Ekow Duker
Follow Ekow on
  • Home
  • Books
  • About me
  • Diary
  • Gallery
  • Ekow's blog
  • My favourite quotes
  • Awards
  • Special thanks to...
  • Where to buy
  • Contact Ekow

Americanah

12/8/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
This is a really wonderful book by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. For everyone who grew up in Africa and left for Europe or the US, Americanah will strike a deeply resonant  chord.

One of the book's themes is about race and how we get entangled in a web of posturing, insecurity and correctness. It reminds me of an experience I had many years ago in the Algerian desert. 
I was an oilfield engineer working for a large multinational and I had a French trainee with me at the time. I don't remember his name but let's call him Luc. We arrived at the well late one afternoon and as was customary, went to find the client, the Company Man, to discuss the surveys we were going to run. I didn't think anything of taking Luc along with me, he was fresh out of school and eager to learn. I pushed open the door of the Company Man's portacabin and was immediately overwhelmed by the man's greeting. Not towards me mind you, but to Luc. I  simply couldn't get a word in. The Company Man, who was just a little lighter skinned than me, had  a mental picture of what a highly trained engineer running a multi million dollar operation should look like. And in that picture the engineer was undeniably white, and therefore must be Luc. Not me. I was just the roughneck showing my white boss where to find the man in charge of the rig. So I walked out, which wasn't really fair on Luc, because he didn't have a clue about what we were there for. I'd probably do the same again.


0 Comments

Who won the elections?

12/8/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
The elections are over but the street lights in Bulawayo still have airbrushed pictures of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe plastered on the poles. Smooth faced and  wrinkle free, they both look a lot younger and much less worn in the pictures than they are in real life. My daughter asked me at the airport when we arrived last Friday, "Who won the elections?" 
I replied, "Mugabe."
"Again?" she asked. I didn't have an answer to that. It doesn't look like anybody does.

0 Comments

Thando

12/8/2013

2 Comments

 
Last Friday, my sister, the kids and I went up to Bulawayo for the unveiling of Thando's tombstone with her family. I miss her.
Picture
2 Comments

Bulawayo

11/8/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
After travelling to Zambia a couple of weeks ago, it seemed fitting when I came to Zimbabwe, to see the grave of the man who (for a while) gave his name to both countries - Northern Rhodesia and Rhodesia. Cecil John Rhodes is buried at the top of a gently rising rock dome in Matopos, less than an hour's drive from Bulawayo. (My sister will tell you "gently rising" is a relative term). Rhodes' tomb is sunk into the stone and guarded by enormous boulders with only a simple brass plaque bearing his name. Whatever you may think of the man, his resting place is truly majestic. 

Then Thando's dad showed us a large cave, large enough for several pre-historic families. There were rock paintings on the walls. I last saw one of those in Mrs. Sawyer's Class 4 history class. Imagine how much poorer we'd be if the artist's mother had yelled at him and said, "The next time I catch you drawing on the walls you'll be sleeping outside!"

0 Comments

Lusaka

4/8/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
I spent five days in Lusaka, Zambia last week, for work. The highlight of the trip was undoubtedly the four piece hotel band, led by a sprightly old man with only one arm. They all wore red jackets and looked like waiters from a bygone era. The band leader sang mostly Spanish ballads in a Bee Gees type falsetto and my first reaction was, "These guys are awful!" And they were, for the first five minutes or so. Then they started to grow on me, laying on the charm in bucketfuls. By the end I was wondering whether to ask if they had a business card. Or a manager.
Lounge crooners aside, I found Zambia remarkably similar to Ghana with the same dusty streets lined with small shops and small boys riding bicycles with dodgy brakes. Mind you, the similarity between the two countries doesn't extend to soccer. We're much better than they are.

0 Comments

    Archives

    April 2017
    March 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    General
    Short Stories
    Travel
    Writing

    RSS Feed

"If this is the dream God has placed in your heart, who are you to doubt?"