0302 Winter 1998.pdf - Friends of Nigeria

" 

Winter 

1998, Vol. 3, NO.2 

Fe'ENP~ OF 

N'~Ee'4 

Inside 

The Arts 1? 

Editorials 8 

FON News 12 

Guest Column ....16 

LIGHTING CANDLES 

FOR HALF A CENTURY 

Profile: Brent Ashabranner 

Letters .4 

Lost RPCV's 10 

Member Forum ..lS 

Nigerian News 5 

U pdates l1 

by Tony Zurlo, 64-66 

Most Nigeria RPCVs may not know or 

remember the name, but he was there at the beginning. 

An education officer with USAID 

when he greeted Sargent Shriver in April 1961 at 

Lagos airport, Brent Ashabranner was sold on the 

Peace Corps idea from the start. He volunteered 

to escort Shriver around Nigeria to meet with 

government leaders. 

"It just seemed to be assumed that I would 

carry on the Peace Corps' business after Shriver 

and his team left, and I did." As Acting Representative 

(Director) in Nigeria, Ashabranner traveled 

the country from Lagos to Kano and into the 

bush making site surveys of the schools receiving 

volunteers, checking on housing, school scheduling, 

and other conditions prior to the Nigeria I 

arrival in September 1961. 

In 1962, Dr. Samuel Proctor became the 

first permanent Director, and Ashabranner returned 

to a staff position in Washington, DC. 

"I was proud of the Peace Corps volunteer 

teachers I knew and worked with in Nigeria. 

They were pioneers in a very real way, tackling 

tough assignments and finding ways to do what 

the Peace Corps expected of them," he writes in 

his published, The Times of My Lift· 

Days after his return to Washington, 

Shriver recruited Ashabranner for the India program. 

He served as deputy director for two years 

and as director from 1964-66. Having completed 

his service in India, Ashabranner returned to 

Washington, first as director of training and finally 

as deputy director of the Peace Corps from 

1967-69. He was honored with the National 

Civil Service League Career Service Award Citation 

in 1968 for his "administrative skill in designing 

constructive programs of self-help as an 

essential contribution toward peace for all 

mankind." 

With the change of administration in 

1968, Ashabranner resigned from the government 

and signed on with the Ford Foundation. He 

was officer-in-charge of the Foundation's Philippines 

program 1972-75 and deputy director of the 

Indonesian program 1976-80. 

Throughout his "second life" overseas, 

Ashabranner always had his family with him, 

Martha teaching in the schools and helping her 

husband with his writing projects, and his two 

daughters experiencing an exceptionally enriching 

childhood. The girls attended schools in 

(Continued on page 2)

., 

2 Winter 1998 

Profile: Brent Ashabranner 

FON NEWSLETTER 

A quarterly news1etter 

published by the 

Friends of Nigeri2, 

an affiliate of the 

, NlI1iooal Peace Corps Association 

Editor 

Tony Zurlo 

libai2@flash.net 

Nigerian News Editor 

VU'giniaDeLancey 

vdelance@indiana.edu 

Layout Editor 

Marge ShannonSnoeren 

snoeren@ix.netcom.com 

••• 

BOARD 

OF DIRECTORS 

Praident 

Marge Shannon Snoeren 

snoeren@ix.neteom.com 

Vice President 

Richard James 

Membenhip Chair 

Peter J. Hansen 

pjhaosen@esther.nwciowa.edu 

Secretary 

Vincent J. Garofalo 

garofv@aquinu.edu 

Newsletter 

Editor 

TonyZurlo 

libai2@f1ash.net 

Directors 

Robert D. Cohen 

rdcoUege@enter.net 

Frieda Fairburn 

frieda@madbbs.com 

Larry Lipton 

llipton@Voicenetcom 

Cathy Zastrow Onyemelul-we 

ambermuse@aol.com 

John Romano 

romanOOl@maroon.te.umn.edu 

Membership direc tones are 

published annuaUy and 

diJrtributed to paid members. 

To become a FON member, 

mail $15 and the completed form 

on the last page of this newsletter to 

FON Membership Chair 

P.O. Box 256 

Orange City, Iowa 51041 

(Continuedfrom page 1) 

Ethiopia, Libya, igeria, and India before 

graduating from high school in Maryland. 

"Martha still travels with me, helps 

with inteIViews,sometimes takes photographs 

for my books and articles, and reads my 

manuscripts with a critical and practiced 

eye." 

Ashabranner's daughters have gone 

on to successful careers of their own. 

Melissa graduated from Temple University 

with a degree in anthropology and completed 

a master's in public and private management 

at Yale University. She and husband Jean 

Keith started a Washington community 

newspaper, Hill Rag, which is "a major voice 

on Capital Hill." Melissa collaborated with 

her father on Into a Strange Land and Counting 

America: The Story if the United States Census. 

Jennifer is a professional, small-pet 

groomer and an award-winning photographer 

whose work has appeared in New York 

Times, USA Today, Partnting, and in textbooks. 

She and her father have worked together 

on several books, including Always to 

Rememher, A Memorial for Mr. Lincoln and A 

Grateful Nation: The Story if Arlington National 

Cemetery. 

Always a writer at heart, Brent 

Ashabranner claims he is in the middle of his 

"third life." Born in 1921 in Shawnee, Okla- 

Judith Block, 66-67, has rendered a series 

of ink drawings based on her fond 

memories of Nigerian traditional lifestyle. 

Drawings on pages 13 and 15 are part 

of her note-card collection. 

CORRECTIONS 

Fall Issue, Vol. 3, No.1 

Page 6 -- Headline should read "2001 

CENSUS APPROVED" 

Page 16 -- The end of George Kanzler's 

article disappeared in the layout machine. 

It should read "What Nigerian bandleader 

played and had his band members playing 

double-necked guitars of his own design as 

early as 1964?" 

homa, Ashabranner attended schools in El 

Reno and Bristow, OK, and got his bachelor's 

at Oklahoma A&M. After four years in 

the avy, he returned to Oklahoma A&M 

where he completed his master's and taught 

English until 1956. His "second life," began 

when the Point Four program invited him to 

help create books and reading material for 

Ethiopian schools. After twenty-five years of 

international service, he retired in 1981, and 

began his "third life" in Williamsburg, Virginia, 

using "this quiet and wonderfully-rich 

cradle of American democracy as a base for 

writing about and interpreting the American 

experience.» 

Finally retired at sixty-one, Ashabranner 

returned full-time to his earliest love- 

writing. He had already established himself 

as a successfiI!writer, with many short stories 

to his credit. With Russell Davis, his Point 

Four partner in Ethiopia, Ashabranner published 

The Lion's Whirkers in 1959. This popular 

introduction to, and collection of, 

Ethiopian folk tales was revised and published 

again in 1996. During the sixties, he 

and Davis co-authored several other children's 

books and two novels. 

The American Library Association 

(ALA) selected six of his books as Notable 

Children's Books--The New Americans: 

Changing Patterns in U. S. Immigration; Gavml 

and lema!: Two Boys of lerusaum; Dark Harvest: 

Migrant Far11lworkers in America; Children 

if the Maya: A Guatemalan Indian 

Odyssey; Into a Stra'lge La'ld: Unaccompanied 

Refugee Youth; and Always to Remember: The 

Story if the Viewam Veterans Memorial. The 

ALA has named To Live i,l Two Worlds: 

Ameruan Indian Youth Today and Always to 

Remember as Best Books for Young Adults. 

Three times the National Council for 

the Social Studies awarded him the Carter G. 

Woodson Award for Non-Fiction for books 

that depict ethnicity in the U.S., and an Outstanding 

Merit Book Award two other years. 

He won the Boston GkJbe Horn Book award 

for Dark Harvest. 

In 1990 he was awarded the Washington 

Post Children's Book Guild Award for his 

career in nonfiction. His book with Russell 

G. Davis The ChocttmJ Code won the 1995 

Oklahoma Center for the Book Award for 

Best Children/Y oung Adult Book. 

In 1996, the National Council of 

Teacher's of English recommended for children, 

his book about the Great Plains Indi-

FON NEWSLETTER Profile: Brent Ashabranner Winter 1998 3 

ans in exile,A Stra1lgeand 

Distant Shore. 

Today, Ashabranner's 

books are required or 

optional reading in courses 

from fourth grade through 

university. McGraw 

Hill's Spotlight on Literature 

lesson plans for grades six 

and seven include his 

books To Live i'1 Two 

Worlds: American bldian 

Y(}uth Today and Always to 

Remember. His book An 

Ancie'lt Heritage, covering 

the experiences of Arab 

Americans and Arab immigration 

to the U.S., is 

recommended reading by 

Cindy Chang, University 

of Washington, English as 

a Second Language Center, 

Seattle. 

Always to Remember 

is recommended by 

Childlit in its Bibliography 

on Vietnam and the War 

prepared by Kay E. Vandergrift, 

Associate Professor, 

School of Communication 

Information and 

Library Studies at Rutgers 

University. The Ne'lv 

Americans is used in a writing 

and reading course and a geography course on race and ethnicity 

at the University of California Berkeley. 

Still a Nation of Immigrants is used in courses on immigration 

in many secondary schools across the country. The New Americans 

is on a short list of readings for the Yale-New Haven Teachers 

Institute's program "Home A Celebration of Cultural Richness 

in Our Community" by Cynthia H. Roberts. The list is endless 

and would require an entire newsletter. 

His writing style is deceptively modest and silently smooth, 

drawing readers immediately into his story. Here's just one example: 

"In Jerusalem the sun shines with a blinding brightness, making 

the ancient city a place of light. The sun washes over the 

Western Wall, that fragment of Herod's Temple most beloved to 

Jews, and makes the huge worn stones look almost white. The sun 

sends flashing spears of light from the Dome of the Rock, precious 

shrine ofIslam. It gives a tawny glow, the color of a lion's hide, to 

the walls of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Christianity's most 

sacred place." (Gavriel and Jemal9). 

