ktravula – a travelogue!

International Hospitality Lunch

I spent the last weekend in some bliss which started on Friday with a lunch organized for visiting scholars by my University’s International Programme Office and the International Hospitality Programme. The International Programme Office handles everything that has to do with overseas scholarship and programmes while the International Hospitality Programme is comprised of a group of dedicated Senior Citizens of Edwardsville, some with and some without any academic link to the University, but all with a strong dedication over the years in making international students comfortable. Most of them have been doing it for decades without compensation, and without fail. They provide comfort and succor for students living miles away from home, and give them home away from home. They give counselling, they provide gifts as well as all needed support.

Present at the lunch were new visiting scholars from Albania and Azerbaijan, and a new visitor from the Kenneth Dike Library in Nigeria’s premier University, Francisca Okoroma.

The lunch, and the work of the International Hospitality Programme brings to fore the advantages and need for interdependence and social responsibility. The women and men who parent young students and scholars they’ve never known from parts of the world that they’ve never themselves visited take love, commitment, public service to such a new height. They claim to enjoy the experience, but to the many young ones who have studied in this part of the country over the years and benefited from this group, the dedication of the host parents is nothing short of a blessing. It is one more pleasant advantage of studying in this part of the country.

Just Wondering, Just Wandering

or Astral Travel in 600 words.

The Nigerian writer and critic Ikhide Ikheloa is disillusioned about many things, and does not shy away from saying them in his frank and often witty essays at the Nigeria Village Square, African Writer.com or in the Nigerian Newspaper, NEXT – the wasted opportunity of Nigerian Pro-Democracy Activists to right the wrongs of the country when it eventually got into their hands after decades of military rule, and the portrayal of Africans by Africans themselves in movies, novels and plays written for the Western market. He has written this guest post about his positive perception of technology as the new reality – the new weapons of navigating the labyrinths of the world.

_________________________

The writer-traveler Kola Tubosun visited me in Washington DC a few months ago. We had a great time. We had never met physically; however our spirits had been communing for several moons through the Internet. I do enjoy the company of African writers even though most of these meetings have been mostly on cyberspace. The Internet is today the world’s number one wonder, offering new opportunities and challenges and taunting our expectations of community. I know now from living on the Internet that the human spirit is superior to the flesh, unless when you are having really good sex. Every now and then I actually meet someone I have known on the Internet for a long time. The meetings are always joyful reunions, flesh pressing flesh in celebration of the indomitable spirit.

Travel and communication are abiding mysteries. Life is energy, restlessness and movement – of the body and spirit. The mind wanders and travels everywhere bearing gifts, burdens, and anxieties. I often reflect on the awesome power of the airplane and the first (foolish) passenger who hoped to return to land after the flight. Today, unmanned drones hit men praying in caves thousands of miles away from the Nevada desert.

In Nigeria, when we were little, we would string together two empty tins of condensed milk and try to communicate with the result. It was awesome hearing your friend’s voice on the other end. Today, my eleven year old son is a digital native. His Smartphone is his flashlight, jukebox, Internet access and remote control. He has built an electronic fence around himself, and only allows access to those who have earned it. If it would just uncork my bottle of Malbec, now, that would be powerful.

In Africa, citizens have been mercifully spared the tyranny of inefficient state-sponsored telecommunications. Cell phones are ubiquitous and have muscled their way into the lexicon of popular African culture. In Nigeria, people are using cell phones for robust commerce. They are also empowering women and children, restoring to them the privacy denied them in a paternalistic analog world.

The Internet offers us amazing new opportunities to reconnect with the best of each other. New and emerging technologies are redefining our traditional notion of exile. It is now the norm to communicate with Africa in real time from anywhere in the world. I sometimes click on Google Earth and visit my childhood haunts. For me, exile doesn’t hurt as much as it did when I left home three decades ago.

Tubosun’s travels around America remind us that new and emerging technologies are redefining our traditional notion of exile. I salute the bravery and tenacity of the new writers and travelers. I salute the writers of generations before, warriors like Nnamdi Azikiwe, Flora Nwapa, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Ama Ata Aidoo, Dennis Brutus, etc, who traveled to strange places of the heart and this world armed with nothing but their imagination and returned to teach us about the things they had learnt in their restlessness. They were our freedom fighters, teachers, entertainers and Internet access. Theirs was a crushing burden and they bore it with grace. Today the wonders of computer technology and modern travel make it possible for the individual to become a municipality of one and ignore the new criminals in black ravaging the land. We may be losing our best minds to narcissism. These new tools should empower us to help our people. Who are our freedom fighters today? What is the role of the African writer in the emancipation of Africa? Do we have an obligation to use our gifts to fight for much needed change in the land of our ancestry? I strongly and passionately believe so. There is so much to celebrate in the resurgence of African writing; our suffering people deserve some of the dividends. There is hope. It is up to us.

