ktravula – a travelogue!

10 Reasons to Buy KTravulart To Help Haiti

10. Haiti was the first black nation to get independence from Europeans, and they did it through bravery and collective action. Since then, however, they have been impoverished. For years since their independence, they had to pay reparation to France, a sort of price for their freedom.

9. Haiti does not have the required infrastructure to deal with the destruction of their homeland by the earthquake that hit them in January, and foreign volunteers can only do so much before they return to their own homes. They need help. They need money, badly.

8. You will get a precious artwork from and lovely postcards from ktravula.com. Yea, that’s worth repeating. 🙂

7. You will be saving lives.

6. This offer to buy beautiful soon-to-be-famous artworks for less doesn’t come all the time, and will definitely not be open forever.

5. Singer Wyclef Jean might send you a “Thank you” email or hand-written letter for helping his country. Don’t doubt it!

4. The city of Chicago, Illinois was founded by a man called Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, a Haitian. He was also the first known non-indigenous settler and the first Haitian-American and person of color in the area which is now Chicago, Illinois. A support for Haiti is a support for Chicago, and by extension a support for the State of Illinois – if we want to take it that far. Don’t forget that President Obama is also from the state. Help Haiti and help us, somewhat.  🙂

3. Many of the survivors need so much medical attention which only money can buy.

2. It’s a drop in the ocean, but it can still make an impact.

1. The photos are beautiful, and worth every penny spent.

Alrighty, let’s do this and let’s move on. I’m sure I almost can hear someone say “enough already.” Well, the travelogue continues without fail, just after this commercial break… “Haiti I can see your Halo” by Beyonce. “911 Remake” by Twista, and “Redemption Song” by Rihanna.

To participate, go to this page for more information. The travelogue resumes its schedule in the month of February.

10 Reasons to Buy KTravulart To Help Haiti was published on January 30th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , under the Art, Soliloquy category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

10 Reasons To Buy KTravulart To Help Jos

10. It is one of Nigeria’s most serene cosmopolitan cities, now facing a humanitarian crises that could as well be called genocide going by motive, and the number of deaths recorded in the last couple of weeks.

9. It is a tourist destination for expatriates living in Nigeria maybe because of its altitude. If there is peace, stability and vitality in Jos, there is peace, stability and vitality for all who visit the place. And it’s a good place to visit if you are ever in Nigeria.

8. It is the site of a very advanced Nok culture and civilization who lived there from around 3000BC and disappeared in the late first millenium.

7. Its National Museum is one of the best in the country, and it boasts of some fine specimens of Nok terracotta heads and artifacts dating from between 500 BC to AD 200. It also incorporates the Museum of Traditional Nigerian Architecture with life-size replicas of a variety of buildings, from the walls of Kano and the Mosque at Zaria to a Tiv village. (Source Wikipedia)

6. The state has over forty ethno-linguistic groups, some of the largest in the country as far as linguistic diversity is concerned.

5. It has the potential to be – as it has always been – one of the best places to live in Nigeria.

4. You will have a beautiful photographic artwork hanging in your living room, signed by KTravula, all the way from the Midwest of the United States.

3. You will have something to show for it beyond the beautiful photograph hanging in your living room: a peace of mind that comes from giving.

2. For Nigerians, you will have done your little part to contribute to the progress of the country Nigeria, without having to occupy a government office, and be sure that your money is making an impact, and not going to a corrupt pocket.

1. I said so. And you love me, don’t you?


PS: That photo above is of the famous Riyom Rocks. It is located in Riyom, the local government in which I spent twelve months in 2005/2006 on the National Youth Service programme. (Picture Source: Paramino.)

PSS: I got an $80 cheque from Clarissa today, as donation to Jos. She had mistakenly addressed it to Access Bank Nigeria instead of to me, but that’s fine. I can’t post the cheque to Nigeria because no Nigerian bank will cash an American cheque. On Monday therefore, I will make her re-write it, address it to me, I’ll cash it and transfer it to the Access Bank Account of the Nigerian Red Cross for Jos Relief or send by Western Union to them, or to someone who will pay it into the Access Bank Account and provide me with proof. It shouldn’t be so hard jare!

