(Picture Credit: Sports Illustrated)

It’s Election Day in America! No matter how crazy this election process had been, I still get jittery on Election Day. For the past 215 years, the United States of America has been having peaceful transitions of power between leaders. Even in years where elections have had some form of suspense – 1824 election when the House of Representatives chose John Quincy Adams because none of the candidates could get the required number of electoral votes or 1876 when there were election disputes that called into questions some of the states and 2000 when the Supreme Court stepped in to settle the election process.

This year’s election has been over the top in so many ways. But if you look back over the 215 years that the U.S. has been choosing presidents you will see that this is not the first time our campaign process has seemed out of whack. In 1968, Alabama Governor George Wallace won 5 states and 46 electoral votes on his call for racial segregation. Independent Ross Perot in 1992 garnered 19 percent of the votes and was actually leading the race in June 1992 before dropping out. American elections have ebbed and flowed over the years adapting to the culture and time period. We are in a cycle of instant news and instant information. We will continue to be inundated with (mis)information in our campaign process. It’s a sign of things to come.

And for those of you waiting for the polls to open, according to the LSU/Alabama football game results, the election is already over. Found this article to be interesting as we select the next President of the United States of America.

http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/11/06/alabama-lsu-election-prediction-hillary-clinton

For the past year, I have been holding a deep dark secret. I have finally grown comfortable enough to make this secret public. Bear with me as admitting this secret publicly sets me up for ridicule and alienation.

Since August of 2015, I have had a chef in my home. For my American friends, I am sure there will be ridicule and laughter. But for my African friends there will be crickets…and many saying so what!

His name is Olivier and he hails from the Republic of Benin, one of Nigeria’s neighboring countries. He is a French trained chef and during the day, works at one of the restaurants popular with expats and middle class Nigerians. A few days a week, he comes to my house to cook dinner and enough food to get me through the week. I thought when Sheila arrived, we might rethink Olivier but he has become part of our household. Recently, he went back to Benin for two weeks and we were completely lost…! We couldn’t wait until his return.

Having household help on the African continent is common practice. People often have a cook, a gate and/or grounds keeper, a nanny or a housekeeper. I became familiar with this practice when I visited Rwanda in 2009. We were celebrating Thanksgiving and my friend Myal asked me to make a sweet potato pie. When I entered the kitchen, the cook would not let me do anything. Each time I grabbed an ingredient, she removed it from my hand and asked what she needed to do…It was a bit frustrating but since living in Nigeria, I have become pretty comfortable in having a cook prepare my meals.

When my parents were in town, they fell in love with Olivier because he would not allow them to lift a finger in the kitchen. He cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner. Even now when I talk with them they ask about “Oliver”…they had trouble remembering the French version “Olivier.”

Olivier has stepped in a few times to help us with providing food for events but recently we held our first dinner party since getting married. We strategically planed for Thursday night knowing that Olivier would be around to cook.  And since he was around, we could be adventurous in our menu. We went for a Mexican theme with burritos, chips, guacamole and salsa.

Olivier was quite the team player, following new recipes and perfecting food he has never tasted. In the course of the preparation, he asked Sheila, “are the people coming Nigerian?” When she responded yes, he said, “are you sure they will eat this type of food?” It may sound like a funny question but I have learned that Nigerians love their pepe (pepper), jollof rice and swallow. While they will eat other things, their menu doesn’t deviate much from those items, much less too far off lands. But the dinner party was quite the success and the guests enjoyed the exotic cuisine.

We have set a goal to do these more often and expose our friends to other cuisines from around the world.

In our short time in Nigeria (as a married couple), Sheila and I have developed a reputation…we are “those people that are always inviting people out to do outdoorsy activities…” A few weeks ago, Sheila and I discovered the National Children’s Park and Zoo in Abuja. For the past two years, people had been telling me there was a zoo in Abuja but I did not believe them. On a slow Saturday, we decided to venture to discover this secret zoo in Abuja. Its location is spectacular as it is at the base of Aso Rock, the picturesque rock cropping that rises out of the soul of Abuja. However, the animals were few. And sadly, those animals looked as they had seen a better day…The zoo was extremely disappointing. The park section of the zoo, on the other hand was well maintained with a football pitch, playground and benches for a picnic. Sheila and I decided that for the next outdoor outing, we would invite people out to the Park and Zoo.

