ktravula – a travelogue!

Let’s Save Binyavanga!

On October 31st, 2015, Kenyan writer and all-round brilliant mind Binyavanga Wainaina suffered a stroke. We didn’t know this until he himself wrote about it on a Facebook post that he has since deleted.

For those who don’t know him, Binj, as he’s fondly called by friends and acquaintances is the winner of the 2002 Caine Prize (which had on its shortlist Nigeria’s Chimamanda Adichie) and the founder of Kwani? online magazine, which he founded with his Caine Prize winnings. He authored the famous Granta essay How To Write About Africa and the memoir One Day I Will Write About This Place (2001). In January 2014, he came out as gay in an online essay titled “I’m Homosexual, Mom.” In the same year, he was featured as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. The profile was written by his good friend, Chimamanda.

More than any of his literary prizes however, Binyavanga is an all round humane (and childlike) soul. He is friendly, unassuming, and down-to-earth, as many who know him will attest. About five weeks ago, I featured him on Writer Sightings, using pictures taken during my last conversation with him in his house at Karen, on the outskirts of Nairobi. There was no hint that he was about to break down nor that he would not be making this year’s Aké Festival. His energy was as infectious as ever, and we talked into the evening, discussing everything in African writing, art, entertainment, language, among others, over mandazi and cold smoothie. Having him still come to Facebook to write, “like” posts, and share interesting links (as he has done many times) after the stroke is a testament first to his resilience, and his commitment to never be silenced.

He is now about to undergo some medical procedures in India to put him back together, and a few fundraising efforts have been set up to support his treatment. This morning, I gave my token to this cause, run by Kwani Trust (that has now raised 50% of the target goal. You can do the same, with Paypal or any other means, particularly if you live in Kenya, or anywhere else where Paypal works). For those living in Nigeria, Ake Arts and Book Festival (in collaboration with Nigerian artists, writers, and friends of Binyavanga) has set up a fundraiser this weekend at Freedom Park (poster attached). You can also donate through the Nigerian bank account that you can also see on the poster above.

Needless to say, this is a worthy cause. Binyavanga is one of Africa’s (and certainly this generation’s) living original and finest thinkers. Through his work, his words, and his life, he has given so many people new ways of interrogating set assumptions, and charting a new course for a battered continent. For this, for his large heart, and for more, he deserves our prayers, but more importantly, our help.

In the picture, he’s there holding my son who seemed to have fallen in love with him. Photo was taken at Aké Festival 2014 in Abẹ́òkuta.

How You Can Help the Occupy Nigeria Protests from Outside Nigeria

1. Give. Thousands of people who go out everyday to give their time, energy and put their lives on the line in demanding for justice and reform do so with their own money. Because of the standstill around the country, they are not able to go to work and make a living, so it might become a lose-lose situation where the powers just wear them out patiently. If you live in Europe or America and you have the means, please donate money. Give to people you trust. Give to organizations that you are sure will make sure that the funds are judiciously used to cater for the (mostly food and transport) needs of those young people out in the sun every day. (PS: I will be sending some money to the Occupy Ibadan coordinators, friends, during the coming week. If you’re interested in supporting the protests with your money and it is too small to send alone via Western Union, let me know. I can take it via paypal or bank transfer and send it together with mine.)

2. Learn about the situation. The #Occupy Movement in Nigeria today is not about income inequality as it is about a demand for accountability and reform. The status quo is corrupt. Millions of dollars are siphoned every month in Nigeria to the pockets of political elites and other business cabals who collect subsidy money from the government and then turn around to sell petrol at market price to neighbouring countries, thus creating scarcity and making a profit. If you are a writer/blogger/tweeter, be aware of all the facts in the situation. Do not be used.

3. Join an #Occupy protest around you. There have been #Occupy Nigeria protests in Belgium, Washington DC, London, New York etc. Start one near you, or join them wherever it exists. The soul and future of Nigeria is at stake, and every support counts. Spread the word. Spread the message. Tell everyone you know about this and put pressure on the Nigerian government to reform on the side of the people and not on the side of the selfish people who look out only for their pockets. Post pictures and videos from this protests.