After studying this man's life and works, reading his memoirs 

and his book about the Peace Corps A Moment in History: The 

First Ten Years of the Peace Corps, I must conclude that Brent 

Ashabranner is an extraordinary man, not just for his successful 

multiple careers, but especially 

for his modesty in 

our age of vanity. Searching 

carefully for any hint 

of self-promotion in his 

writings will lead readers 

down a dead-end trial. 

Reading his books reveals 

one overwhelming characteristic, 

pointed out by a 

reviewer of his book Our 

Beck(}1lingBorders: Illegal 

Immigration to America: 

"The compassion and 

understanding of the author 

are apparent 

throughout. " 

The topics he 

writes about and his writing 

style reflect the dignity 

of the man. Recognizing 

his refined style 

and vast international experience, 

I asked 

Ashabranner why he 

never wrote for the adult 

commercial market so he 

could make his million. 

His answer reflects his 

humanitarian nature, but, 

even more signiftcantly, it 

reveals the power of writing 

on his own life. 

"It is only in 

childhood that books have a deep influence on us. As adults we 

may enjoy books and learn from them, but they do not at that time 

change or influence our behavior, the way our lives take shape." 

The Christophers , founded by Father James Keller, 

M.M., over 50 years ago, presented Ashabranner with a Christopher 

Award in 1988 for his book Into a Strange Land. These 

awards are "presented to the producers, directors and writers of 

books, motion pictures and television specials which affirm the 

highest values of the human spirit." Their motto is "It's better 

to light one candle than to curse the darkness." 

Ashabranner has been lighting candles for fifty-seven years. 

Rather than cynicallycondemn society for its many sins, Ashabranner 

has written tirelessly to brighten the minds of all young Americans. 

And for Lithuanians, Haitians, Native Americans, South~ 

east Asians, Hispanics, and for all the other ethnic minorities he 

has written about, Ashabranner has "one overriding hope ....that 

the people I write about will emerge as human beings whose lives 

are real and valuable and who have a right to strive for decent 

lives." 

See http://www.childrensbookguild.org/Ashabranner.html 

for an introduction to his work. 

•••••

.'- 


Letters to the Editor 

FON NEWSLETIER 

As the igerian Civil War 

spilled into Warri, 

I was expelled 

from Federal 

Government 

College at gunpoint 

and 

left Nigeria with a great sense 

of despair. Rabbit and 

chicken 

projects were consumed 

but worst of all, my 

students were not able to finish 

their higher 

school program. 

Many friends and colleagues 

were lost in the war 

and I lost touch with everyone. 

Peace Corps was 

tremendous for me personally 

but seemed a disaster in terms 

of my efforts. 

Then in early 1998, 

one of my former students 

contacted me. Preston 

Ukoli-"]\10squito", 

as he 

was affectionately called in 

those day~ontacted me 

based on information from the 

FON program. He is now a 

very successful 

medical doctor 

running a kidney clinic in 

Texas. He married an Afro 

American from Chicago and 

has a new child. He is in 

touch with many of his classmates 

both in Nigeria 

here in the U.S. 

The experience 

and 

of 

seeing him again and knowing 

that something of what I 

worked on during those difficult 

years had come to fruit 

gave me a heartfelt, soaring 

JOY· 

Go Peace Corps, 

Go FON. Go Preston 

Ukoli. 

-Robert R. Abbot, 65-67 

abbco@world'let.alt.'Ie! 

Browsing some Nigeria web 

sites I found and read 

[Marge Shannon's Souvenir 

column in the summer issue] . 

I was quite fascinated by the 

piece because [she] spent some 

time at Ifaki Ekiti, my hometown 

and [her] host, ChiefJO. 

Ojo was one of my role models. 

At the time [she] was in Ifaki ... 

I was in Israel at Hebrew 

U nivesity- Hadassah 

School. 

Medical 

It is quite amazing but 

gratifYing that such an organization 

like yours exists-people 

who still have fond memories 

their experiences in Africa. We 

of 

all, both indigenous Africans 

and Africans in the diaspora, are 

enriched and blessed by your 

dedication and interest in 

Africa, particularly at this time 

when there is so much suffering 

and disappointment on the 

African continent. 

Great 

In response 

-Oluseglln Fayeml; MD 

lfaki914@aol.com 

job on the newsletter! 

to your call for suggestions 

for a name for the 

FON Newsletter, how about 

"Friends of igeria Newsletter" 

(without 

the asterisk)! 

In response 

to your 

call for contributions, Roger 

Landrum's letter in the last issue-in 

which he wished for 

many other types of news as 

well, especially those relevant to 

issues likely to be of interest to 

RPCVs and Nigerians. There 

is more to Nigeria than politics! 

Forexample, [cover] 

efforts in biodiversity 

(and got) really good political 

reporting in the newsletter-stimulates 

me to suggest 

that it could also be a venue for 

conservation, 

population control, public 

health, economic development, 

tourism development (both internal 

and international), sustainable 

agricultural development, 

and international student 

exchange programs. Thanks 

for your efforts. 

--Steve Mantling, 64-66 

smanni'lg@popcpc.ipa.'let 

Ihave a wholly un-literary 

memory [ofWole Soyinka] . 

On one of my PCVvisiting 

trips, I stopped at a 

market (I forget where) and 

bought (after bargaining, of 

course) two pieces of wonderful, 

tie-dyed cloth from the woman 

who made them while I 

watched. Each was a different 

design. Sometime later, at the 

University of Ife in Ibadan, I 

mentioned this to Wole (I forget 

why) and he took me to his 

tailor who made a shirt of each. 

I gave one as a gift; I still have 

the other - it's great. 

-Murray Frank, 61-64 

mfrank@vine)'ard'iet 

Iam a public school teacher in 

North Carolina. I am trying to 

teach my students a Nigerian 

boat song and the music book 

does not give a translation. The 

song goes; eh soom boo kawaya 

ke doom do dee. There is repetition 

but it's a variation of the 

same lines. 

I like for my students 

to know what they are 

learning and many haw asked 

what it is saying. Any help you 

could 

appreciated. 

render would be greatly 

Thanks. 

-Dave 

plai'lv@sampson.kI2. 

As a student of third world 

Stmtz. 

'1(, us 

politics, I am working on a paper 

dealing with the transition to 

democracy in Nigeria. I am 

focusing on the different transition 

processes under 

General 

Babangida, General Abacha, 

and General Abubakar, with 

emphasis on Abubakar's transition 

program 

and on Nigeria's 

democratization prospects. 

I am writing to ask 

if [anyone] can provide me 

with information. I especially 

need details of the Abacha and 

Abubakar 

Surfing 

period. 

-Fra1/Coise Legere 

Stel:1Jwegop Mol 11 

2300 Tlirnho'lIt, BdgiJl11/ 

the net at a friend's 

place ... I came across FON's 

[site listing] its Board of Directors 

and consequently 

[Bob Cohen's] name. I began 

to wonder if [he was] the 

Cohen who taught at my 

school-Government College 

Umuahia in the then-Eastern 

Nigeria around 1963-64. At 

the same time also was a Ms. 

Halstead. 

Even if [he is] not 

the Mr. Cohen that I am talking 

about, I would like [him] 

and all other members of the 

Peace Corps organization to 

know that a majority of us 

who journeyed to the U.S. to 

study and improve our minds 

owe that inspiration 

to you 

and your colleagues. I live in 

Philadelphia and work for the 

city as a research analyst with 

the Department of Health. 

This is an opportunity 

I cannot miss to say 

"Thanks 

Loved 

Carroll 

y'all". 

-Ed 

Ukaegbll 

Ed Ukaegbll@phila.gov 

your article on Tim 

in the latest issue. 

Also enjoyed reading everything 

else. It really does take 

you right back. Imagine 

Frieda [Fairburn] taking on 

the Philippines. 

Martha (Sum1/) DYC'kes,63-65 

d)t·kes@henge.com


Nigerian News 

Winter 1998 5 

Three Parties Qualify for National 

Assembly, Presidential Elections 

Lagos-to-Abuja 

Express Train Planned 

by Virginia DeLancey, 62-64 

Three 

of the nine parties participating 

in the December 5 elections 

qualified to continue in state and national 

elections early next year. Each 

secured at least five percent of the vote 

in two-thirds of Nigeria's 36 states. The 

election was to select some 774 council 

chairs and about 

8500 councillors. 

People's Democratic Party 

(PDP) won 59% of the seats (389 

chairs, 3342 councillors). All People's 

Party (APP) won 26% (182 chairs, 

1456 councillors). Alliance for Democracy 

(AD) came in third with slightly 

more than 13% (100 chairs, 744 councillors). 

AD did not quite meet the required 

number of votes, but the Independent 

National Electoral Commission 

conducting the elections, yielded to a 

clause which provides that if only two 

parties qualified, the party which finished 

third would also be allowed to 

continue. 

The six parties which cannot 

continue, now begin to negotiate with 

the three continuing parties for representation 

in the transition government. 

PDP is composed of politicians 

opposed to former military ruler 

General Sani Abacha and includes former 

military leader General Olusegun 

Obansanjo, a declared presidential candidate. 

APP is comprised 0 f a number 

of supporters of Abacha. AD is supported 

mainly by Yorubas. APP has 

encouraged AD to merge with other 

parties to increase the possibility of electing 

a southern President. It has advised 

Obasanjo, PDP's Yoruba candidate, to 

drop his presidential ambitions since he 

did not make Nigeria great when he was 

head of state before. 

About 27 million-47% of the 

electorate- turned out in peaceful voting 

throughout the country. Some reports 

claim 14 people died in scattered 

incidents, mostly in the Niger Delta 

where conflict is common in that oilproducing 

area. 

Several leaders of AD and the 

National Chairman of APP were among 

those who declared the elections a 

rigged sham. However, the Commonwealth 

reported satisfaction with the voting, 

as did the Transition Monitoring 

Group, a coalition of 45 human rights 

organizations in Nigeria. 

Key future dates on the electoral 

calendar are: January 9, state elections; 

February 2, national assembly 

elections; and February 27, presidential 

elections, with a possible run-off March 

6. Handover to civilian government is 

scheduled May 29. 

