In the 1950s, Harvard researcher Dr. Curt Richter conducted a fascinating experiment: rats placed in a pool of water gave up after an average of 15 minutes, unable to continue. But when the researchers took them out for a moment, dried them, and placed them back in the water, the same rats could last for... 60 hours.

The difference? The hope of being saved.

This experience, beyond animal science, offers a profound lesson for us Africans. For our continent has been experiencing decades of turbulence—political, economic, social—that could have, on many occasions, made us "give up." But like these rats, every time a glimmer of hope presents itself, we push the limits of our resilience.

A youth between exhaustion and hope

Today, African youth are in that critical "15-minute" zone: facing massive unemployment, forced emigration, security crises, corruption, and precariousness. Many believe the fight is already lost.

Yet, with every election, every technological innovation, every successful startup, every citizen mobilization, a new breath of fresh air is breathed in. This breath of fresh air is the conviction that things can change, that tomorrow can be better.

Africa has been swimming longer than we think

The history of our societies proves it: despite slavery, colonization, post-independence crises, civil wars, epidemics and today climate challenges, Africa has never stopped recovering.

Like Richter's rats, our people know how to find in hope and faith in a possible future the strength to "swim" well beyond physical and psychological limits.

A call to African youth

The real question is not, "How much longer can we hold out?"

But rather: “What are we going to do with this extraordinary capacity for resilience?”

Because Africa must not be content with merely surviving. It must transform this energy into a continental project: building prosperous, sovereign, technologically advanced, and culturally strong nations.

Dear young people, never underestimate the power of hope. As in the Harvard experiment, it can push back the boundaries of the impossible. But hope alone is not enough: it must be nurtured by education, organization, entrepreneurship, political and civic engagement.

So, even if the world thinks you're out of breath, keep swimming. Because the continent's future depends on your endurance and your belief that Africa can and must succeed.