ktravula – a travelogue!

reflections on the world

Browsing the archives for the Travelling category.

Giving a Hand

Sleepy-eyed after a long day, here are a few shots of the day’s work. The site is a private house/ranch, one of the ones that were ravaged by the storm down to the ground. The owner – present to meet with us – is a man of about seventy-five years old.

The task was to demolish what could be demolished, separate planks of wood from roofing sheets that have been crumbled into a pile, and make the compound at least more navigable until the fire department comes around to burn what could be burnt.

Through the hot morning until the eventually cool evening, we moved sheets, broke wood, threw debris, heaved crowbars at dead joints and leveled the initially formidable pile of debris onto the ground. Two torn shirts, one dead pair of gloves, a dirty pair of pants and ten hurting toes later, here I am. We’ve done what we came here for although there is plenty, plenty more to do elsewhere around the town. The work would not end in one day, or even in a year. But for today, one house is set for re-building, almost.

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Giving a Hand was published on June 18th, 2011, with the tags , , , under the adventures, Observations, Travelling category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

Storm Chaser in Joplin

We arrived in Joplin, a town at the southernmost part of Missouri a few miles from the state line, a few hours ago. Here it was where over 200 people were declared dead or lost from the EF-5 tornado of a few weeks ago. I’m in company of two friends, and we have come to join the volunteer efforts of a non-profit organization ServiceInternational.org along with several other volunteers from around the country.

The ride from school to this place took four hours and thirty-five minutes, and it took us virtually through the state itself, covering about 300 miles. We will be here till Sunday helping move debris, giving a hand to US Marine Corps helping with reconstruction, and generally being of help to the numerous folks on the ground helping to get this community back on its feet. It promises to be a satisfying, and learning experience.

I’ll try to post pictures as often as I can, but won’t promise. I will however tweet short observations through my phone as much as I can, so follow me on twitter.Tomorrow will be a long day in the field.

 

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Storm Chaser in Joplin was published on June 18th, 2011, with the tags , , , under the adventures, Observations, Travelling category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

America Tonight (visuals)

As a guest of the S.P.E.A.C (Students/Professors Exploring All Cultures) club at SIUE last month, I read a couple of (in-progress as well as already published) works to a small but diverse audience in the Willows Room. Here’s me reading America Tonight and sharing a little background story.

 

The poem itself was first blogged here, and later published here. Enjoy

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America Tonight (visuals) was published on May 13th, 2011, with the tags , , , , , , under the Art, Opinion, Travelling category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Time after Time

The motions are the same: a year rolls by with such thrills and frills that when one looks back at it, it looks so short, and one is left wondering just where all the days went. A school year begins in August and ends in May, or July depending on what one has to do.

For the two visiting scholars to this institution, their program is now over and they will return to their country in less than a week. I know this process. A roller-coaster year of both honeymoon and depressing loneliness comes to a certain end and the travellers are filled with the mixed feeling of longing for a long-left home, and missing a bond of affection with the present location. They will be gone and new people would come, and the process will continue, new bonds, and new departures a year from now.

I don’t envy them because my own time here will soon wind down to an end, sometime, again. I think it will become inevitable after some time – if I ever return here – to get inured to the process of bonding, socialization and departures. It might be time to set my sights to another faraway place, maybe Europe, or South America, or Asia, for a different breath of fresh air, languages and surprises. Then with new eyes to look at the world and events, there might be a different kind of thrill and adjustment processes. Just a thought. In any case, this semester will be over in a few days, and I’ll be left with the new dilemma of filling my time with a less exacting routine. Or not. We’ll see how it goes.

(Picture taken at the foot of the Monk Mounds the tallest of the man-made mounds at the old Mississippian heritage site at Cahokia Mounds in Illinois, yesterday.)

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Time after Time was published on May 1st, 2011, with the tags , , , under the Soliloquy, Travelling category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

After the Cup: Post 2010 Perceptions of South Africa

A guest post by Jeff Norman who also writes for onlineuniversities.net and onlinecollegedegrees.net

Spain garnered the majority of press headlines from the FIFA World Cup tournament that took place last year. And for good reason — the Spaniards’ victory in the championship round was the country’s first ever World Cup win. Spain’s great finish also unfortunately marked a metaphorical dimmimg of the spotlight on the country that hosted their success, South Africa. Johannesburg, diamonds, apartheid, and Nelson Mandela being South Africa’s primary keywords, some might feel that the country’s decision to host this massive event did little to alter the world’s perception of the nation.

The fact that this was the first WC ever to take place in S.A., in all of Africa for that matter, remains the most salient detail of South Africa’s 2010. This article looks to shine a light on what is new and what is of import in South Africa, nearly a twelvemonth after its inaugural World Cup hosting. Let’s commence with that beautiful sounding instrument that melodicized its way into millions of international hearts, the vuvuzela (note sarcasm). Any adoration of this loud and obnoxious horn-like sounder seems to have remained in South Africa. Still, the fans of many countries took to the vuvuzela as a way of making it known that their team loyalty was, well, loud. Vuvuzelas stateside successfully made their way into the zeitgeist, landing appearances on nearly every nightly news broadcast and even a comic stint on Saturday Night Live.