Pipeline Explosion Kills 700 in Niger Delta 

Over 

700 were killed in the 

Atiegwo community of Jesse near 

Warn, when a leaking petrol pipeline 

exploded into flames shooting 65 feet 

into the air, October 17. The entire area 

was engulfed in flames for a week before 

the fire could be extinguished. Hundreds 

were hospitalized with bums as 

medical teams from UN agencies, the 

Red Cross, and Israel set up clinics in 

Jesse where few have phones or radios. 

Many more refused medical care fearing 

arrest for gasoline theft of vandalizing 

the pipeline. 

In the poverty-ridden 

Niger 

Delta, people were salvaging free, scarce 

fuel from the leak when the explosion 

occurred. Bodies were found still 

clutching plastic cans and funnels. 

Cause of the explosion is not known, but 

atmosphere charged with fumes from 

leaking 

petrol could have been lit by a 

announced 

The Minister 

of Transport 

plans for express-train 

seIVice between Lagos and Abuja, 

reducing travel time from 12 hours by 

bus to four hours by train. An indirect 

rail line currently exists but is in 

disrepair. The proposed new seIVice is 

part of a general effort to upgrade the 

country's rail network. Tenders have 

been submitted 

by several engineering 

firms to complete the work. 

Completion of a $528 million 

reconstruction of the railway system by 

the Chinese is delayed due to the failure 

of igeria to provide agreed upon 

supplies. The Chinese have provided 35 

of an agreed-upon 50 locomotives and 

300 of 400 rail cars for the network. 

(Source: Reuters, Sept. 16; AFP, Dec. 10) 

spark from scavangers' 

cigarette. 

The above-ground 

tools or a lighted 

pipeline is not 

secured. Laid in the early 70s, it runs 380 

miles from Warn to Kano. Nigerian National 

Petroleum Corporation and its joint-venture 

partner Shell did not remedy the leak in time 

to prevent the explosion and deaths caused a 

day after locals discovered the leak. 

(SOtirce: AP, Oct. 20, 21, 23) 

Nigeria To Play In Third 

Women's World Cup 

Nigeria claimed a place in the 

Women's World Cup when it reached the 

African Women's Championship final beating 

Cameroon 6-0. Nigeria makes a third straight 

appearance in the Women's World Cup finals 

to be held in the US June 19 through July 10. 

(SOtirce: AP, Nov. 1)

" 

6 Winter 1998 Nigerian News 

FON NEWSLETIER 

Experts Discuss Nigerian Constitution 

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), convened constitutional 

experts in London last November to discuss Nigeria's constitution-making process and 

methods. The group was brought together by pro-democracy and human rights leaders 

who met last August after General Abubakar announced a transition program. 

CDD, aided by the Swedish International Institute for Democracy and Electoral 

Assistance, encourages constitutional debate. It was formed by West Africans to 

encourage the creation and consolidation of democracy in the region. 

Experts from non-Nigerian 

settings helped compile a report useful 

in the unique Nigerian situation. The 

meeting concentrated on process and 

best-practice mechanisms, especially 

related to the production of an inclusive 

document, and strengthening constituencies 

whose support is crucial to 

attain a document of the people. 

For more information, contact 

Sonny Onyegbula, Centre for Democracy 

& Development +4-4-171-4-07 

0772 or sonyegbula@cdd.org.uk Documents 

are on www.africapolicy.org 

(Sotlree: African Policy InformatWn Gtr.) 

US Post Office Intercepts 

Nigerian Scam Letters 

u.S. postal agents have intercepted 

over two million letters from Nigerian scam 

artists. Such letters have bilked Americans of 

$100 million a year by claiming to be from 

Nigerian government officials promising to 

transfer millions of dollars out of Nigeria into 

the recipients' bank accounts if the recipients 

pay legal fees and costs. The letters are often 

mailed using counterfeit stamps, as well. 

(Sotlrce: AP, Nov. 10) 

Salary Increases for Civil 

Service, Government 

Nigeria's government agreed 

to triple the salaries of most of the 

800,000 civil servants, and increase the 

national benchmark wage, beginning 

September 1. Civil service minimum 

wage is the benchmark for local 

government and private wages. A 700% 

increase brings the minimum wage to 

5200 naira ($61) a month, up from 800 

naira monthly. 

The new president sworn in 

May 29 will receive a salary of 350,000 

naira ($4,100) per month, up from 

87,000 naira. The Vice President and 

Chief Justice will earn 286,800 naira 

($3,375), monthly, up from 77,400 

naira. Salaries will go from 58,200 to 

216,000 naira ($2,540) a month for 

ministers and senior judges and will 

climb from 36,600 to 135,600 naira 

($1,595) for ordinary members of 

parliament .. (Salim: AFP, Sepf. 3) 

Charges of Corruption in Abaeha Regime Continue 

General Abubakar's press secretary 

has charged General Sani Abacha 

stole $2.5 billion in addition to $1 billion 

illegally removed from the Central Bank 

of Nigeria. Abubakar says the government 

has retrieved $750 million from the 

Abacha family and 37 government properties 

illegally appropriated by Abacha's national 

security advisor. Some estimate that 

the Abacha family still retains an illegally 

earned fortune of $3 to $6 billion. 

Abacha's younger brother, Abdulkadir, 

a retired army major, is accused 

of securing lucrative and inflated contracts 

worth one billion naira from the Nigerian 

Customs Service which were either poorly 

executed or not done at all. 

Abacha's former finance minister, 

Chief Anthony Asuquo Ani, was arrested 

and detained for questioning regarding 

the handling of five-billion-naira 

Gwarinpa housing project in the Federal 

Capital Territory. He was later released. 

Ani claims Abubakar empowered him to 

search, discover, and bring back $1.3 billion 

systematically withdrawn from foreign 

reserves and channeled into private accounts, 

by Alhaji Gwarzo. He claims to 

have recovered $700 million. A government 

representative said Ani "was being economical 

with the truth," and the recovery was the 

work of National Security Adviser, Major 

General Abdullahi Mohammed. Another 

source claims Gwarzo surrendered $250 

million in cash stashed in 80 trunks. 

Major Hamza al-l\lustapha, 

Abacha's Chief Security Officer, was arrested 

and held for questioning about ammunition 

found in his palatial Kano home. 

Nigerian newspapers have alleged 

that Abacha shared his loot from the nation's 

treasury with \Vest African leaders to pursue 

personal interests and public relations for 

Abacha's regime. Ghana's President. Rawlings 

denied initial reports that Abacha made 

large payments to him. 

The Swiss say they are willing to 

assist Nigeria in recovering stolen money 

placed in Swiss banks, if Nigeria's president 

makes a formal request for such assistance. 

The oil industry is alleged to be 

the main source of corruption. Reports 

claim money was taken at every level of 

drilling and refining, with Abacha and 

confidants appropriating profits for personal 

gain and development in orthern 

'igeria. Angry citizens of the oil-rich 

delta area have disrupted oil production, 

believing their region is not sharing in 

development paid for by oil profits. They 

point to the lack of telephone service, electricity, 

and other basic selvices in the 

delta. Disruption of oil production and 

malfunctioning dilapidated refineries have 

caused the world's sixth-largest oil producer 

to be unable to meet its domestic 

fuel needs, while enriching former leaders. 

It is interesting to note, however, 

that Nigeria is no longer considered the 

most corrupt country in the world. With 

the addition of three more countries in the 

sUPo'eythis year, the European NGO 

Transparency International, gave this distinction 

to Cameroon, and moved Nigeria 

to fifth of 85 countries, also behind 

Paraguay, Honduras, and Tanzania. 

(Salim: AP, Nov./,; Nigeria Toda), 

Nov. /6, Dee 3, 7)


Nigerian News Winter 1998 7 

Maternal Death Rate Increasing 

Increased maternal death rates were reported by doctors at the November conference 

of the Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria in Benin City. 

University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu area, reported 1259 

maternal deaths per 100,000 live births 1991-97. That is five times greater than the 270 

deaths per 100,000 live births recorded 1976 -85. At University College Hospital, 

Ibadan, maternal mortality count was 2360 in 1997, compared to 1102 in 1988, and alltime 

high of 3157 in 1994. Leading causes of death were post-abortion sepsis, eclampsia, 

and hemorrhage. Usman Dan Fodio University Teaching Hospital in Sokoto, has a 

maternal mortality rate of 2138, with the major cause of death being ruptured uterus. At 

Obafemi Awolowo Teaching Hospital, lIe-Ife, the abortion mortality rate is 277 per 

100,000 deliveries, 25.8% of maternal deaths 1987-96. Federal Medical Centre, 

Umuahia, reported cesarean section accounted for 27% of maternal deaths 1980-97. 

No figures were provided for the overall rate of maternal mortality. Doctors 

12 Nigerian Primate 

Species Endangered 

Twelve primate species are 

threatened with extinction in Nigeria 

due to loss of habitat from over-logging 

and increased hunting and poaching, 

reports Adegoke Adegoroye, former 

Director General of the Federal Environmental 

Protection Agency. 

Among those threatened are 

the white-throated monkey, found only 

in Nigeria, and the drill monkey. Adegoroye 

noted that several animals had 

already become extinct in Nigeria, including 

the pygmy hippopotamus, the 

giraffe, and the black rhinoceros. 

(Sotlrce: AFP, Dec. 5) 

Candidate's 

Record 

Donation To His Party 

Raises Questions 

Eyebrows 

were raised when General 

Olusegun Obasanjo donated 130 million naira 

($1.5 million) to the Peoples Democratic Party 

(PDP) on whose ballet he intends to run for 

president. The donation is the largest 

contribution ever made by an individual to any 

Nigerian 

political party. 

Obasanjo claims the money came 

from friends and supporters, who must remain 

anonymous, and he has been a chicken farmer 

without major income since he handed over 

the presidency in 1979. 

(Source: AFP, Nov. 16) 

blamed the deteriorating situation on the 

economic recession and the resulting 

decline in funds available to the country's 

health services. 

more government 

They requested 

funds for maternity 

services, in general, and to make emergency 

obstetric care available, affordable, 

and accessible throughout the country. 