This past weekend was Nigerian Independence and a perfect time for a group outing in the park. So Sheila and I invited friends for a fun filled day in the park. We had food, games and music. And no Nigerian gathering is complete without music. And funny enough, we had multiple speakers playing varying types of music – again no Nigerian gathering is complete without dueling speakers! We had the usually games of football (soccer that is) and corn hole.

The Four Teams in the shadows of Aso Rock

But we also had an Independence Day quiz. I enjoy quizzes and I think our guests were equally delighted with the competition. The guests divided into four teams to compete against each other. In the end, we had one clear winner, a tie for second place and a third place team that was “happy to be outside.” It was a great day outside and Sheila and I are already planning our next event.

I have taken a hiatus from my blog because of the busyness of work. We are not only at the end of the quarter, but the end of the fiscal year. So there are reports that have to be written and documents that need to be approved. I am still under a mountain of documents but wanted to take this time to reconnect with my blog.

Today is Nigerian Independence Day! Nigeria is celebrating 56 years since it declared independence from the British Empire. It has been quite an education lesson for me as I have lived in Nigeria for the past 30 months. For the casual observer, Nigeria seems as though it is always in a state of chaos. However, deeper inspection reveals a very complicated country with nearly two hundred million people representing hundreds of tribes and speaking over 500 languages. Nigeria is also a country of stark contrast.  Herdsmen walk cattle down the main freeways of the capital city of Abuja (often times in full view of the guest playing top dollar in the Transcorp Hilton) and Ferrari and Rolls Royce cars stroll the plush neighborhoods of Maitama and Wuse II. It is often said that one in every seven Africans is a Nigerian. The Nigerian influence can be seen all over the African continent and all over the word.

Nigeria’s 56^th year of Independence finds the country in a woeful state. Now, that may seem like a tough word to use to describe the land of green and white, but since my arrival in Spring 2014, the value of the Naira (the currency of Nigeria) has plummeted from 167 Naira to the dollar to 312 Naira to the dollar on the official exchange. That is nearly a 100% depreciation of the country’s currency. Prices of local goods have soared and domestic airlines have struggled to continue flying because of their inability to get dollars. Foreign carriers like Emirates and South African have decreased the number of flights into Nigeria and reorganized flight patterns to ensure they have access to jet fuel. The economy is struggling to rebound because of its connection to the cost of a barrel of oil, Nigeria’s main source of income. Corruption has also had a significant impact on the state of the economy with government leaders pillaging the coffers of the government to fund their lavish lifestyles.

Nigeria is a fascinating place but doesn’t offer much to tourist. While there is a lot to see in Nigeria, including beautiful landscapes, cultural festivals and varying wildlife (not like East Africa), the country has not tried to develop a tourist cultural that is inviting and welcoming to foreigners. Unlike its West African neighbors, Ghana and Senegal, Nigeria has not gone out of its way to mark its connection to the slave trade or developed its beaches in the south. A few weeks ago, Sheila and I were thinking about escaping to Lagos for the weekend. We searched tirelessly for a beach hotel…only to read numerous reviews of disappointed visitors.

As travel writers often say, Nigeria is “Africa for the very experienced.”

Happy Independence Day Nigeria!

I have been extremely busy with work lately…which is why my blog has gone silent. However, my 12 adoring fans (haha) have said they miss me so I have decided to get back on the horse.

In July, Sheila and I had a wedding reception in Lower Alabama (LA – as we South Alabamians like to call it). It was a great opportunity for Sheila to meet my large extended family and extensive friends network. I was so touched by all the people traveling from so far to celebrate with us (Kigali, California, Washington, D.C., Georgia and beyond). Here are a few pictures from that reception. I will also post some photos on Facebook.

I wanted to wish my lovely wife a very Happy Birthday! It has been a very busy two and half months of marriage but extremely thankful that you have been patient in this new journey. Our two and half months have included trips to Seychelles, Nigeria (our new home), the United States (Tennessee, Alabama, Washington, D.C.& Virginia) and Ghana…I’m tired just typing all those places…oh, and let us not forget our unexpected honeymoon in the Frankfurt Airport. Looking forward to many more birthdays together!

