UPDATE - JANUARY 17, 2009

January 17, 2009

My very masculine friend pointed out that I kept having conversations about a book called “Eat Pray Love.” I told him that happens because it relates to the conversation. He thought it was because I am a girl. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (blink). . . .(blink). . . . . . . . I think I am a boy.
Is there ANY boy, metrosexual or heterosexual, who has read the book “Eat Pray Love”?
Please speak and show my chauvinist friend, Jose-Miguel, that I wasn’t the only one. Are there any? Any? Are there any women who have male friends who read the book? I looked out in Oprah’s audience the day the author was on the show, but all I saw were women. I am a boy, right? . . .anybody? E-mail back.

Twelve percent of adults are supposed to have HIV in South Africa. And the percentage gets higher when you include kids. There are regions of the country where the prevalence rate is 50%. Now what would you do if you were getting your head cut by a barber and the barber accidentally cuts your head (breaks the skin) with his electric clippers and blood is pouring from your head at the sight of which he nonchalantly continues to cut and finally dabs the blood with a napkin and continues cutting while it continues bleeding? (Later he dabs the blood again)


A Nothing because you’re so shocked that he didn’t use alcohol or something else. Doesn’t he realize this is South Africa?

B Tell him you have diarrhea and quickly run to the nearest bathroom OUTside the barbershop.

C Tell him you have AIDS (to get him to stop cutting your head).

D Ask him to please use Neosporin to heal the wound before continuing because 8 out of 10 doctors recommend Neosporin for minor cuts and bruises.

E Ask him if he is not waiting to stop the bleeding because he’s actually also a doctor and is one of the 2 out of 10 doctors who did not recommend Neosporin.

F Ask him if those same clippers have ever caused a cut on anyone else’s head, and right before he answers the question, cut him off and say “No, nevermind. I DON’T want to hear the answer.”


By the way, really quickly, if you had to list the top five most pressing problems facing the world today, what would they be? Take a moment to jot them down. And then compare with the global section somewhere below.

UPDATE

I’m back, and it’s good to be home? It’s strange. On the plane from Senegal to South Africa, I see people I know and meet a girl who knows a friend of mine. I’m greeted at the airport by a wonderful friend who is there to pick me up and see another friend beside her who happens to be at the airport. As I walk in the warm Cape Town weather outside, someone honks (hoots) his car horn at me as he drives by. At the grocery store, I bump into two friends. . . .I think people know me here, at least a bit.

But I still love anonymity. It’s one of my favorite things. And most of us take it for granted until it’s completely and utterly gone (as it is for celebrities where even people who have never met them know them). I can actually say it feels like home here. The purpose of staying or actually living in a foreign country seems to have been served for me. I wanted to actually stay long enough to develop a community of family and friends and peers, have people whom I support and who support me. Though I haven’t fully explored it (I have just been invited to audition and possibly join a salsa performance group and I have to yet to act in a production in Cape Town among many other things still yet to do and explore), I can say that I actually live here and occupy a particular place in society that is outside that of short-term visitors.

And it feels good.

The FIRST thing I want to do is head to the beach. I’ve been missing it in the cold of Houston (yes, it actually snowed the day before I arrived). I may do that either tomorrow or perhaps next weekend.

Oh I forgot to mention that I have 4 articles/papers out being reviewed. Before I left in December, the first week, one was finally accepted for publication (meaning no more asking me to revise it). The second of the first two is still sitting with editors in the form of a 2nd draft. I submitted two more in December before leaving. Yesterday, one came back from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Journal of Aircraft as accepted. They sent an e-mail right before New Year’s only asking me to eliminate some pictures and shorten some parts (no substantive or content-based editorial changes at all). So that will go through typesetting as well. The second of the final two papers is still with the editors. So I’ll probably have four published this year from this set.

CHRISTMAS

Christmas was such fun, one of our best ever.
We hosted, so everyone came over to the house.
It was a full house full of food, folks, and fun!
Some were watching Nigerian movies (the adults),
others were playing board games (Taboo rules),
others watched American football (there are always
American football games and sometimes basketball
games to watch on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day,
and New Year's Day), others played with children, others just ate and ate and ate. My cousin made quite professional sweets -- brownies, cookies, and some type of chocolate mini-tarts. I made lots of food and starches--sweet potato banana casserole and sweet potato sausage casserole (along with mashed potatoes). We had two animals--turkey and ham (Haley ordered and mailed a wonderfully cooked ham cooled by dry ice). It was great! We ate well. And we laughed and laughed and laughed as normal. It was good to be home to see it all. I especially loved seeing wives who were married and kids who were born while I've been gone. So that was sooo good!