(Somee: AFP, Nov. 29) 

Nigeria and British Ainvcrys 

Cooperate to Increase 

Lagos-London Flights 

British Airways and Nigeria 

Airways announced a cooperative effort 

to increase regular flights between London 

and Lagos. Beginning in November, 

Nigeria Airways will fly Lagos to 

London Heathrow on Monday, 

Wednesday, and Friday mornings, and 

have flights to Lagos on Sunday, Tuesday, 

and Thursday nights. 

General Abubakar reopened 

the Lagos-London air route last July 

after it was closed by General Abacha in 

a diplomatic dispute with Britain. 

British Airways had already resumed 

flights, but Nigeria Airways was unable 

to since it has only three planes. 

A Nigeria Airways spokesman 

said action is being taken to reduce the 

airline's debt and allow it to return soon 

to International Aviation Transport Association 

(lATA) from which it was 

expelled over debts in 1989. He also 

called for restructuring and privatization 

in order to secure the airlines future. 

(Source: AFP, &pt. 12, 29) 

SOYINlZA 

RETURNS 

Playwright and Nobel Laureate 

Wole Soyinka returned to Nigeria October 14 

after almost four years. He slipped over the 

border 

and into exile in 1994 when the milital)' 

dictatorship--which he opposed--banned him 

from traveling. Soyinka spent most of his time 

in the U.S. continuing to write and call for 

Western sanctions to force Abacha to resign 

and recognize Moshood Abiola winner of the 

1993 elections which were annulled. In 1997, 

Soyinka was charged in absentia for treason 

over a bombing campaign against the milital)'. 

This year General Abubakar freed 

many political prisoners 

Utilities To Be Privatized 

Plans are complete 

and in September 

dropped charges against exiles, calling them 

home to take part in the new democracy plan. 

Abubakar met with Soyinka in New York and 

asked him to return. Thousands greeted 

Soyinka at the Lagos airport. Chanting, 

dancing, and singing Soyinka's name, the 

crowd carried him to a convoy which took him 

into the city. 

His first stop was to visit the 

Abiola family. 

Soyinka continues to speak out for 

what he believes; in December, he criticized 

the decision to hold local elections so soon 

after the end of a milital)' dictatorship. He 

insists that a national assembly, charged with 

assessing what kind of government the country 

wants, should have been set up instead. 

(SOtirce: Retlfers, Oct. 15; AFP, Oct. 14, Dec. 

for privatization 

of the electricity corporation, 

NEPA, and telecommunications corporation, 

NITEL. Bureau of Public Enterprises, 

which oversees parastatal enterprises, 

will advertise internationally 

for investors to purchase 40% shares in 

both corporations. 

Privatization of fertilizer plants 

and four domestic oil refmeries was announced 

when W orId Bank Vice President 

for Africa was in Nigeria to talk 

with business leaders and General 

Abubakar. 

(Source: AFP, Sept. 14).

" 



I Opinion & Editorial I 

A Proposal: 

1000 Volunteers for Nigeria 

by Tom Hebert, 62-64 

Because the Peace Corps is spread thin and has limited funding, it needs to be emphasized up front 

that... [this] initiative must be pursued by Nigerians and a Nigerian government, this one or the next. If Nigeria 

could use 1000 Peace Corps Volunteers to help rebuild its educational system, it must take the lead. Oil 

companies and the American government are not likely to do this on their own. But they may listen tu reason. 

Nigeria is too important to ignore in its hour of rebirth. 

Initial Features for the 1000 PC Volunteers/ Nigeria project: 

1) A single, focused field of assignment: education (both primary and secondary schools?). 

2) Recruiting recently-graduated volunteers (lots of BA generalists), as well as mid-career and retired 

teachers (go to AARP and the teacher unions). 

3) Trainees intensely trained in teaching skills before they leave U.S. (a crash course). 

4) Further in-country orientation and training. 

S) Regular in-country teaching workshops and clinics. 

6) On-going training and support through Distance Learning via the internet leading towards a 

portable American Teaching Certificate. 

7) Through the National Peace Corps Association, a volunteer support base on the internet 

(Americans lining up behind individual Nigerian students). A related support element could be a school-toschool 

buddy system between cooperating American public schools and Nigerian sister-schools. 

8) A partnership relationship with Apple Computer. 

9) To manage the Peace Corps end of things, a separate Nigerian Task Force inside the Peace 

Corps to be funded by American oil companies ....All other Administrative costs to be picked up by Nigerian 

government based on existing formulas and experience with other countries. 

10) A clear and positive plan for in-country security for volunteers. 

11) In order to jump-start this project soon, Peace Corps could send in a few Crisis Corps people 

in several skill areas. This would help in four interlocking ways. First, it would show our government's rightnow 

interest in the future (the rebirth) of Nigeria. Second, with the governmental and local connections it 

would make, Peace Corps would gain valuable information about how to structure its future relationship with 

Nigeria. Third, within a few months, Peace Corps would have a firsthand knowledge of the security situation 

facing Nigerian PCVs. Fourth, it would demonstrate to skeptics that a large teaching program would work. 

12) FaN could secure a contract with Peace Corps to seek out and identify those Nigerian RPCVs 

who would be willing to go in soon for a stint, perhaps for a year as Peace Corps Associates (an old moniker). 

Perhaps better than the Peace Corps funding this Fa talent search would be an American oil company. 

13) The Congressional Black Caucus, down the line and towards the Nigerian election could be a 

source of project support. 

14) Initial DC-based discussion group needed to piece this thing together: Chuck Baquet, Maureen 

Carroll, Joan Timoney, Roger Landrum, Tim Carroll, Walter Carrington, C. Payne Lucas, Gerry 

Schwinn, Delano Lewis, Marge Snoeren (RPCV FaN s, et al). A dinner with the above list at an Ethiopian 

restaurant might be good way to begin? 

IS) The first Peace Corps country director should/could be a Nigeria RPCV. This provides good 

symmetry: the volunteers return to their second home, igeria. However, this feature could give way if an 

American of formidable national stature would take the job. Someone who would bring the press along with 

her or his appointment. In any event, this appointment should be outside the usual Peace Corps process. 

16) A primary goal: the new Nigerian president, on his first day of office, to meet for 15 minutes 

with the Director of the Peace Corps to announce the 1000 PC Volunteers for igeria project. 

17) The new Nigerian president could meet the plane carrying the first volunteers. 

Editor's Note: We iwvite 

YOII to setld your ideas about 

thefuture role of FaN. 

Here are two concepts 

worthy of cireulation. 

Beginning with the Spring 

1999 issue, FaN 

NI"/Vsletler will nm a 

series by R~ger u11Idmm, 

61-63, founder of Youth 

Service [nternatWt/a!, 

addressing the mission of 

organizations such as Peace 

Corps, National Peace 

Corps As.rociatWtl,and 

FaN, as we head into the 

twenty-first century. Tom 

Hebert's proposal is edited 

becallSeof limited space. 

Jim Garofalo's response 

prvvides an equally 

challenging idea of how 

RPCVs, after two to three 

decades of work, can offir 

our mature experience to 

supplement Nigeria's 

progress.


Opinion and Editorial Winter 1998 9 

A Response: 

by Jim Garofalo, 62-64 

I suggest that we consider 1000 Volunteers for Nigeria, 

but let this grow from the ranks of Returned Nigerian Peace Corps 

Volunteers who link up their contacts and concerns with those in 

Nigeria who have similar interests. 

For example, three projects that I devote much 

of my time to are Save the Rainforest Foundation, Conductive Education-a 

strategy to work with severely motor-impaired people, 

particularly pre-school and school-age children, which has incredible 

success with people reaching both physical and cognitive potentials-and 

Reggio Emila-an approach to pre-school and earlyschool 

education which focuses on communication through the arts 

which grows into language literacy. 

With my experiences and knowledge in these areas, I 

could work at hooking up Nigerian individuals and agencies- 

possibly government agencies--with these groups and work to see 

Mature Expertise for Nigeria 

Impressions 

from a Recent Visit to South Africa 

that meaningful conversations and projects emerge. With this approach, 

I don't impose an American vision of what is good for 

Nigeria. I offer to grow a network of contacts, to link up ongoing 

American concerns with various segments of Nigeria. 

If 1000 of us took on such an effort--possibly coordinated 

by Peace Corps or FON, possibly another agency or even an 

individual-we could share our maturity and collective expertise 

with equal numbers of Nigerians. The ripple effect from this effort 

would be felt into the third generation and would not be so 

dependent on American or Nigerian government dispositions. 

We would work toward something that grows from our 

experience and knowledge, rather than repeat or copy something 

that we did almost forty years ago. 

I appreciate Tom Hebert's proposal. It has caused me to 

reflect on how it could be made more powerful. 

Possibly my ideas would allow us to eventually construct 

something that all of us can agree is worthy of our time and effort. 

by David C. Woolman, 64-67 

This past July I traveled to 

South Africa with my wife, Ina Stene, 67 

69, to attend the Tenth World Congress 

of Comparative Education Societies at the 

University of Cape Town where I presented 

a paper "National Political Integration 

and Preservation of Cultural Diversity: 

A Challenge for Education in A Pluralistic 

\Vorld". The conference focused 

on the theme of "Education, Equity and 

Transformation" and was hosted by the 

Southern African Comparative and History 

of Education Society. 

This was the fIrst major international 

education conference to be held in 

South Africa since 1935. This forum enabled 

scholars in the fIeld of international 

education to focus on issues like culture, 

curriculum, gender, indigenous education, 

language, literacy, national integration, 

peace and justice education, special 

needs, teacher education and other issues 

of immediate concern in the reconstruction 

of the mission and practice of education 

in post-Apartheid South Africa. 

A higWight of our journey was a 

reunion with Dr. Mokubung Nkomo who 

also attended the conference to present a 

collaborative research paper on gender and 

status attainment in plural societies. In the 

1960's Mokubung left his home in South 

Africa for Swaziland to seek a better secondary 

education which was denied him 

under Apartheid because of his race. He 

then came to the United States to complete 

his education, earning a doctorate from the 

University of Massachusetts. 