In my view, every day should be a day to teach someone something new. So, in honor of that motto, I used Sheila’s surprise birthday gathering on Sunday to teach my Nigerian friends the game corn hole (I would like to say that Sheila had a great time in the process). Corn hole is a very popular game played in the United States. Basically, you toss bean bags to a raised platform in hopes of getting the bean bag in the hole. If you get it in the hole, you score three points. If the bean bag sits on the platform, you get one point. The goal is to be the first team to get to 21 points. It was a fun outing and everyone enjoyed playing the game. Sadly for me, I finished in third place (BRONZE). However, the birthday girl finished in first place (GOLD).

On Tuesday night, Sheila and I were off to dinner to celebrate my birthday. We started a conversation with our driver Peter. He asked me where I was from and I told him that I live in Abuja, Nigeria. His follow up question was, “Are you Nigerian?” I said, no and he quickly retorted, “HOW!” Sheila and I both laughed and I explained to him that all those ships that departed from the continent in the 15^th, 16^th, 17^th and 18^th centuries had my ancestors on them. He then said, “Welcome home.” It was a pretty funny conversation and one that I continue to have over and over. Peter went on to tell us how his grandmother used to tell stories of how her grandfather often sold the stronger members of the tribe to the Europeans and he had a grandfather that made his way from the Caribbean to Ghana after slavery had ended. I am sure that there are other examples of people making the long journey back to the continent after slavery ended.

I didn’t want my blog to focus on the cruelty and inhuman treatment that was extracted on the local population in the name of Christianity. Instead, I wanted to celebrate how the “door of no return” that witnessed millions of Africans leaving the continent, never to return again became the “door of return” as it welcomed descendants of some of those Africans. Slavery is a cruel and horrific stain on the fabric of humanity. But sadly, it continues in new and different forms. Women are often forced into sex slavery and also domestic slavery. Parents unable to make ends meet also sell their children into slavery thinking they may get a better life. The castle at Cape Coast stands as reminder of how low human beings can sink. A recent article said that Ghana has become the first stop for African-Americans tracing their roots. The article went on to say that the experience of visiting the slave fortresses has changed their lives and some have decided to stay. A tour of the castle is a very moving experience and forces both blacks and whites to confront the horrors of slavery.

In 1998, two descendants of African slaves were returned to the continent in a joyous homecoming celebration. Relatives and everyday Ghanaian celebrated their return to Africa, centuries after their ancestors were stolen from their homeland and forced to toil the soil of a strange land. The descendants of African slaves were being returned to the Cape Coast Castle for burial in Ghana. The remains of two persons, Samuel Carson from New York, and Madam Crystal from Kingston, Jamaica, were interred at Assin Manso to signify the re-unification of Africans in the Diaspora with their kin on the African continent. Assin Manso has a deep and lengthy involvement in the African slave trade. Slaves were kept in Assin Manso before being marched to the slave ships along the coast.

I have written on this issue before. In my post, Today was a Good Day, I talked about how Nigerians and other Africans tell me that I should happy that my ancestors were taken from this continent as I got to grow up in the U.S. But what they forget is that my life as an American was built on the backs of my ancestors, who toiled the land of the U.S. without being called an American citizen. In a second post, Go Ask your Grandparents… I talked about my parents participating in one of those DNA test that tells you where your ancestors came from. I was skeptical of the test but my dad was interested in taking the test. We discovered that my dad’s ethnicity is 67 percent from the African continent – 24 percent from Ivory Coast & Ghana, 21 percent Cameroon & Congo, 11 percent Nigeria, 9 percent Senegal and 2 percent Benin & Togo. So basically, the 67 percent ethnicity comes from the countries along the western coast of Africa.  29 percent of my dad’s ethnicity is from Europe, mostly Western Europe (Germany).

My mom on the other had is 49 percent European, 25 percent from Western Europe and 15 percent from Ireland. She is also 48 percent African, 17 percent from Ivory Coast & Ghana, 11 percent from Nigeria, 7 percent from Cameroon & Congo, 4 percent from Senegal, 4 percent from Mali, 3 percent from Benin & Togo, 1 percent Africa Southeastern Bantu and 1 percent South Central Hunter/Gatherers. Once again, 11 percent Nigerian!

West Africa sometimes feels like home to me and the longer I live here, the more I see the similarities that exist between American blacks and West Africans.