4. Write to your representatives. A group of activists” called the Naija Cyber Hacktivists are using twitter to put out phone numbers of elected officials, and other relevant information. Follow them, and barrage representatives with messages, pressuring them to take sides with the suffering populace.

5. Follow Occupy Nigeria on twitter.

The Blood Bank: Two Years After…

I’m happy to inform you that two years after I reported a discriminatory practice in blood donation by the Red Cross on our campus, the situation has been remedied, at least on campus. I walked up there with a friend today, as I’ve done for the last two years, to check their list of exemptions. Nothing in there mentions “Nigeria”, or “sexual contact” as it did the last time, although – now more understandably – people who have travelled to “malaria-prone” zones of the world are required to wait for about three years before donating blood. The science and the common sense are now finally catching up with the other.

Update: On the other hand, the Red Cross website still has the following under its eligibility criteria, under the topic of HIV:

You are at risk for getting infected if you: … were born in, or lived in, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea,Gabon, Niger, or Nigeria, since 1977… had sex with anyone who, since 1977, was born in or lived in any of these countries… (http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/eligibility-requirements/eligibility-criteria-alphabetical-listing).

Could someone please inform the Red Cross that you are at risk of getting HIV if you live anywhere on the surface of the earth today and you do things that put you at risk?

Save Pakistan

The flooding in Pakistan, according to UNICEF has affected an estimated 15 million people. It started in July2010 due to the monsoon rains and has claimed the life of about two thousand people and rendered millions homeless. Read more about it on Wikipedia and on the BBC.

In continuation of our history of intervention in places in need of help, I want to call on interested readers to take some time to donate something to the relief efforts through UNICEF. One little donation can go a long way. And what’s more, if you would send me the proof of your donation, I promise to send you picture prints and postcards from KTravula.com, depending on where you are around the world.

Update on KTravulAID for Jos/Haiti

Apologies to all concerned readers of this blog who had wanted to make donations to the Red Cross in Nigeria for the Jos Relief efforts but couldn’t do so because of the problems of wire transfer. I take part of the blame for not making the best suggestions. Here now is my best idea since I found out today that wire transfer costs up to $50 in charges from the US to Nigeria. It hardly makes sense. If you want to donate to the Jos relief efforts by the Red Cross in Nigeria, please make said donations through Western Union to a reliable friend/acquaintance in Nigeria and have them pay the money into the Access bank account on your behalf. Then let them scan and send to you a proof of said payment, and we can take it from there. For those already in Nigeria, all you have to do is just to walk up to Access Bank Plc, and make your donations. The account information again is as follows:

ACCESS BANK PLC

ACCOUNT NAME: NIG. REDCROSS SOCIETY – JOS CRISIS RELIEF FUND

ACCOUNT NAME: 0430010005230

SORT CODE: 044080439

BRANCH: ADETOKUNBO ADEMOLA BRANCH, ABUJA

However, if you are an American and you do not have any Nigerian to send the money to, please leave me a comment here publicly, and send me a mail to let me know, and I will send you an my account number to send it to. Then I can send it home via Western Union and have someone pay it on your behalf.

So far, here is the breakdown of how much we have raised:

$145 from an anonymous in Illinois, who actually planned to donate $100, but due to bank wire charges, she ended up parting with $145 at the Bank of America. The money should be in Jos by now.

$80 from Clarissa my wonderful colleague at Edwardsville.

$50 from Tayo in Lagos for whom I may have to bring her artwork by hand when my time eventually runs out in this charming little town.

And finally, LaurensOnline.com, a shoe and bag-selling outfit in Lagos Nigeria has volunteered to sell all items from now till the end of stock at 20% off if you show proof of donation of any amount to the relief effort in Jos Nigeria. All you need to do is show such proof, and you get 20% off of your purchases. Without such proof, you still get a 10% off. So what are you waiting for? If you live in Lagos, find them for your Valentine purchases of shoes, bags and beads. My now famous boots are courtesy of them, so I know they sell quality.

This brings us to a gross total of $275 and a net of $230 so far raised. To all contributors, we say a big THANK YOU.

However, this offer to give free KTravularts will end with the month of February. If you are interested in the offer still, please hurry and make your donations now. Read details here.

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