Mokubung taught with distinction 

at the University of North Carolina and 

directed the South Africa Partnership Program 

at the ew School for Social Research 

in New York City. Two ofhis books published 

in the 1980s, Studtnt Culture and .1( 

ti'llism irl Blil


Opinion 

& Editorial 


(Continued Fom page 9) 

schemer of British imperial expansion in 

Africa. His railroad plans ran out of 

steam somewhere in Central Africa far 

short of Cairo. Yet some of Rhodes' 

legacy, the development of agriculture, 

mining and transportation, continues to 

serve as the backbone of South Africa's 

economy. 

Today this is a country of profound 

contrasts on the threshold of transformation; 

the mix includes diverse cultures, 

great extremes of inequality and a 

juxtaposition of traditional and modem 

economies. However, both Gandhi's experience 

and the long entrenchment of 

settler colonialism before and during 

Apartheid remind us that South Africa has 

witnessed one of the tightest linkages of 

racism with power in recent history. Many 

people here in my generation were systematically 

denied the educational opportunity 

to achieve their full potential because of their 

race. Today, thankfully, they are more certain 

and hopeful that the future will give 

their children a better chance. 

South Africa is only beginning 

what will undoubtedly be a long journey of 

national reconstruction. It is a time when 

much healing is needed. The vision is to 

create a rainbow nation. What that will 

mean in terms of policy development will 

emerge through a process of political negotiation 

and competition between groups and 

parties. There will be a long road to travel 

before anything close to equality of opportunity 

for all can be realized because at present 

the gaps are wide. 

However, a giant stride forward 

has occuned in the last decade, for today 

all South Africans have gained the freedom 

to struggle within the political system 

to advance their well-being. That fundamental 

right was denied by the old order 

which, before 1990, made race the basis by 

which a minority imposed its power and 

domination over the majority. I for one 

am hopeful that the new South Africa will 

find a peaceful road to socialjustice and 

economic stability for all its people. 

Editor's Note: Dr. 

TVoolma11 is Professor 

mid Director of the Clln";Ctllum Resources 

Cmter. His rt!search fields are il1 Educational 

Studies with focus 011history and mlturaljol/1/datiQ11S 

of educatum and inte,-natiQ11aleducati01t. 

LOOKING FOR LOST RPCV'S 

There are hUl1dreds of Nigeria RPCVs for whom FON has 110currel1t address. If )'011ha'Utl il1fomlati01t about a1/] of these 

people, please C01/tact Membership Chair Peter Ha1lSell, Box 256, Ora11ge City, fA 51041, pjhal1sen@esther.11wciowa.edu. 

Donald J Heider, 

William R Heilig, Robert H Heilmann, Harvey B Hensley, Janice K Henwood, Jonathan L Hesse, 

Jay R Hessey, Anne E Higgins, Jessie W Hinton, Jane (Brown) Hirsch, Ervin R Hobbs, Karla Hodgson, John 

Hofstetter, Michael A Hryhoryszyn, Olivia A Hunter, Margaret E Invin, Brian BJackson, Larry R Jackson, Robert 

D Jackson, Neal H Jacobs, Leon C Jacobson, Donald A Johnson, Karl E Johnson, Barry C Johnston, Hope C Jones, 

Walter J Jones, William R Jones, Yvette D Jones, Edna J Joyce, Gary Kariker, 

Harriet L Karmon, Mary Jay A 

Kaufmann, Jocelyn A Kavanagh, Ann Keeler, John W Kelly, Kerry K Kelly, Anna C Kemp, Judith E Kettering, Merlyn 

H Kettering, Jack D Kilpatrick, Jamel J Kilpatrick, Carol Norton King, Jeffrey P King, Barbara J Kingston, Joseph D 

Klafehn, Phyllis A Klafehn, Ivan Klein, Phyllis M Klein, Gary Knamiller, Bonnie B Kneibler, Mary J Koenig, Robert G 

Koepp, Charles T Kollerer, David D Koren, Cheryl A Kraft, James B & Harriet Lancaster, 

David L Landau, Nancy C 

Lany, Lucinda A Lee, James R Lent, Gail S Lewin, Mary C Liddell, Robert C Lile, Mary J Little, Jane L Littleton, 

Janice L Lobbia, Linda L Lodholm, Randall J Longcore, Ann M Lord, John G Lord Jr, Janet E Lott, Glyn D Lovely, 

Stephen R Lowry, Richard E Lucas, David F Lundberg, Arthur R Lyons, Charles P Lyvers, John F MaCDonald, 

Gail L MacMillan, John P Mades, Carol A Magnusson, SalvatoreJ Magri, Louis P Maire, Laverne S Majors, Doris A 

Manolescu, William E Manthey, Wesley F Martin,Harold J Matthews, William S MCArdle, Harold P McAvoy, 

William A McCafferty, Calvert C McCann, Thomas J McCarthy, Priscilla T McClain, Howard McClain Jr, John L 

McClure, Robert R McCollor, John E McComas, Nancy J McConachie, Robert A McDonald Jr, Chuck McDowell, 

Sandra McGowan, William J McIntyre, William W McLean (or McClean), Maureen McTigue, Bert Meltzer, 

Gloria J Merlo, Frank Meyer, Roger F Miersch.


RPCV UPDATES I 


BLAKE PATTERSON. 63-65 

I took a leisurely six years getting my PhD in plasma 

physics. I had fun doing music and helped produce operas with a 

student who became director of Y City Opera. I fought with the 

Music Department, which envied our success, about "good" music, 

good tone, and musical dynamics. The latter became an article, 

"Musical Dynamics," in Scientific American, ovember 1974. 

My first post-PhD job was second bassoonist with the 

ew Jersey Symphony. On April 8, 1973 I spotted a pretty girl in 

the audience, Ellen Jackson, and we've been together ever since. 

In 1975 I landed a job at Bell Telephone Labs and 

bought a 30-room handy-man special with two acres on the 

Shrewsbury River and a big room for chamber-music concerts. 

I was never interested in climbing the management ladder, 

and my job was rarely technical or scientific, but till Divestiture 

(1984) the social scene was good, there were employee clubs 

for every interest, and I formed a small employee orchestra that 

gave many lunch-hour concerts. 

After the Bell System split, managers killed those interpersonal 

benefits. I was assigned to Bellcore, the new Bell Labs, 

where I fought unsuccessfully against a big project that I felt was 

doomed to fail. (I was half right.) 

I spearheaded a successful class-action lawsuit against 

AT&T, Bellcore, Bell Labs, and the seven operating companies. 

It was about keeping service credit when changing jobs between 

former Bell System companies. Back at Bell Labs I fought unsuccessfully 

for better writing--dear, concise, and grammatically correct. 

In 21 working years my one creative project used computers 

and speech synthesizers to replace live operators in a 

Chicago "reverse" telephone-directory service. 

In 1991 I set up my own company to sponsor a 900 

number service that is a reverse directory for the whole US and 

Canada (the UnDirectory Service, 900-933-3330, $1 a minute.) I 

thought it would make me rich. 

Wrong again! (I'm a lousy marketer.) But, it earns 

maybe $20k per year and requires little ongoing effort. Finally I'm 

CEO of something! Of course, I'm also the receptionist, mail boy, 

and janitor. 

Ellen is the family executive: past president of AAUW, 

PT A, school-board member, curator of a colonial farmhouse. 

Early 1996 I convinced Ellen that we had the resources to coast to 

the end, took an AT&T buyout offer, and retired. (I never earned 

much, but we live frugally. Never bought a new car, for example.) 

I now play bassoon in five orchestras. One performed in 

Carnegie Hall last fall. Another did three operas this summer. In 

December I'll do a dozen Nutcracker ballets. I fondly remember 

playing in The Mikadc, and Gianni Schiahi in Ibadan. 

\Ve have two children, Greer and Grant, entering eighth 

and ninth grade, playing cello and French horn, respectively. 

They are nice people. Grant walked off with most of the achievement 

awards at his eighth-grade graduation. Once they are in college 

I look forward to a more nomadic life. I'd like to spend winters 

someplace warm, such as south Florida. 

ROSALIE PETERSON BHATNAGAR. 66-68 

I worked for a while in New Jersey in ADC for welfare 

but that was very disheartening. Then in '69 I moved to Ireland to 

teach. I met my husband who is from India. (He was a marine 

biologist with the government there.) We were married in 1970. 

We have three children, all born in Dublin. Anna 

Sushila isjust 25 and she is a registered nurse in Kansas City. 

Karl Mohan is 24 and a chemical engineer working for Trinity 

Consultants also living in KC but will be traveling this winter 

working as a consultant in cement production, controlling air pollution 

in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. Our 

youngest, Radha Lorena, is 17and a senior in high school. She is 

a musician (piano, viola and tenor saxophone). 

Hubby Krishan took early retirement and we came back 

to live in Kansas in 1988 to spend a period of our lives living near 

my parents who were living on the farm. We felt it was time to 

move near them as I am an only child and our kids are the only 

grandchildren. 

Krishan now works as a chef, which is something he has 

always wanted to do. We are trying to get our act together to open 

our own restaurant here in Lindsborg which will specialize in Indian 

cuisine. 

I was a teacher in Ireland and attended Trinity College, 

Dublin, where I got a higher diploma in education and a diploma 

in computers in education from the college of engineering. 

Now I am a substitute teacher and am attempting to 

compile my letters home from Nigeria (which my mother 

saved...all of them) into some orderly fashion. 

DENNIS S. FURBUSH. 61-63 

I taught at Government College Kaduna for two years before returning 

to the States. Worked at Reader's Digest in advertising 

research for 20 years, took early "retirement" in 1985 when the 

company was downsizing. 

Have lived in New York city since 1964, bought a house 

in Jackson Heights in the now-historic district. Belong to a number 

of canal grou ps, such as the Canal Society of New Jersey and 

have gone on a number of overseas trips on canals where we rent 

boats for several weeks and live aboard. 