New Years was more of the same somewhat. I went to the watchnight service at my father’s church. No one came outside the family. So we just had a service just us, about 10 of us. The youngest, Itoro, said it was SO good. He made me laugh. We did have a good time with the music. And everyone had to go forward and say what we were thankful about in the previous year and what we looked forward to happening in 2009. It made you feel good to be home to reconnect.

BEING HOME

The rest of the time was busy spent seeing people. Some people are equal opportunity visitors and will allow you to do groups. Some people specifically want one-on-one time with Victor. So many days I spent going from a long breakfast straight to a long lunch and a small break in between and then a long dinner. At the same time, I tried to spend time with my family which I did a good job though someone made a comment that I was always out after I had postponed all engagements for the weekend of my dad’s church’s 1 year anniversary (my father actually rebooked my flight [they canceled the return flight in July which gave him some leverage to rebook the departure as well] to make me come back almost a week later so I would be in Texas for the 1-year anniversary of his church.

Many people asked me what I was doing during the entire 4-5 week break. I was trying to apply for jobs, write letters, visit friends, spend time with family, work on papers to be published, go over proofs of accepted papers before the editors send it off for printing, submitting manuscripts, looking for agents, record some songs, doing some research on a writing project, do the music for my dad’s church, cooking, do flyers and a video for my dad’s church, etc. The list goes on. The biggest thing for me to do was apply to jobs which I have actually officially started to do this week now that I’m back.



The one-year anniversary itself was nice. It was 3 days worth of events. My father’s church, originally planned to be a church plant of a previous church but was planted independently, has only 3 families in it. But for special events like the Christmas program or the 1 year anniversary the place gets full. Full is something like 50-60 people. It’s not a large building. So people came from Houston, in-state (Texas), other states, and (one person) from Nigeria. It was good. I was doing the music so my sister was able to get a break from choosing songs.

MISCONCEPTIONS II

I received so many interesting comments from this. The most interesting of them was a conversation that I had with a woman who is a friend of the family, around my mother’s age. First, if you didn’t read the section in the previous update, you may want to go refresh yourself. Otherwise, let’s dive in.

The most interesting phenomenon is that when bad things are happening and someone asks you how you are doing and you say “Actually I’m quite well” this is the confused response.

How are you?
I’m doing fine.
No, really, how are you.
Actually I’m ok.
I know that has to hurt. That must hurt.
(in trying to feel or be hurt for the person) Yes, it’s really tough, man.
Well, you can’t walk around hurt all the time. You need to learn to rise above it.
(WHAT?)

That’s my general experience. If you are somehow peaceful amidst craze, people don’t believe it and actual want you to be “honest” and show how it messes you up. So when you agree to “be messed up” they then tell you how you need to be able to deal with your situation and not be messed up, sad, delirious, teary-eyed, depressed, or angry (which they wanted you to be originally).

Actually when I wrote that I was quite calm. I don’t think I was frustrated, but perhaps I’m lying to myself. Secondly, I used the term extended family.

Some people wrote about having similar experiences. Some said it was the similar but they weren’t black sheep, more like grey sheep. Others were like this meeting I had with this woman who thought a few things. One, I didn’t understand my extended family. And two, what was probably hard for my extended family was security. Would I be able to take care of them in future? Many of our families in our Nigerian communities are not well off with huge retirement savings. The funny thing is that the thought of security was actually not new as I’ve been told that none of the tension over my life has to do with anyone in the extended family wanting money from me. To prove this it was pointed out that I’ve not been asked for money to help the family out for years (other people have helped out). So I’m not sure about any of that. As for understanding, I think I meant that I can see how they think what they think, and I would, too, in the same situation and life experience.

So the walk-away point was that the children are supposed to take care of the parents, period. It’s my responsibility, and to abdicate is negligent and, if I understood it correctly, amoral. I think this would probably fit in line with many countries. I don’t know if it’s very popular in the States. Regardless, in this conversation it was suggested to me to start a savings account/investment of some sort to prepare and take care of the parents. I would like to do it and thought it was a wonderful idea and spoke immediately to my siblings. There are a few complications though and I’m not sure if we’ll be able to do it or when or how soon. Maybe. I would like to see it, even if it’s just a little.

