The one area where Africans have caught up to the rest of the world is guns: They don't have any modern buildings yet, but they've figured out how to attach a rocket launcher to the side of a truck. This is only natural, since half the continent's population consists of corrupt soldiers.
Contrary to popular belief, Africa's chief export is not lead.
Congo, Black Hawk Down, Blood Diamond, Hotel Rwanda ... all these movies spend the whole time telling us that Africa is scenically beautiful, but terrible in every other way.
So What's the Deal?
In the same way that Hollywood needs to dumb down a novel to turn it into a hit film, they also dumb down Africa's reality, because they assume that you'd be bored by a realistic portrayal of the continent (or you simply wouldn't believe it). They do have things like poverty and corruption and giraffes in Africa, but they also have universities and industries and modern cities, like Nairobi:
Mutua Matheka, Africa is a Country
Every building is made out of rocket launchers.
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