April in Yoruba is?

My tongue is not of my mother

I have had this song going on in my head for days an aide memoir for the months of the year in Yoruba. Yoruba is my mother’s tongue but it is not my mothertongue, I did not start to speak Yoruba with any level of quality till I was almost 10.

I had mostly spoken English and my accent was somewhere between a Brummie accent (thankfully, I have lost that trait) from the West Midlands in the UK and the corruption that comes with growing up in a mixed society in Nigeria.

My Nigerian friends thought my accent was foreign whilst my English friends though it was foreign, the other nationalities of Chinese, Japanese and Romanian because I do remember Maya who prevented me from coming first so many time just knew I was born abroad.

Horrible Yoruba lessons

In fact, there were people who from the time we returned to Nigeria addressed me as the Omo Ilu Oyinbo - The child of the white man’s land.

I eventually learnt Yoruba but never enough to make a decent passing grade in secondary school, the Yoruba teacher was a cross between Marquis de Sade and a witch, she was wicked, shrill, and nasty; she punished us in ways that would make the torture revelations we hear of today sound like tiddlywinks.

I have been away from Nigeria a long time but many would say the standard and quality of my Yoruba speaking is good, I use proverbs and sayings and can crack jokes.

Who are the Yoruba?

More recently, I have been concerned about where Yoruba is going as a language, culture and heritage, I was taken aback when it took a couple of Cubans to make me aware of the richness of the Yoruba culture that remains vibrant in Cuban through Lukumi and in Brazil through Candoble.

Just as the history and traditions of the Greeks are exemplified in their mythologies that they have not given up for new religions, that of the Yoruba is in their traditions and animist mythologies that have been labeled inherently evil by strange religions that have left us bereft of our roots and bequeathed a heritage that is neither Middle-Eastern nor American - I suggest brand of convoluted Islamo-Churchianity with a Nigerian slant.

The months quiz

One of the things you learn with a new language is the calendar months of the year, Yoruba has those too and the song going on in my head has been that of the Yoruba months of the year, my classmate Goke taught me, I have the memory of an elephant.

I have created a quiz mainly directed at the Yorubas to list the months of the year.

Yoruba months of the year - Quiz

Do not rush off to Wikipedia seeking help until you have completed the quiz, even a good bit of that information is totally wrong, like there are 4 days in a week, 7 weeks in a month and 93 weeks in a year, never use Wikipedia as an authoritative source.

Are you as Yoruba as you think you are or is your rudimentary Yoruba deceiving you into thinking you can really conduct a decent conversation entirely in Yoruba?

Please leave comments in the blog, if you are inclined to. Thanks!

John McCain with a fistful of ashes for Castro's grave

Bad intentions of bad leadership

It is interesting that a comment in my last blog links up with something I am writing about today.

I read yesterday that Senator John McCain, the front-runner Republican nominee for presidency that opined that he wished Fidel Castro dead very soon.

I am really disappointed that as Castro’s resignation offered everyone an opportunity to become inspired to look at the aspirations of the people of Cuba as see how we could work towards achieving them, we end up with more of the same failed rhetoric – How much does death achieve?

Losing our humanity still

One is saddened that a sense of humanity amidst the animosity between America and Cuba has turned into bloody-mindedness that makes one worry about people who aspire to the office of the President of the United States.

We forget that whatever we aspire to and desire to achieve is always possible, but it does not make us immortal, in fact, I think it is quite rich of a man about to enter the record books as the oldest ever presidential nominee wishing someone else 10 years older dead.

I find no sense of maturity in this kind of thinking because I believe the US could have tailored its policy towards Cuba in a better way to benefit the people and not allow Castro to hold sway for 50 years.

We cannot continue to adhere to flawed policies to the detriment of the humanity who stand to gain from a more inspired, courageous and bold approach to engaging our enemies constructively at the most difficult times.

This takes a different kind of leader and there has been none in American for close to a generation. Ones that show promise still need a wider grasp of the context of history and wealth of experience to take wise and effective steps to project America as a force for good and not a bullying menace that thrives on the gun, a fat cigar and wads of cash.

No thanks to America

I doubt if Cubans resident in Cuba would be thankful to America for any of those policies that isolated a culturally vibrant nation but made them so self-reliant and very resourceful.

