Banjul, Gambia 5

As an aside..

"The Love For Africa

I love Africa. I would be living in Africa today but for considerations concerning my professional career and my personal life. Nevertheless, a location in Africa it is that will someday become my home, although which location exactly is as yet undetermined. It is on this continent that I feel most alive.

So as not to keep the reader wondering, yes, my roots are in Nigeria and as undesirable as Nigeria can be sometimes (save for the excellent food and the presence there of my loved ones) my country of origin is indeed my first choice of location, as it ought to be. However, I choose to keep my options open as my affinity is not for Nigeria alone, but for the continent itself, in particular the sub-Saharan parts of it. I am Nigerian, but I am also African. The intention and the desire is to visit as many African countries as time and my means will allow, to check them out, to get a feel and knowledge of the various places and the different cultures, the traditions and different peoples.

In the few countries I have visited so far in different parts of the continent, I have found that the many characteristics that the African people share in common surpass those aspects in which they differ, and any differences if at all, are minor. The fundamental concepts of respect for the person/for the other, respect for the neighbour, respect for elders, hospitality towards strangers and visitors, showing compassion for the less fortunate, striving for harmony within communities, the philosophy of 'Ubuntu' etc., are all-pervasive and apply almost equally in all of the countries I have visited except for one, (which I shall not name), where a pernicious unpleasant class division exists.

The next on the list at the moment, after Nigeria, has to be The Republic of Congo, or Congo Brazzaville. As an English speaker myself, a francophone country ought ordinarily to be at a disadvantage for this very reason. But Congo Brazzaville has had such a positive impact on my mind and on my senses that this language disadvantage has not stopped it from sweeping past even the anglophone countries. This place is like a jewel, one that the French have kept hidden from us. I like it very much here. The people are genuine, very down-to-earth, and I have encountered none of that faux holiness, the sanctimonious righteous indignation prevalent in places like Ghana, or Nigeria. I am quite willing to become fluent in the French language if necessary.

This writing is borne of a contemplative mood brought on by thoughts of having shortly to return to the cold wet winter weather of England in February; the melancholy of necessarily having to leave this warm beautiful friendly country to return to a dull grey England mired in the uncertainty and turmoil of a bruising Brexit debate."

The above was written in February 2019. I was driven during this recent visit to The Gambia to write an addendum to it.

Since I wrote that post in 2019, I have been to a few more places, still with the same purpose in mind. I have also become better educated on the issues that I ought to be taking into consideration in deciding on a place where to settle down to spend the rest of my years.

What I have found is that English is an official language in most so-called English-speaking countries in Africa, but it is not the lingua franca, it is not the language of social communication. Not in Kenya where the lingua franca is Swahili; not in Botswana, where everyone speaks Setswana; nor in Ghana where everybody speaks Twi, and other local languages like Hausa, depending on which part of the country you are. In Gambia, I did not hear anyone speak English, unless they were addressing me.

In all of these places they do not speak English to each other at all. In Uganda it's a bit different, you'd hear some English at least, but even this is Ugandan English, colloquially known as Uglish or Uganglish. But even then, Uganda, so far, has been the most desirable of all of the countries I have visited. Congo was a different matter. They spoke a lot of French, credit to them, but it was French, not English. The other half of the time they were speaking Lingala, or Kikongo.

What this meant was that I personally have felt isolated or excluded for much of the time, and this even when in the midst of people. This has caused me to feel like an outsider or intruder, until in the safety of a one-on-one with my friend when English came into play. I would concede though, that this happened less in Kenya than in other places, the Kenyans were more considerate.

What I have described here, however, I do not consider to be sustainable, or to be endured for an indefinite period of time. At the stage of life that I am now, I do not believe I have the time left to allow for me to adapt to new things. If I was younger, yes, maybe. But I am not at this stage of my life able to take on a new challenge or learn a different way of doing things. This is a time to step back and slow down, a time to embrace the familiar.

So while I intend to continue with my travelling and visit new places, I must set aside this idea of settling in an African country different from my own. Giving up my proximity to relatives and loved ones is not a price worth paying for ending up being isolated in a different country. This is the very reason why I am driven to relocate from the United Kingdom in the first place.

Peace to you all.