Also belong to the Society for Industrial Archeology and 

have done many of their study tours, to England, Iceland, Scotland 

and Alaska-Yukon. • ••


FON News 


FON Annual Membership 

Meeting Slated For St. Paul 

.. Mark your calendars for August 12-15, 1999. The National Peace Corps Asso- 

CIatIon(!,!PCA) ISstagmg the 20th reunion of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers at the 

U illve~lty of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. And FON is planning some special 

events Just for our members. Friday afternoon sessions will be for country of service 

groups to meet. FON will hold its Annual Membership Meeting at that time to vote 

a new Board of Direc~ors for the next two years, as well as major program issues. 

Fnday evemng the Board is planning a dinner event for all FON members 

The hottest suggestion so far seems to . 

be a private house party with taped highlife 

music from the 60's. The Board has 

the music; it's just looking for a 

Minneapolis-St. Paul host such a 

catered event. (Contact John Romano 

with suggestions at: 

roomanOOl@maroon.tc.umn.edu.) 

If you've never made it to a 

RPCV Reunion, you are in for a treat. 

This year's conference will celebrate the 

concept of peace and the aspiration to 

achieve peace. Sessions will include discussions 

of mediation, conflict resolution, 

and coexistence with conflicting 

values. Saturday's evening banquet will 

be held at the Hilton in downtown 

Minneapolis. 

For those of you not familiar 

with the MinneapolislSt. Paul Twin 

Cities, August is a beautiful time of year 

in the "Land of 10,000 Lakes." The 

University of St. Thomas (UST) is 

within walking distance of the bluffs 

overlooking the Mississippi River, and 

ten minutes from either downtown St. 

Paul or Minneapolis, or the University 

of Minnesota. The airport is 15minutes 

from UST campus, as is the Mall 

of America. 

Start planning now. Contact 

the Minnesota Office of Tourism at 

800-657-3700 for the 1999 Travel Planning 

Guide. 

See you there! 

on 

Friends of Turkey 

Opens Tour to 

FaN Members 

Friends of Turkey (FOT) has a 

trip to Turkey from May 16-30 for $899, 

which includes round-trip airfare from 

New York City, two hotel nights in 

Ankara at the beginning of the two-week 

trip, and two hotel nights in Istanbul at 

the end of the trip. Add-on fares from 

US gateways to New York City are: $90 

from Atlanta; $65 from Baltimore 

Washington; $110 from Chicago; $170 

from Dallas-Houston; $200 from Denver; 

$265 from Los Angeles-San Francisco; 

and $110 from Miami-Orlando. 

Kuzma Kopano is the contact at 

Key Tours in Fairfax, VA, for all travel 

arrangements related to this trip, including 

rental cars and optional tours (e.g., to 

Cappadocia, Seven Churches, Izmir & 

Ephesus or Antalya) throughout Turkey. 

His phone number is 1-800-576-178+ 

ext. 106 (or 703-591-3550). Key Tours 

website is: www.keytours.com 

Ed Block is the contact for special 

FOT events during the first few days 

of the tour in Ankara. He may be contacted 

at 301-587-+612 or 

eddie+4@erols.com. 

Board Names New 

Director, Requests 

HS Scholarship 

Proposal 

At the October phonemeeting, 

FON Board of Directors 

appointed Frieda Fairburn 63-66 to 

the Board and named her FON ' 

representative to the NPCA ,"Vorld 

Wise School (WWS) Program. 

The Board agreed to 

consider sponsoring a Nigerian High 

School Girls Scholarship Fund and 

approved the request from three FON 

members to prepare a formal proposal 

for such a program. Dr. Albert 

Hannans, 66-68, is chairing the 

committee in Washington, D.C., 

which is preparing the project proposal 

with the hopes of having a Boardapproved 

plan to put to a vote before 

the general membership at the August 

Annuall\1embership Meeting in 

l\linneapolis-St. Paul. 

John Romano, 6+-67, was 

named FON liaison with the planners 

of the NPCA Reunion slated for 

August 1999. He li\'es in St. Paul. 

The Board approved a 

proposal from Bob Cohen, 62-6+, to 

buy Wole Soyi.nka'slatest book and 

make it available at cost to FON. 

The next Board meeting by 

phone-conference on January 26. 

Nigeria VII Holds 

New Jersey Reunion 

Blake Patterson, 63-65, 

organized and hosted a 30-something 

reunion for 18 Nigeria VII RPCVs at 

his home in Rumson, NJ, last August. 

He has put together an update 

on group members which will be 

published in the spring issue.

FON NEWSLETTER FON News Winter 1998 13 

Peace Corps Day March 2 

World Wise Schools Seeks Volunteers 

Does a copy of this newsletter 

evoke nostalgia for Nigeria, summon souvenirs 

of the savanna? Are you eager to share 

your experiences with a fresh audience? 

Consider the opportunities offered by Peace 

Corps Day. 

Last year, over 6,000 RPCVs visited 

classrooms in an attempt to enhance students' 

understanding of other peoples and 

places. World Wise Schools (WWS), the 

National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) 

program coordinating with educators, tackles 

the huge task of bringing together RPCVs 

and interested classes across the USA. 

For a decade many volunteers have 

had contacts with teachers through WWS 

and have exchanged information in many 

forms throughout their tours. Most Nigeria 

volunteers missed this arrangement, but may 

have lots of teacher contacts in their communities. 

Since there was no attempt last year to 

identify RPCV s who participated by country 

of service, we don't know how many of you 

may have been involved. WVIISwill collect 

information this year. 

If you who didn't work with 

a class last year, here are a few suggestions: 

W\VS does provide some assistance in fInding 

classes and does offer ideas for classroom 

presentations. Send in the form you should 

have received or call WWS at 800-424-8580 

(push 2 then ext. 1961)or e-mail pcay@peace 

corpS.gov. 

The easiest, most effective way to 

get an agreeable audience is to ask a receptive 

teacher you know, on a grade level that appeals 

to you. Elementary kids are very receptive 

to games, regalia, photos, stories and 

question time. Secondary students like the 

same things but try to appear less enthusiastic. 

College students expect more substance. 

Channell, available in many schools, will air 

a Peace Corps program March fIrst that 

could be taped for later use. Just think, you 

could be the inspiration for future policy 

makers, diplomats or humanitarians when 

you share your enthusiasm for the world. 

If discussing your experiences 

with a class is not your idea of fun, there are 

other ways to participate in Peace Corps Day. 

As a country group, FON will not have an 

event marking the occasion but your regional 

group may need your ideas and/or voice in its 

activities. Make an effort to celebrate an or- 

FaN 

Member On NPCA 

Search Committee 

National Peace Corps Association 

(NPCA) is searching for a new 

President and FON Board member 

Cathy Zastro Onyemelukwe, 62-64, is 

on the seven-member Search Committee 

of the NPCA Board. She was named to 

the Board last July. 

"We have over 100 resumes 

already, " Cathy reported in early December, 

"and 30 are from RPCVs." 

NPCA hopes to have a new 

President selected, if not actually on 

board by the February NPCA Board 

meeting. Chic Dambach, President for 

six years, resigned in November. 

PCA has been concentrating 

on fund raising in recent months. The 

Board's Development Committee, responsible 

for fund-raising, retained a 

former Board member and fund-raising 

consultant, Steve Werner, to plan and 

execute several special events. 

The Committee has held 

meetings in New York, San Francisco 

and Los Angeles to encourage and enlist 

participation in the Director's Circle 

with donations 0£$1000 or more. 

Letters from Uncle Wobo 

(Continued from page 16) 

their fault. The blame must 

be placed on the arrogant 

shoulders of our leaders, who 

never cared to set good standards. 

"Our leaders created 

no jobs. But on a whimbetween 

the chatter of the gray 

parrot-they closed the colleges 

with nothing for girls to 

do." I married my American 

fIancee. Then I became a 

writer. I sent word that I 

thought I could contribute 

toward making a difference at 

home. 

"No," Uncle Wobo answered 

with alarm. "Don't be blind 

to the events in Nigeria. 

Wole Soyinka fled. No one 

has seen Ekwensi or Achebe. 

Nigerian secret police and 

snoops go after people like you 

using intimidation and parcel 

bombs to scare them from unselfIsh 

thoughts that may result 

in good changes. Just send 

money to your mother 

when you can." For a while 

Uncle Wobo did not write. 

Uneasy, I held my peace. 

A kind of truce. Then he 

called, his voice music to 

my ears. 

"Allah has answered 

our cries," he sang, 

"In his inflnite wisdom, he 

has brought us a new 

leader, Abubakar. This 

man has bravery and commitment. 

He has asked 

Nigerians to come home, 

and they're to speak their 

mind. No snoops. He 

promised to create much needed 

good image for our country." 

Uncle Wobo paused, I caught 

my breath. 

"Our dearest Nigerian 

son must be encouraged," he 

continued. Everyone must 

pledge his or her support and 

knowledge to Nigeria. For it 

is time to sacrifice for our 

country. Abubakar must succeed." 

I clapped and clicked 

my heels and began packing. 

We must answer the call. 

•••

" 


FON News 


Award-Winning Journalist, Broadcaster, 

Nigeria VIII RPCV Jon I

FON NEWSLETTER Winter 1998 15 

Members Forum 

Tribes and Tribalism 

by Peter J. Hansen, 66-68 

The words "tribe" 

and "tribalism" are commonly 

used in discussions 

of the problems of Africa. 

David Lamb, in his popular 

book The Afriea1ll, suggests 

that tribalism is probably the 

most powerful force in 

African life and that its 

comprehension is necessary 

for an understanding of 

Africa. A recent search of 

the world-wide web located 

4068 web pages containing 

the word "tribalism" 

Manyanthropologists 

and Africanists, however, 

consider the use of the 

words "tribe" and 

"tribalism" to be inappropriate. 

The continued use of 

these words in the media 

prompted me to submit this 

article (although I may be 

guilty of preaching to the 

choir). 

Why is the use of 

these words objectionable? 