The radically socialist-leaning regimes in Central and Southern America are no doubt in part, a backlash in response to myopic policies towards Cuba – remove the embargoes and let the people see what exactly they are missing and then they can decide if want they want the pain of change and if there is anything to gain.

Already speaking death

In fact, one wonders if the “so-called” new breed of presidential aspirants represents any change at all, as if the main thrust of American foreign policy has not committed enough people to earth already.

Now, we have a man who is still struggling to carry the core electoral base of his party, pandering to the belligerence that serves no purpose for peace or the welfare of the people most affected, ready with a fistful of dust and ashes to throw in Fidel Castro’s grave.

We cannot afford another blood-thirsty president in the White House, too much blood has been shed and none of the original goals have been achieved – more people than were killed on 9/11 have died amongst the forces; much more incapacitated for life; the Taleban still thrives in Afghanistan; Osama bin Laden still sends postcards from the edge; Iran and Afghanistan are unstably there.

As for Senator John McCain, you are but a man, and well advanced in years, which I hoped would count for being responsibly smart – I wish you no ill, neither can I bid you Godspeed if you wish others ill.

You are but a man only.

Fidel Castro: At a time of his own choosing

Far from Cuba

I have not been able to convince myself that any of the policies of America towards Cuba for over 40 years have been productive, useful or effective.

Like Bette Midler’s song, Only in Miami is Cuba so far away and the Cuban-Americans there have influenced and lobbied to obtain favours and policies sometimes wholly detrimental to their homeland.

The news of Fidel Castro’s resignation might have had some people dancing in the streets, but I would observe that the man chose to go at a time of his choosing.

Age has a way of slowing people down and with Castro’s government giving Cuba one of the most developed medical healthcare delivery systems in the world he underwent intestinal surgery though the seriousness of his condition and slow recuperation of an octogenarian took him out of the public eye since July 2006.

Of rest and peace

The old man writes, “The night before, I slept than ever”, we can safely say the man has completed his journey and entering into his rest having prevailed against all the machinations of his enemies 90 miles north of his shores.

It is with interest that one notes that a piece of land which the United States leases in perpetuity from Cuba is Guantánamo Bay.

In all, the point I want to make, is, happy is the man who can decide at the time of his own choosing when he has completed his job and he can take a holiday and have a long rest been fulfilled in what he has achieved.

The only other person I know who has exercised this amazing but rare opportunity in life is Madiba Nelson Mandela, so at this point, I wish Fidel Castro a very happy, restful and peaceful retirement.

America: Maniac with razor blades

From Russia with pique

When going to negotiate, it is best to be able to do that form a position of strength. However, the moment your sanity is questioned you will have an uphill task to be taken seriously and that can become insurmountable.

Very recently, President Putin of Russia has been sabre-rattling and implacable on the matter of missile defence system America has been trying to plant in Eastern Europe to protect its allies from a threat that only now exists in the wild imagination of some.

Iran as far as we know is developing nuclear technologies, however, it is not at least clear to what end – the Iranians say their activities are to peaceful ends of energy sufficiency, America has however cajoled quite a few countries into thinking these activities are geared towards weaponisation threatening the military balance in the Middle-East.

Iran for the elephants’ duel?

There is that fear, but it is yet unfounded, Russia at least does not believe that these activities for a nuclear weapons ability, we also know that Russia is currently building Iran’s first nuclear plant.

It might be that Iran is becoming a theatre of war where it is the grass on which two elephants would fight to the death, but America, for now has its hands full with the debacle in Iraq as Russia has its coffers full with the proceeds of oil money.

One has to commiserate with Iran’s position being flanked on two sides by alien armies, I still believe that it would be remiss and irresponsible of any government of the country, theocratic, democratic or tyrannical not to be engaged in some possible invasion deterrent strategy which might include developing nuclear weapons if necessary.

There would have been no impetus for Iran’s dabbling if Iraq had not been so ignominiously stripped of its leadership and dignity, being left a military mess without foreseeable end.

Respect and equality critical for negotiations

Global politics does not always have to favour the World-Order according to the narrowly-focused view of the West being always in ascendancy, in fact, the only way to win in negotiations is to treat other parties with respect, equality, patience and temperance.

