Sir Nigel's Journey…

My relationship with Obama or as I call him ‘Obizzle’ is simple. I never joined the Obama bandwagon throughout the whole campaign process. You can call me the road less travelled or a very ‘late adopter’ in marketing terms if you will. I certainly didn’t want Clinton as president at that point either, although I do admit that I see Hilary making her way into the Oval Office soon-ish. The simple truth is I am pro African, and so I watched him from a distance and simply waited. I still am. I’ll hold up my hand now and admit that I was both curious and selfish. I wanted to know what he would do for Mama Africa once he made it into the White House period! What about us I kept asking? I am still waiting for a massive response to be honest. And if we’re being brutally honest here, I wanted to see change to the way the US itself deals with Zimbabwe more importantly. I had no doubt at all that he would make it to White House. Why? He’s a strong character from where I’m standing. I also tried to imagine how the conversation he had with whoever it was (excluding Michelle of course) had gone down when he disclosed his intention to run for office. ‘You want to do what’? I would love to have been a fly in that room that day! Obviously there were people who opposed his seemingly naïve dream and yet he prevailed. Respect! I respect him for that certainly and I guess he is charismatic after all. Small issue I suppose, but I really wanted him to go ‘home’ (Kenya) as the first African country he visited as president. I understand the protocol, security concerns etc so I let it go. The real issue was: I didn’t want to support the Obizzle fan club simply because of his race. That would have been too easy. Supporting Obizzle simply because we are both black is almost like saying I didn’t like McCain because he’s white and I’m not. And that doesn’t make sense to me at all! I wanted to like HIM and what he actually stood for. Naïve I suppose but that’s how Sir Nige does things.

Last week I decided to buy his books thanks to Amazon once again. I have previously bought his books for other people admittedly but never had copies for my own collection. Prior to this week I had already decided that it was time to finally figure out who this man they call Barack is. What makes him tick I wondered? More importantly and on a very personal level, I am very curious about Michelle and her role in his life. The partners of such leaders play such an integral role I believe. That story is seldom told.

Getting back to the video, which obviously inspired this blog entry, I couldn’t help but smile from within (the genuine kind of smile). The Young African Leaders spent some time with him at the White House and asked him their various questions – good questions too. I liked his honesty and I guess we all wait to see what happens next. I will share my thoughts on his books and my research going forward. The future is indeed looking very interesting….

Ps Happy belated birthday Obizzle!

I love this photo

Some say
Today marks a great day in history
Ultimately it all depends which side of the economic divide one stands
Sadly for most it won’t really matter
Early days yet
Unable to judge whether what happens today affects their daily lives
Time does what time does best
Revealing the truth eventually
But for those residing on the continent
Perhaps a chance for them to make the necessary change

For me
Today is not a great day per say
There have been greater days in the past.
The day he announced his intentions
Spoke of hope
The day she spoke so eloquently about her passions whilst disclosing her health care dream
The day they all spoke in unison
Those too were great days

For me
The greatest day in this apparent short journey
Lay one fine day
When the continents and its inhabitants
Witnessed and seemingly allowed
A black man and a white woman to emerge as candidates of the same party
That day of all days must not be forgotten
Therein lies an important victory

Whatever happens going forward
We should all find solace in the achievements made thus far

(Please note – this joint is a wee bit rough, written in between month end journal entries and everything else in between)

We don’t need to watch CNN eerie day
Matter of fact we don’t need to look too far
Too far from my home
We don’t need to mention cliché type places
Chechnya, Sudan, Niger, Afghanistan and our favourite – Iraq
Cholera infected water
Refugees
In the world’s greatest democracy
We don’t need BBC
SABC
One
Two and three
What we need is subtle reality
That chick may have come and gone
But these chicks exist in different zones
Just different names
Never mind the blame game
Keep focused on the task at hand
The world map is larger than CNN will have you believe
Never mind the increase in petrol and diesel
What we need is a news channel that’s real
Katrina knocks eerie day on some doors
Ethic cleansing disguised as wars
Often financed by neighbours engaged in scores from Elizabethan days
Tired of Sky News
“Live” reporters not assisting homelessness
Instead assisting in helplessness
Toxic water surrounded for days
Unannounced fires accompanied by gas leaks
While that girl in Niger finds it hard to speak
“Where is the doctor?
Where is my next meal coming from”?
Middle east with its usual crisis
Smug tycoons demand for increases in fuel prices
You see
It shouldn’t have taken Katrina’s effect for us to rethink
Rethink what refugee literally means?
Rethink whether the reaction was based on racial bias
Rethink our motives in life
Damnit we shouldn’t even be analysing God’s intention!
Now we’re calling it a “city of sin”
As if all those people deserved to die
You see
I’m just saying Katrina eerie day
We might call her a different name
It’s probably in a different city
Slightly different country
But disaster and devastation occurs across the globe eerie day
We simply choose to switch channels instead

Written in September 2005