Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
After lunch, I returned to my room to write the paper for the OAU conference. I
again indulged in eating ice cream (my brain food) and managed to get the rough draft fin-
ished. I didn't realize the time until I was summoned for dinner. At the table, Mr. Harare
told me he had some bad news. My heart skipped a beat for the first thing that came to my
mind was that the Cameroon Embassy refused to issue me a visa. Instead, he put a video-
tape in front of my dinner plate. I instantly knew what it was. When I first arrived at the
residence, we talked about the final game of the 1992 World Series when the Blue Jays
clinched the championship and mused how great it would be if I could watch it on tape. As
you can imagine, it was difficult for me to really enjoy dinner. I was cordial at the table but
everyonesensedthatIwantedtoleave.Asdessertfinished,Iexcusedmyselfandwentinto
the living room and stayed there until 1:00 a.m. watching it. Actually, I began to fast-for-
ward the tape during the extra innings. Needless to say, I slept with a smile on my face.
As I waited to be picked up in the morning, I sat down with Mr. Harare and we
talked about the plight of the Third World. When I mentioned the importance of teaching
people how to fish as opposed to giving them a fish, he countered with a valuable point.
Notonlydoesthat needtobedonebutalsopeople needtobegiventheopportunity tofish,
a place to fish and people need to be taught how to fix the pole when it breaks. This was so
true for I have seen many new tractors (which were donated by the World Bank) sitting in
ditches, broken and abandoned.
My Golden Radio Opportunity
Whenthevehiclearrived,IwastakentoaradiostationinLagosforaliveinterview.
When I entered the station, I was whisked into a sound-proof studio which had one rather
fat microphone suspended from the ceiling above a wooden table with papers scattered on
top. There were two chairs around the table sitting across from each other with the further
one from the door being occupied by the announcer. He silently motioned for me to sit in
the unoccupied chair and then started the radio broadcast by first playing my song “Learn
to Love” as a musical intro and then said,
“In the studio today, we have a man from Canada who has come all the way
from London by bicycle to Lagos. He has visited many projects of Save the
Children Fund and UNICEF. I would like to extend a warm welcome to this
young man from Canada …David Fenech. Good Morning David.”
Well, I couldn't resist the opportunity. I looked at him, then the microphone and in
the spirit of Robin Williams in “Good Morning Vietnam” I screamed “Goooooooooooood
morning Nigeria!!!”
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