Mr. Putin was able to point to the issue of North Korea where this kind of negotiating spirit has yielded dividends in view of the fact that they already have nuclear weapons, even if the project is stopped, the brains cannot lay fallow, they have to engaged purposefully or they would be bought up by stateless organisations with nefarious objectives.

So the announcement this week of sanctions freezing Iran out of the American monetary system has been greeted with defiance from Iran, another record-high for oil prices where Iran and Russia are the sellers and a qualified put-down by President Putin.

“Why worsen the situation and bring it to a dead end by threatening sanctions or military action?” Putin asked. “Running around like a madman with a razor blade, waving it around, is not the best way to resolve the situation.”

Razor blades hurting us

It would appear, America really is clueless about how to resolve issues with nations that are diametrically opposed to their world view – in the same week, President Bush was blowing hot and cold over Cuba that they have not been able to change for almost 5 decades re-affirming the measures imposed before I was born and reaching no intended solution. Is Cuba not just 90 miles south of the United States of America? And they want to set the world to rights elsewhere.

As President Putin continues with, “Why keep rocking the foundations of the international law, encourage and develop separatism in Europe and the ex-Soviet space?”

More so, we now have a situation in the world where the war on terrorism is the hammer and anyone who has a contrarian view is a nail, no other view exists in the face of a pummelling hammer, it does not augur well for anyone and very few countries can pay for oil running to $100 per barrel.

The world is a lot more than stopping a country from playing with uranium.

Bush finally takes the draft - Vietnam

Cuba ja!

90 miles from a southern cape of the United States of America lies a country that through the adversity of isolation by atrocious embargos has learnt self-sufficiency even though has a government not to the liking of administrations in the US since the 60s.

Then America had a swagger with a 20-gallon hat as they tried to overthrow the government of that island, hoping people would come out on the streets to support a foreign insurrection and eventually lead to ridding Cuba of the “scourge” of Communism – sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

It would appear that many have not learnt of wallowing in the mess of the Bay of Pigs and now, Mess-O-potamia is still a rotten mess and Communism still lives.

A dodge, fudge or a smart?

Then America went to war to rid a faraway land of Communism, somehow, the people who rule today from the comfort of Pennsylvania Avenue never got to do what their pals did, go out there to die for their country.

The gunman of dunking received five deferments; whilst he might have adhered to the letter of the law in getting the deferments, he did not imbibe the spirit of the same law. He was being a student in university thrice, getting married and having kids.

Reminds me of John Kerry again, even then, if you were in university you did not get stuck in a war, you were smart enough to get deferments.

The Commander-in-Chief then joined the rich men’s kids airplane club (Texas Air National Guard) and it appears he never got to take off, probably because he was not there, allegedly.

Now in Commune with faraway Communists

As it transpired, the Americans ended up pulling out of Vietnam having not been able to defeat Communism – only yesterday, the president was hopeful of getting a trade deal approved by Congress, but that did not happen.

Anyway, the President is now reporting for duty in Hanoi, Vietnam for the summit of Asian Leaders.

President & Laura Bush arrive in Hanoi - MSNBC / Vincent Thian / AP

He would also be paying a courtesy call on the Secretary General of the Communist Party, I can only imagine how different things would have been if America had had the magnanimity to pay courtesy calls to the government in Havana.

Cuba is at the forefront of affordable quality medicine – America’s is broken; they are also very organized at disaster management – Katrina was the shaming of America and it is debatable if Cuba has anything that has a patch on Guantanamo Bay.

The unpalatable comparisons

My crystal ball does not like the cold, condensation on the inside of the glass means I may not be able to see things clearly.

However, a window into the future appears, I hit the streets in my haggard witch costume, wailing like a banshee.

Woe, woe, three times woes, I see in Mesopotamia, the shame of Saigon; as peace finds no respite in a land brought to destruction on the flight of a lie.

The many who were carried out having arrived on their feet would not the maidens back home anymore countenance.

We shall leave soon and no sooner than the mess in Mesopotamia has overwhelmed us with more shame than the retreat from Saigon.

Hear, O Dubbiyew, your Saigon has come for the King of Terror has for his kingdom Iraq chosen.

Phew! That crystal does take you places.