Guy Fawkes Day is Celebrated

Guy Fawkes Day 

An image of Guy Fawkes from The Telegraph, UK

An image of Guy Fawkes from The Telegraph, UK

I had forgotten, despite the chant, “Remember, remember the 5th of November!”

I first learned about Guy Fawkes from my children. When they were at St. Saviour’s School in Lagos, Nigeria, they were introduced to Guy Fawkes Day.

Do you know this holiday?

Guy Fawkes Day is also known as the Bonfire Day or the Gunpowder Plot. It’s celebrated in the UK with fireworks.

Professor Vinnie Ferraro reminded me in his blog yesterday.

“Guy Fawkes was a Catholic dissident who . . . conspired to blow up King James I during the opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605.”

His plot was foiled. So the day of his failed conspiracy is celebrated.

The Anglican religion was still fairly new. Catholics like Guy Fawkes wanted to bring Catholicism back to England. They hoped to bring about the change by killing the king, installing his daughter on the throne, and marrying her to a Catholic.

Solar Power in Africa

Most of Africa is plagued by the lack of reliable electricity. So I was interested when I saw a Twitter reference to solar power posted by Inventiveafrica.

The writer of the article about using solar power in Africa says, “Wherever you are in the world, solar technology is only affordable for certain social groups. It is a long term investment that some simply can not afford.

But, he says, there are organizations finding ways to make it affordable. One is ‘pay-as-you-go’ where payments are in small increments, eventually leading to ownership of the panels.

Another is a town uniting to purchase panels for schools. But then there is the problem of security.

“One company has come up with an easy way to pack solar panels away at the end of the day when school closes, to prevent thieves (heartless thieves!) from coming at night and pinching them,” he says.

The SolarTurtle solution is a simple, scalable and secure solar battery charging system housed in a shipping container.” It gets unlocked for use each day.

Tortoise as in lessons from Africa

Giant African spur tortoise, from Sun UK

But it must be stored. So, “At the end of the day, the solar panels can be folded away back inside the container for night time protection (just like a turtle hides away in its shell to sleep).”

Synchronicity, or Coincidences

I’m smiling as I write this. Why? The turtle!

This morning I gave the sermon and a “Story for All Ages” at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Stamford Connecticut.

I’ll tell you about the sermon in a minute. My story was about the tortoise, or turtle, and the birds. I took it from Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.

Here’s the very short version: The tortoise begged the birds to take him along to a feast in the sky. They loaned him feathers so he could fly to the feast. Then he ate most of the food.

The birds took their feathers back. He had to jump from the sky.

His fall broke his shell – that’s why the tortoise doesn’t have a smooth shell!

After the Story for All Ages about the tortoise, I demonstrated blessing kola!

After the Story for All Ages about the tortoise, I demonstrated blessing kola!

The sense of belonging was the topic of my “Morning Message” today. I used words from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King as a theme. He said, “We must learn to live together as brothers or we shall all perish as fools!”

I gave this sermon last summer in my Westport congregation.  You can read it here. I changed it a little for Stamford.

And it is somewhat similar to the responses I gave to Rural Reporters who interviewed me recently.

Rural Reporters

An editor from Rural Reporters asked if she could interview me for her paper. I was happy to oblige. The story came out on Saturday!

If you’ve read my memoir, you already know the answers to some of her questions.

If not, maybe it will make you buy the book!

Catherine Onyemelukwe: Nigerian Culture Gave Me a Sense of Belonging

Will the Tragedy Never End?

There is continued news of the tragedy created by Boko Haram. Some areas are being retaken by the military. Civilians are returning. But with their farms destroyed and no seeds to plant, people are still desperate.

Then there are the women in refugee centers. Human Rights Watch issued a report on October 31.

It was picked up by PBS who wrote about it in The Rundown, a blog of News and Insight. They said, “The Human Rights Watch report documented stories from 43 women and girls in seven Nigerian camps who said they were raped or sexually exploited by the guards and officials assigned to protect them.”

One 25-year old woman from Dikwa accepted a marriage proposal from a man who had access to supplies. She knew no other way to feed herself and her 3 children. When she became pregnant the man disappeared.

She said, “If I have a gun, I will shoot him. It is because of him that people call me and my babies names. I am so ashamed that I cannot participate in camp activities and keep to myself because of the jeers.”

Thieves of State by Sarah Chayes

Thieves of State by Sarah Chayes

Disappointment in Government

I’m reading Sarah Chayes’ book Thieves of State which describes how groups like the Taliban are able to attract followers.

She is writing about Afghanistan and corruption. Because people are disgusted with government’s corrupt practices, they may see the Taliban as the only alternative.

But her comments could equally apply to mistreatment by soldiers and others in power. Where do people turn when those in authority can’t be trusted?

Author: Catherine Onyemelukwe

Author, blogger, speaker. Born in New York, grew up in mid west United States, lived in Nigeria for 24 years, back in U.S. since 1986. Advocate for racial justice.

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