First, speakers and writers 

typically use these words 

only when referring to 

groups of people who they 

view as somehow inferior to 

themselves. 

But you may ask, 

"Do not the Igbos and 

Yorubas belong to different 

tribesl" To which I would 

reply, "Do the Prussians 

and Bavarians of Germany 

belong to different tribesl 

Do the Flemish and Walloons 

of Belgium belong to 

different tribes? Is it tribal- 

ism that has been tearing apart 

Northern Ireland, or the central 

issue that divides Frenchand 

English-speaking Canadians? 

Why do no Europeans 

belong to a tribe or engage in 

tribalism?" 

Confronting people 

with questions such as these 

produces a variety of responses. 

Some do think that 

tribes are groups of primitive 

people. Others think that 

tribes refer only to smaller 

groups of people and are 

taken aback, for example, 

when they learn that Yoruba 

speakers far outnumber Norwegian, 

Danish or Dutch 

speakers. 

The very selective 

use of the words "tribe" and 

"tribalism" points to their essentially 

pejorative or offensive 

character. 

A second objection 

to the use of these words is 

based on their history. Two 

short articles on the web that 

focus on the relatively recent 

origins of the concept of tribe 

and to the fundamentally imprecise 

and ambiguous meaning of 

this word are: The Invention of 

Tribalism 

syllabus.syr.edu/AAS/hgcampbe/aas341/w4-2.html 

"Tribe" and "Tribalism" 

www.sas.upenn.edu/African_StudieslK-12/Tribe.html 

As one writer put it, 

"The term tribe is more likely to 

reinforce stereotypes than to 

provide insight." And another, 

"The term [tribe] had no validity 

in the pre-colonial period. It 

has less legitimacy now." 

We will be doing both 

Africa and the United States a 

big favor if we help to rid our 

vocabularies of these two words. 

Editor's Note: Peter 

Hansen taught chemistry to scietlCe, 

pharmacy, atld agriwlture students 

at the University of Ife in both 

Ibadatl and Ile-Ife. He tlOW 

teaches chemistry to liberal arts 

studmts at N orthwestenz College itl 

Orange City, IA. 

••• 

SOYINKA'S NEW BOOK AVAILABLE TO FON AT DISCOUNT 

Wole Soyinka's new book released in December, The Burdetl of Memory, The MllSe of 

Forgiveness, is available at a 40% discount to members of FON. The book explores the nature 

of forgiveness and the future of African democracy. 

A review of The Blzrdm of Memory, The MtlSe of Forgivetzess will appear in the next 

issue of the FON Newsletter. Readers' responses to the book are most welcome, and may 

appear in the review of the book. Send comments to Bob Cohen, 62-64, at 

rdcollege@mail.enter.net. 

The discounted book price is $15 and includes shipping. Make checks out to 

Friends of Nigeria and send them with your order to: Bob Cohen 

65 E. Elizabeth Avenue, Suite 612 

Bethlehem, PA 18018.


Guest Column 


Editor's 

by John Owhonda 

ote: The author is a 

writer and peiformer living in Fort 

Worth, Texas. 

Many Nigerians have 

experienced dark, stormy years 

that have not let up. Others, including 

those of us who live 

abroad, have seen dry, harsh times 

that, like the Harmattan, come and 

go with no respite. But in all, 

none could have predicted the 

sobering events that have kept 

some of Nigeria's brilliant minds 

overseas. 

There were signs along 

the way, incidents, some of them 

miniscule, that forewarned us of 

coming events. But most Nigerians, 

including me, were blind to 

these forecasts. For me, the signs 

lay buried in my uncle's letters. At 

ftrst, Uncle Wobo's letters bore 

simple instructions and advice : 

"Do not marry a foreigner. 

They do not know how to 

raise their children to sit quietly by 

the elder's feet, speciallywhen 

such children are born with black 

skin and blue eyes. I say marry 

your kind." I was bewildered, but 

Uncle Wobo persisted. 

"Do not curse or slap a 

policeman," he wrote, "they're unkind 

to black men in America." 

"Do not eat hamburger, 

the whiteman's food that caused 

Onuma's son to grow fat aimlessly." 

"Stay focused. And 

keep out of trouble." Months 

before, my sister, Nkechi, called to 

say Uncle Wobo had consulted 

with the oracle and offered sacriftces 

of kola-nut and a rooster to 

Letters from Uncle Wobo 

the gods for my success in studies 

while in America and toward 

my safe return to my people, by 

the feet of my elders. She told 

me that Uncle Wobo had explained 

with glee, chest puffed, 

"It is proper to remove any 

doubt about our son's success 

and his return 

from battle." 

Niger- 

. ,. 

lans Journeys 

overseas have 

indeed been battles. 

The problem 

is, most of 

the warriors did 

not know they'd 

been ensnared 

and drafted to 

ftght for their 

fatherland. Or 

to sweat in order 

to acquire the 

difference between 

my ancestor's 

knowledge 

of the oracle and 

cockcrow and 

the whiteman's 

bird of flight. 

The battle still 

Uncle Wobo's 

letters bore simple 

instructions and 

advice: 

((Do not 

marry aforeigner. 

They do not know 

how to raise their 

chzldren to sit 

quiet(y by the 

elder's feet, 

special(y when 

such children 

are born with 

black skin 

rages between 

our two worlds, 

between two cultures. Only our 

leaders keep holding back or 

forget to issue the spears and 

arrows, needed munitions and 

reinforcement, for our people's 

imminent victory. But before 

these happenstance came to be, 

Uncle Wobo's letters bore testament 

to their coming in strange 

ways, like writing on the wall. 

Then, as the years 

wore on, as our leaders faltered. 

Uncle W obo tired, and his tone 

and blue eyes." 

gradually changed. He began 

urging me toward "painted lips" 

and jobs in America? both forbidden 

fruits that shackled me, 

and Nigerians like me, to foreign 

lands. 

"You must set aside 

the views not to date American 

women," he 

later wrote, 

"even though 

they do not understand 

when 

to nod in greetings." 

What 

happened? I 

wondered. 

"But be cautiou 

s," his letter 

warned. "Your 

mother insisted 

there can be no 

marriage." I 

recalled her 

warntng: 

"Marriage to 

tight jeans steals 

the thoughts of 

our best warriors 

and leave 

our daughters 

unwed." But 

wait! Uncle 

Wobo must 

have other reasons. So I 

promptly wrote back trying to 

ftnd out why his change of 

mind. His next letter read, 

"The soldiers have struck again. 

The banks have closed their 

doors. I cannot send money, so 

your salvation rests on your 

shoulders. Maybe your American 

girlfriend can help." 

Four uneventful years 

passed during which I wondered 

about my village and those like 

it, with its lush tropical mango 

and palm trees. In d~ja'VII, I'd 

replay images of my childhood 

and of my uncle in his farmer's 

hat, and of those like him wearing 

faded loincloths on their way 

to work. At those times I'd put 

aside the thought of my place 

within the order of things. But I 

never ceased wondering if Nigerian 

leaders would ever care 

about the welfare of their own 

countrymen like the Americans 

or Europeans do. Then one 

day, I wrote Uncle Wobo about 

my plan to come home. 

"No," he quickly answered. 

"The situation has gotten 

worse. Toughs ply the airports. 

Soldiers and the police 

have become brazen, sometimes 

acting as judge, jury and executioner. 

Without the courtroom, 

their brand of justice can be 

swift. Just last week, Okafor's 

son who came from America was 

shot at a checkpoint because he 

asked why he was stopped. 

"You must wait a bit 

longer," he continued. "You 

must play it safe. Besides, there 

are no jobs at home. Danjuma's 

son, with three degrees from 

England, has no job. He still 

treks around searching for a position, 

in his worn shoes and 

blue suit." I waited. Two years 

ago I felt anxious when I wrote 

Uncle Wobo about my plans to 

marry my American ftancee. 

"Go ahead," he wrote 

back, "for you might be better 

off I can no longer trust some 

of the young girls here at home, 

who have begun to sell their 

morality on the streets. It is not 

(Continued on page 13)

, 



I The Arts I 

i 

New York City 

African Museum of Art 

A Double Review 

by Ron Singer, 64-67 

Buale: African Art/W'estern Eyes--collections from 

the West and Baule villages-stunningly displays the marvelous 

art of the Buale, a people of one million in Cote d'Ivoire, related 

to the Ashanti. The catalogue, an exemplary combination of 

text, field photographs, and pictures of objects in the show, affords 

a delightful consolation if you can't be in New York by 

January 2. 

Baule, which began life at Yale University Art Gallery, 

is displayed on two levels. Approximately one-hundred thirtyfive 

19th and 20th century objects are beautifully set and lighted, 

and traditional African music animates the viewing. There are 

also field photographs and two videos, a masqueradeentertainment 

and a performance by trance dancers. A diorama 

lights up to reveal a masquerade dancer that is suddenly six feet 

from the viewer. In a second, the viewer is suddenly standing in 

a ricWydecorated funerary bedroom. 

Baule art can be divided into two broad categories: the 

everyday, visible objects, and the occasionally seen, ceremonial 

ones. To the visible category, belong carved shutters and doors, 

pots and spoons, weights and loom beaters-the billboards of 

BauIe artists. 

l\1asks, statues, gong mallets and other ceremonial 

objects, including gold funerary objects kept in family shrines, 

are seen less. Women have their gender-exclusive, power-giving 

dance, adya film, and men have their power-giving gods, bo mm 

arm/in. To spy on opposite-gender rituals brings sickness and 

death. Other objects are seen only during entertainment masquerades, 

from celebrations of living, admired people, to funerals 

for those who die old and admired. 

In their bedrooms, people keep "spirit spouses", carvings 

of idealized gender-types representing one's spouse left behind 

in another world at birth. These teach the owner to be a 

better spouse, but the relationship is also satisfyingly romantic. 

There are other "spirit figures," worn by trance dancers: male 

and female human figures and fierce animal and human hybrids. 