10 Reasons To Buy KTravulart To Help Jos was published on January 30th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , , , under the Art, Soliloquy category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

10 Reasons To NOT Be Thankful For 2009

You may want to read Ten Reasons To Be Thankful for 2009 here first before you continue.

10. That idiot who tried to blow up the plane is from Nigeria.

9. The healthcare system in Nigeria is still in a comatose mode. The president is unhealthy and can’t be treated within the country. There is no sadder reminder of the state of our healthcare.

8. Climate change is not waiting on the signatures of the world leaders. It is a grim reality.

7. The swine flu infected and killed so many people this year. And we’re still in December. It can always get a lot colder.

6. I did not get to write as much as I wanted. And read as much as I wanted.

5. We do not yet know how much nuclear weapons are in the world at the moment, or in whose hands they are. So, it is safe (no pun intended) to say that we’re not totally free yet.

4. I lost my Grandmother.

3. I didn’t have enough time or funds to go around as I wanted to.

2. I didn’t see the Avatar (yet), Old Dogs and Sherlock Holmes.

1. On the other hand, we’re now closer to 2012!


10 Reasons To NOT Be Thankful For 2009 was published on December 31st, 2009, with the tags , , under the Observations, Soliloquy category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

10 Reasons To Be Thankful For 2009

10. The Nigerian guy who tried to take down an airplane in Detroit did not succeed.

9. The US Healthcare bill is passed, even though it still doesn’t include the public option, and many people say that it really is not all it promised to be at first. But hope is alive and well.

8. The climate talks at Coppenhagen, Denmark are over and many valid and important issues have been raised about the threat to the environment. It is not a perfect situation, and not all governments present have agreed. But we’re more conscious now. Head over here and here to see a picture of fellow Fulbighters protesting in front of the White House.

7. I didn’t catch the flu. It didn’t snow much in Edwardsville. Thank goodness. I think I’ll make it though the winter after all.

6. I got to write some more poems and prose than I did last year. My Short Story Behind the Door will be published next year in Africa Roar, an anthology.

5. Nobody launched a nuclear weapon this year, and thus we’re still alive.

4. I met old friends. I made new friends. I met new people. I had pounded yam in abundance, twice.

3. I travelled more this year than I did in a long while, I saw more cities, museums, monuments, memorials.

2. I saw Up In The Air, The Blind Side, This Is It, among many other interesting movies of the year.

1. We’ve survived it.

10 Reasons To Be Thankful For 2009 was published on December 31st, 2009, with the tags , , under the Observations, Soliloquy category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

10 Reasons To Not Speak Your Native Language in America

This post is a flipside part of my monthly “10 Reasons” blog argument. The first part of the argument is HERE, and you should probably read it first.


IMG_269310. People feel uncomfortable when you speak a “strange” language around them.

9. If you don’t already know how to speak it, or speak it correctly, how would you speak it?

8. English already has enough speakers? Perhaps not enough. And in any case, how many people understand your “African” language?

7. You could be mistaken for a terrorist.

6. If you’re gonna be in America for a long time, you may as well put the language in a safe cooler.

5. It brings you close to those who share your background and cultural similarity? Yes, but do they want to be close to you on the basis of language? Not really.

4. According to a new research finding, the new generation will rebel against your language use anyway, so what’s the point.

3. The American diversity includes only basically one other language. And it’s Spanish.

2. It’s not always easy to speak, if one thinks in English most of the time.

1. Nobody cares.


Bye bye November

10 Reasons To Not Speak Your Native Language in America was published on November 30th, 2009, with the tags , , , , under the Academic, Observations, Opinion, Soliloquy category. There are currently 8 comments on this article so far.