. His name will be known across the whole continent. That is not a slogan. It is a debt.

The rooms

Each country becomes a room. A white room, clean like a gallery, with the national dish on the table under one warm light, the flag waving in the corner, two artworks and two images on the walls, each with its meaning written out, and one proverb, because every African language carries proverbs the way Lake Kivu carries fish. The first room is home: DR Congo. The door is yellow. You will know it.

You can walk the rooms on your phone, on a computer, even in a VR headset if you own one. Or you can read the rooms as text, every dish, every artwork, every credit, in English and in French. Both doors lead to the same Africa.

What I ask of you

Watch one video. If it makes you smile, share it with one person who still thinks Africa is one country. Then come back the next day, because day two is already loading.

Mbote. That is how we say hello where I come from. See you in the first room.