These hybrids look a lot like the "spirit spouses", except for the 

traces of sacrifices-skin and blood-seen on the former. The 

resemblance is less surprising when one learns that the "wild 

spirit figures" call disturbed people in the villages to reason by 

making them fear their own wildness, even as they suggest 

model behavior. Trance dancers guide the afflicted into controlled, 

socially useful trances, after which the afflicted can themselves 

become trance dancers. 

Baule informant Kofi Nguessan writes, "We live with 

Pair of FigurtlSfor a Traa Diviner 

the spirits more than with the statues ... and that is why you will 

never hear a Baule say, 'This is a beautiful s

18 Winter 1998 The Arts FON NEWSLETTER 

Baule rabbit 

mask 

(Continued from page J 7) 

representing the male ideal. A 19th-century wood carving about 

22 inches high, the figure radiates peaceful vitality. It may have 

been made to help cure a mentally ill man. It has symmetry of 

form, but not rigid symmetry. The three-forked beard in the top 

third is echoed by the spread fingers on the belly, in the middle, 

and by the spread toes, at the bottom. The figure is both square 

and rounded, and is slighdy off kilter. To me, its beauty suggests 

an attainable ideal because it is imperfect. 

The second example is the object I found most striking 

among the many striking objects in this superb show. A 16-to-18 

inch statue made of wood, cloth and prehistoric stone celt, this is a 

hooded figure of a silendy screaming person, probably female, 

with a platform on top for sacrifices. This figure would have been 

seen very infrequendy by any Baule and reminds me of the 

supremely-gorgeous nightmares of Western art, such as Goya's 

black paintings. It's maker knew how to thrill and frighten. 

Buale: African Art/\V estern Eyes runs until January 3, 

and includes lecture, fUm, and video series, as well as special family 

programs. The outstanding catalogue by Susan M. Vogel 

(Yale U. Press, New Haven, 1997, $45) is available through the 

gift shop, 212-966-1313, ext. 115 or www.africanart.org. 

ANOTHER AFRICA: Photographs by Robert Lyons, Essay 

and Poems by Chinua Achebe (Anchor Books, New York, 

1998, $35). 

October 29, the Museum threw a grand party for Robert 

Lyons and Chinua Achebe. It began about 6:30 with a standardissue 

cocktail party: bubbly, snacks, dim lighting. Two musicians 

played amplified-Malian percussion. The crowd-Mrican, 

American, academics, pols, art folk-milled and networked. 

I talked to an Igbo guard who told me about Frederick 

Forsyth's book on Biafra and expressed a wait-and-see response to 

current Nigerian political events; to a professor from New Hampshire 

who had undergone a long day's drive to see his friend, 

Achebe; to a banker who was there as a curious substitute for an 

invited friend; to a woman who said FON should go to the 

Schomburg Collection; and to a Board Co-Chair who told me the 

museum had run a tour to Nigeria, where an important Edo chief 

got it access to ceremonies. 

Just before eight, Achebe showed up. Dressed in a long 

buba and black pants, with rimless glasses, a black leather glove on 

his left hand, and a red feltftla, Achebe was wheeled in by a former 

schoolmate. Then came two women in African dress, a busysuave-looking 

young man with a camera, and a delightful girl of, 

perhaps, eight. In sum, any RPCV would have been reminded of 

a chief and his entourage. 

I joined the line to greet the master and, when my turn 

came, offered an inane justification for accosting the famous-how 

I had read his books in Peace Corps training, then taught them. 

Achebe is past master of politesse. 

Half an hour later, the event moved to a downstairs 

gallery, where about a dozen of Lyons' ninty, brighdy colored photos 

from A'IO/her Afma were on display. Portraits predominate, 

one or two of the theatrical poses evoking my own students' photo 

ops. There is a row of women in Kente cloth having their temperatures 

taken-the viewer is unsure whether to laugh or cry. 

The museum president made opening remarks: eight 

million copies of Things Fall Apart are in print, in fifty languages. 

Robert Lyons reviewed the genesis of A'lother Africa, saying the 

book aims to bridge gaps by depicting everyday, universal life, and 

thanked his collaborator, who was wheeled to the microphone. 

After receiving a standing ovation Achebe began by saying, 

"Africa already has too much atmosphere," then stated his 

own preference for argument, a preference which was a trait the 

early colonial British disliked in the Igbo. As Lyons had, Achebe 

went into the genesis of Another Afma. Looking at the photos, he 

had found himself writing an argumentative essay, which seemed 

an odd accompaniment. Achebe wryly explained that, in order to 

give Lyons a graceful exit, he had then contracted a grave illness 

which delayed his part of the book. But Lyons stayed the course 

and, here, a year late, was the book. 

That essay of thirteen pages begins: "It is a great irony 

of history that Africa, whose land mass is closer than any other to 

the mainland of Europe, should come to occupy in European psychological 

disposition the farthest point of otherness." Returning 

to the Heart of Darkness controversy and ranging from Gainsborough's 

portrait ofIgnatius Sancho to the birth of a Ghanaian on a 

PBS special, the essay concludes with a warning about looking at 

(Continued on page J 9)


The Arts Winter 1998 19 

An Arts and Music Column 

MBARI REVISITED 

by George Kanzler, 66-68 

Editor's Note: The at/thor was secretary pro 

tem of Mbari Artists and Writers Clt/b, 

Adamasi1/gba, lbadaf/, 67-68. 

THINGS 

FALL APART 

Remember Chinua Achebe's 

novel? We had to read it in Peace Corps 

training; did you? And later, did you 

teach it in Nigeria, or are you teaching it 

now? If you're on the East Coast in 

February, you have a chance to see it, on 

stage. It debuted at the London International 

Festival of Theatre last year. 

"The fierce beauty of Chuck 

l\1ike's production is at once a celebration 

and a requiem for the Nigeria of the 

Soul," said the Times of Londen. 

"What makes it such a rich story 

is that [playwright Biyi] Bandele preserves 

'allthe essentials of Achebe's story 

while the production conveys the sense 

that we are watching an elegy both for an 

individual and a society," raved The 

Guardian. 

Dubbed a multi-cultural play- 

Nigerian, British and American collaboration 

(l\1ike, the director, is an American 

ex-pat living in Nigeria)--it's coming to 

the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., 

February 3-7; New Jersey Performing Arts 

Center, Newark, February 10-21, Mc 

Carter Theater, Princeton, February 23; 

Aaron Davis Hall of City College of New 

York, Harlem, Feb. 25-28, and New 

World Theater, University of Massachusetts, 

March 2-4. 

CHANGO & OGUN IN CUBA 

We all know the slaves in Cuba 

were allowed the drum, unlike their American 

counterparts. That simple fact meant 

that West African musical traditions lived in 

Cuba (and Bahia, Brazil, too) largely intact. 

Especially Yoru ba musical traditions. The 

cultural isolation of the island under Castro 

(Cuban musicians remaining untainted by 

American dominated pop music trends) and 

his government's subsidy of folkloric music 

groups, insured an African-inspired music 

much purer than much of what comes from 

West Africa today. Here are three albums 

to check out, each with music heavily influenced 

by, and even using the language of, 

the Yoruba. 

"Flores," Conjunto Cespedes 

(Xenophile Records) Cuban son meets 

African drums with cha-cha horns thrown in 

for good measure. A complete amalgam of 

Latin dance music and Yoruba traditions. 

"Live in New York," Los 

Munequitos de Matanzas (Qbadisc 

Records) A more elemental mix; dancers 

and singers (with hand percussion), plus 

conga drummers in music as likely to echo 

Juju rituals as Santeria ones. 

"Raices Africanas (African 

Roots)," Grupo Afro Cuba (Shanachie 

Records) Simply the closest Cuban music 

gets to Oshogbo. Try a blindfold test and 

you'll think you're back in Nigeria. 

PUZZLER 

Congratulations to the first Puzzler 

winners, who used telepathy to answer 

the question, since editorial gremlins cut 

off the actual question. The answer was 

Sir Victor Uwaifo. E-mail winner: Al 

Hannans, 66-68. Snail mail winner: Joel 

Orelove, 66-68. Both were Nigeria 24 

and receive CDs as prizes. 

Puzzler NO.2: Ossie Davis (as 

producer-director) made a filin of a Wole 

Soyinka play. What play, and who played 

the title character? 

Send answers to kjazz@Viconet.com 

or write me at 124 Reynolds Pl., South 

Orange, NJ 07079. 

(Continuedfrompage 18) 

other cultures: "...when we are comfortable and inattentive, we run 

the risk of committing grave injustices absentmindedly." 

Achebe then treated us to a sample of three poems from 

the book. He reads clearly and with feeling in soft, lovely, Iboinflected 

English. In one poem, he described a mother combing 

her son's hair, as she had always done before giving him his breakfast 

and sending him off to school. But now, in a refugee camp, 

with the child very sick, "she did it like putting flowers on a tiny 

grave." These poems, like Lyons' photographs, capture disparate 

facets of contemporary African society and politics in small, often 

lyrical details. Achebe's poetry seems quite like his more familiar, 

poetic prose. 

To tie this double review in a bow, Achebe's warning 

informs both Another Afma and Buale: African Art/Western Eyes 

The work being done at and through the Museum for African Art 

is attentive and judicious. And delightful. 

WEB SITES for Chinua Achebe: 

http://nu tmeg.ctstateu .edu/personaVfaculty/francis/ Achebe.html 

http://splaVc.spjc.cc.fl.us/hooks/ew /tfa/wrightTF A.html 

http://www .sdsmt.edu/courses/is/hum3 75/achebe.html 

http://www .stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow /post/achebe/ 

achebehov.html 

http://www.uga.edu/-womanist/1995/mezu.html 

••••• 

THE MUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART, 593 Broadway, Ne'W 

York, NY 10012. Open TIlesday through Friday, 10:30-5:30; Saturday, 

12-8, SU1/day, 12-6. CkJsedMondays and holidays. 

The mtlJelim 1no1mtsexhibitions (some of which travel), ptlblishes catakJgues,sponsorstrips 

to Afma, rons edt/Catianalprograms, and has afine 

gift shop.

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