It might not be the most glamorous way for Johannesburg to slip into Americana, but it’s for sure an indelible one. The people of South Africa took full advantage of exposure the World Cup inevitably brought on. Superstar siren Shakira composed one of YouTube’s biggest sensations in its history, with her effervescent tournament theme “Waka Waka.” The song’s styling and video made an attractive vehicle for traditional South African rhythms and dance to export themselves en masse to millions of viewers. But despite the increased attention to S.A.’s culture externally, it also seems that the country’s populace saw the World Cup as an occasion to turn inward as well. Throughout the matches, the post-apartheid flag could be seen waving with more pride than ever before. All indications seemed to depict a South Africa that had successfully turned its back on the senseless bigotry brought on by apartheid decades prior.

Word has it that before this tournament, only black South Africans participated in football with any real verve. Now, after the WC has concluded, citizens of all colors have taken to the patch and made the game their own. This societal shift and sense of freedom can be summarized in one elusive but always popular idea: democracy. Long before the World Cup, Oprah brought South Africa into American popular media, as the country was the location for the uber-powerful figure’s first-ever school. Now it looks as if South Africa, after the games, is schooling the world on what toughness, and togetherness, really mean.

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After the Cup: Post 2010 Perceptions of South Africa was published on March 19th, 2011, with the tags , , , , under the Opinion, Travelling category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

News from Home

The following conversation – or something very close to this – took place on the way from Lambert airport a few days ago. In the car were three of us: An American professor/director of international programs, a Nigerian professor of technology visiting our campus (and the United States) for the first time on a MacArthur Foundations scholarship, and me. What united us was our interest in Nigeria. All of us had lived there at one point in our lives and are connected strongly to her in some way or another.

“When was the last time you went home, K?” the new Nigerian asked.

“I was just there in the summer,” I replied. “That was just a few months ago.”

“Nice. Do you plan to come home sometime?”

“Yes, of course. As soon as I’m done with whatever I have to do here. But it is also important that I have something concrete to do over there. I wasn’t very impressed with the situation before I left.”

“Oh no,” He said. “Things have really improved. The new president is really doing things.”

“He is? That’s interesting, because all I’ve heard these days are very unflattering things. Bombs, do-or-die politics, and campaigning with convicts.”

“No. He is really doing things. Electricity has really improved. Even education. He is bringing professors from here (the US) back home to help shore things up. We will need all hands on deck when you are done. You should come back home.”

Here the American professor contributes. He is impressed by the news of progress. I remained skeptical.

“I’m surprised that all you hear are the good news,” I said. “I’ve followed the situation in Nigeria closely and I do not think that Goodluck stands any chance in the next election except for the power of incumbency. I have not seen or heard any thing about progress. I do know that last week when one convicted member of his party was released from prison, his presence was conspicuously felt – along with the ex-president – at a church service thrown to welcome him back. It was a celebration of corruption if you ask me.”

“Oh no. He is a smart man.” The guest replies again. “All those corrupt people are close to him now because they are afraid of what he will do to them when he wins the election.  He is a strategist. Don’t believe all you read.”

“I don’t really care for smart men but smart institutions, or things would never change.”

The conversation went on for the stretch of the forty-five minutes it took to drive from the airport back to school. I was lost in contemplation of what could be the cause of a stark difference between what I read from ordinary commentators, citizen journalist, academics like this new Nigerian, and real pundits online about the state of my country. I have not been impressed with the Goodluck charm as I probably should have been, and have been known to show a certain interst in the prospects of ex-Military ruler Buhari and his vice Bakare, for some strange reason. For one more reason, some of my otherwise smart friends have taken to volunteering for his campaign organization. How could this have been?

Being stuck here means that even if I want to, I can’t cast a vote. All I have is an opinion, and a chance to scoff at faux optimisms. It is very possible that our guest was saying all he could to paint the country in the best of lights, especially because of the presence of an American.  It is highly unlikely, I thought, for things to be all good and rosy without there being a way for outsiders to see it from this distance. From where I stand, the current president is just as much a savvy politician with love for his hold on the position as everyone else. How that translates to progress for the country, I have not yet seen. But then, we still get to have elections.

In then end, I return to my couch skepticism. It is not like changing our leaders will make our lives miraculously better. It at least provides a way to spend otherwise idle time, and a chance to have a say in how the process turns out.

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News from Home was published on March 6th, 2011, with the tags , , under the Opinion, Travelling category. There are currently 4 comments on this article so far.

Twitter in Yoruba…

is not here yet, but it will be soon enough if any thing in this good news in collaborative translation is anything to go by. Click on the link to go to the translation centre and request for Yoruba as one of the new desirable languages. Right now they only have French, Italian, German, Japanese, Korean and Spanish. Later we’ll worry about who wants to use it.

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Twitter in Yoruba… was published on February 15th, 2011, with the tags , , , , , under the Literature, Travelling category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Americans Who Speak Yoruba

A news story in The Punch, today.

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Americans Who Speak Yoruba was published on January 9th, 2011, with the tags , , , under the Academic, News, Travelling category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

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