The interesting point of the conversation is that the woman said I could do both—do something I felt God had put in my heart and make a lot of money to take care of the parents. Why are they mutually exclusive? And she thought I was just the person to make it work. I hope so. I don’t know. I know the jobs I’m looking at. I know the Engineers without Borders placement or the Doctors Without Borders placements would cause tension. I know that. I know the jobs that would give me lots of money, and I’m not excited about that. But I thought it interesting that she said it was my responsibility which implies that providing for them is priority. You do that first. So if you have to choose between two things, you take the best job and provide for them. This was not a person from my culture. She was a middle-aged white woman who is a like a second mother. So it was very interesting. I will look for some way to synthesize the two. I truly believe I will be able to do it much later in life. Whether I can do it for my next job starting in July/August, we shall see.

OBAMA & OPRAH

Now the biggest news for us is the inauguration. I often wondered at how a presidential candidate could grace the cover of so many popular magazines. Then I figured it’s good for your campaign. But after the campaign was over, would they end? Over here. . .the answer is no. He still graces the cover of a few popular magazine, and it’s so funny to see that. I’ve never seen that with a presidential candidate. Its shows his striking popularity and the great strides he’s made before even being elected or doing anything as president.

I’ll say it again: even if he’s does nothing as President, he’s already done so much. This time let me point to an amazing happening in South Africa—campaigns!!!

In South Africa, we don’t have the system in the U.S. with huge fundraisers and requests to raise money for traveling around the country for televised town hall meetings, live broadcast debates, etc. You just know who the candidates are, and then you make up your mind. But there is no campaign season, no debates, nothing. It’s hard to figure out the actual platform of candidates (remember that in reality you vote for a party here not the candidate). Well, guess what?

While I was gone, I believe due to the American election influence, they started to have a weekly series of debates between presidential candidates!!! WHAT??!!!!! When did THIS happen? This doesn’t happen in South Africa. In fact, it never happens and to prove it, notice that Zuma sent the third in command to do the debate in his place while he simultaneously appeared on another TV slot. I doubt he’ll do that again. Sunday, the 18th, is the next one, and hopefully I will get to watch. The long, drawn-out, fiercely fought primary elections and national secondary elections were watched by South Africans, and now they are making the campaign and platforms public which is quite wonderful for the general public. It’s easier for them to be educated about the candidates this way and judge for themselves which party presents the best choice. Good job U.S.A.!

And now the biggest rumor here is that Oprah was asked to be the next US Ambassador to South Africa. Of course, her people have said that she is not considering that (but potential candidates are required to be silent about such until the president himself announces a nomination). She would have to figure out what to do with her TV show, but a friend told me she was looking to wind it down anyway within the next 2 years or so. I’m not sure if that’s true, but an actual US embassy official in Pretoria did say that at the workplace (in the embassy) the only person they are talking about is Oprah, so it’s quite possible she was asked and is considering it.

SOUTH AFRICA

Well, it is as if time were frozen while I was gone. None of the issues or problems facing South Africa or Africa were resolved. And to be honest, do you blame anyone? These are huge problems.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) took their case to a constitutional court. And they have now got the judges in the constitutional court to overrule the ruling by Judge Nicholson earlier which ordered Zuma’s case be dropped on technicality and that there seemed to be political motivation involved in the case against Zuma. So this Supreme Court reinstated the charges against Zuma allowing, once again, the NPA to go ahead and pursue a case against the presidential candidate. As of now, Zuma is in the strongest position to become the next president. And he would appear in court as president by the time the court case starts. In the U.S., let me say, in such a situation (especially for the length of time that Zuma has been in this situation) the candidate would step down. But Zuma doesn’t want it, and you already know it has been stated in a speech by the ANC Youth League head that “we would kill for Zuma.” Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that point.