_____________________

Ikhide writes from xokigbo@yahoo.com, and I thank him for this wonderful expose. I don’t know what I’d have done without access to the internet and these new tools of technology, so his perspective resonates strongly with me and the purpose of this blog, which is to explore new ways of interacting with the world and confronting challenges of present generations with the means of information technology. Past guest-posts can be read here.

Enough is Enough: A Youth Rally

Here is a forwarded message by youths of Nigeria. It is a call to action – a sort of a manifesto for new directions. I commend the message because it shows consciousness of current political winds, but not just that. It takes into one’s hands the responsibility of deciding what happens next, and where the country heads. The planned rally is one of many that is being planned around the country to demand a better condition of living for citizens, and accountability in the hands of crooked and arrogant politicians and inept state agencies. There is so much to demand for, beyond just getting a glimpse of the sick president because it is not about him, but this is a start. And the voice of youths must be heard. Like the tagline reads, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

______________________________

Did you know that, in Nigeria, young people are in the majority? Did you know that young people below 35 make up more than 70 per cent of the population? You know what that means? It means we have the power to actually make things happen! So, how come we are doing nothing about the many problems that have hit our nation in the past few months? Is it enough to make noise on Facebook, Twitter, websites, BBMs, blogs and others where no one is listening? How come it’s the Wole Soyinkas, the Femi Falanas and the Tunde Bakares that are fighting for us? Why do we allow ourselves to be branded as the do-nothing generation?

Like someone said recently, how can we be so talented individually and yet so disillusioned and disdained collectively? We all know the reason – we have been told that there is nothing we can do about the status quo; that the cabal is too strong. Well, that is a lie. We have become cynics and complainers rather than change agents. But the time to “siddon look” is over… Will you stand up and be counted? We have made our choice. We want our country back. And we must get it. It is time for our voices t o be heard, and heard loud and long.

Therefore we are organising a first-of-its-kind rally right there at the seat of power in Abuja . However, this rally is unique because it will be completely powered by young people – young professionals, young celebrities, students, activists and others. We want history to record that this was the point that the young people in Nigeria began to drive fear into the hearts of our leaders and began to make change happen.

It is going to be a MASSIVE rally of hundreds of young Nigerians from across the country saying #enoughisenough! We invite you to sign up to join this rally now if you are angry about what is happening in Nigeria.

DATE: TUESDAY, 16 MARCH 2010

VENUE: NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, ABUJA

RALLY TIME: 11AM

OUR DEMANDS:

1) End the fuel scarcity now!

2) Solve the electricity problem!

3) We want to see our president and we want all those who have been involved in the grand cover up around him to be investigated, arrested and brought to book!

If you want to be part of this movement, register on www.whereisyaradua.com now! The registration form is there, and further information and updates are there. To get any further information, send a mail to info@whereisyaradua.com and info@thefuturenigeria.com.

There are cynics who will say this cannot work and nothing will change. They lie! Our history shows that civil disobedience has worked and has forced change. Added to that, after this rally, other activities are planned to keep the government on their toes. However this massive rally to make a statement is the first step.

This is our country; our duty; our future.

Join this movement now!

SIGNED

Culled from Naijablog.

__________________________________

Will you be there?

News Links

Three of my write-ups were published yesterday in Nigeria’s NEXT Newspaper.

You may also read up this article “Appraising arts and heritage in Black History Month“ in the same paper: .

New York, Yesterday

I do not live in New York. I am miles away from it, but yesterday I successfully talked a good friend of mine who lives there to attend an event that I felt held some significance for me, for this blog and for Nigeria. It was titled 2020 Vision: Mobilizing for Women’s Rights and Eliminating Violence Against Women and it was held at the John Tishman Auditorium at the New School for Social Research.

The speakers included Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace laureate, 2003; Founder, Defenders of Human Rights Center, Iran, Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mary Robinson, President, Realizing Rights, former President of Ireland and former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and Melanne Verveer, United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues.

The event was doubly memorable because by 12noon New York time, the winner of the WLP Essay Competition featuring about 100 entries from over thirty-three countries was announced, and it was no other person than Temitayo Olofinlua – the same Temitayo of Bookaholic Blog a regular commenter on this blog. Her entry was titled On Fear, a powerful exposition on the challenges of women in Nigeria and most of developing countries of the world.

I feel proud to be associated with her, not only because of the brilliance of the entry, but also because of the humility, dedication and hardwork of the strong young woman. Congratulations from me, from my friend, and from all of KTravula.com.

« Older Entries Newer Entries »