|PIC1|For some it was Aretha Franklin’s singing. For others it was seeing the two girls Sasha and Malia in their smart winter coats. While for others it was just the fact that, for the first time in the history of the United States, a black man is now President.

People who feel Washington is too far away from them now believe the world is changing – big time. With the local boy in the White House it seems that, for a moment, anything is now possible. ‘Yes we can!’

I’m talking, of course, about the people of Africa.

Why? Because the election of Barack Obama as the leader of the free world is as much about the changing face of Africa as it is about America.

From the Kenyan village where his family came from to the streets of Africa’s largest cities, they have every reason to party. Africa has made it to the highest office in the world. As Martin Luther King said. ‘Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last.’

History will record that slaves from Africa built much of the United States. They built its cotton-picking agriculture, its industrial economy and its grand buildings, even the one outside which Obama was sworn in on 20 January.

African-Americans have risen through the ranks of society across the United States. And they have brought with them their colour, music and spirituality. Gospel, soul, rhythm-and-blues and a whole lot else besides. Aretha Franklin, we love your passion.

Even in the realms of religion, Africa is rising fast. Due to disputes in parts of the church many American Christians now look to the leadership of African bishops thousands of miles away. God must have a sense of humour, as some of the richest people on earth are pastored by some of the poorest.

2009 sees the end of the first decade of the new millennium. Who’s to say that the second will not belong to Africa? It’s already given us the two most inspiring figures of our generation in Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. From my visits there I know there’s more where they came from.

Rich in natural resources, strong in its soul and spirit and now with feet under the desk at the White House, this is the age of Africa.

James Catford is Chief Executive of Bible Society. E-mail him at james.catford@biblesociety.org.uk