The ANC Youth League reminds me of education, and I’m sure you know Oprah’s school is in South Africa. One of my favorite blogs to read is that of Samantha, a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in Johannesburg. She finished her scholarship tenure last year along with Haley and others, but she is staying in South Africa to finish her masters thesis as most people take longer than a year (except Haley of course). I actually don’t read blogs, but as I was required to read Haley’s I clicked the link to Samantha’s and enjoyed seeing her perspective as an African-American in an African country. That’s why I like it. She is also a big Oprah supporter (in favor of Oprah’s school), and she actually decided to come back and work as an RA at Oprah’s school while finishing up her thesis. The story about meeting Oprah is near the top of her blog. The actual visit last year (during our 2nd semester or the U.S./European autumn semester) to the school for the first time is about 2/5ths of the way down the page. Please read both of the accounts if you get a chance. She seems a bit infatuated with Oprah, though. Heh heh!


http://sammyjoburg.blogspot.com/

Well, since our academic year falls in line with the calendar year, the high school (secondary school) graduates have their results and if they passed, they’ve been accepted into South African universities or technical schools. So that’s quite great. Out of the entire Western Cape (my “state” or province), the top results come, of course, from Cape Town (we have the best schools). I will probably continue working with Cape Town schools this new year and semester.
But the Western Cape also had a first—Cholera! An incidence of cholera showed up here while I was gone. The situation there has worsened.

AFRICA

Radesh, one of my housemates and Anna’s boyfriend, says that there are supposed to be 40,000 cases of cholera in Zimbabwe. The number has increased since I left. Have you heard of the group Physicians for Human Rights? Go check them out. They are saying that the cholera epidemic is so bad that action should be taken with the International Criminal Court.

Ghana just had its run-off election in December while I was gone. The incumbent New Patriotic Party offered candidate Nana Akufo-Addo who beat the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party candidate John Atta Mills by a small enough margin that the rules required a run-off. In the runoff, Mills won 50.2% of the vote compared to Akufo-Addo’s 49.8%. Wow! That’s close. It’s supposed to be the smallest margin of victory in Africa’s (the continent’s) electoral history. Asia and Africa have shorter electoral histories than the Americas and Europe but that’s still something. It seems they have developed a two-party-dominant political system there which is reminiscent of the States.

Many were watching Ghana with hopes of showing that Africa can have a peaceful election compared to Kenya or Zimbabwe or even strife in Nigeria a bit ago (not as bad). But Akufo-Addo admitted defeat quickly after the election results were announced, and the current president Kufuor (of the NDC) also conceded for his party. So though there were some reports of intimidation and attacks at the voting polls (and the police had to use a water hose to tame a brawl), there were less reports during the run-off as such. And international observers were happy with the decision. This is good news.

In all honesty, I was never worried about Ghana erupting in violence. They have had democratic rule since 1992 and have been doing a good job. They also discovered offshore oil in 2007 which some worry will lead to the type of corruption in Nigeria. I doubt it though as Nigeria had oil before it ever had democratic rule (correct me if I’m wrong). But Ghana’s oil discovery and resulting revenues came under democratic rule. It’s a different story.

Ethiopia’s started the withdrawal of its 3,000 troops from Somalia. They’ve been there for about 2 years with the U.S. encouragement. Somalia’s president Abdullahi Yusuf resigned on the 29th of December, so now the country is led by an interim government. There will be a – correction – there are talks of a new presidential election within weeks. But we will see how fast that can be done. People hope a new deal between the moderate Islamists and the interim government can be achieved now that Yusuf, who many thought promoted or supported warlordism. I wonder about the fanatical or extreme Islamists. I feel like these are the people that should be brought into any peace deal negotiations.

The 1600 Ugandan and 1300 Burundian peacekeeping troops will pull out as well unless they are reinforced by other promised AU troops (Nigeria, Malawi, and Ghana who have not yet honored their pledge of troops). Can I say that I am SO proud of Uganda and Burundi. They are not really in the best position as countries; they each have their own set of problems and both have dealt with Hutu-Tutsi problems/relations. And even in their state with no outside support from the UN militarily or the “West” they are taking initiative or at least taking action in their region to help promote peace and send troops (not that sending troops will work; we need something more lasting). That is so amazing to me. If you get the chance read up on Burundi’s history or Uganda’s. The U.S., India, China, and Europe have all decided against military intervention inside Somalia.

So that leaves the scary possibility that with Ethiopia gone, there is a winner-takes-all situation, a “power vacuum” as the Economist calls it. Who will gain control? Who will the radical Islamists side with? The radicals (like the Shabab organization) or with the warlords and transition government? It’s anyone’s guess. There are many independent groups from rival clan elders who are loyal to warlords, moderate Islamists, radical Islamists, private security groups, gunmen up for hire, etc. It’s a sad situation. And it is one we will keep watching and pursuing a solution.