Park City and New Nigeria

Book Club members after lunch at Red Rock Brewery

Book Club members after lunch at Red Rock Brewery

Park City

Karen, my friend who has been most helpful in getting me set up in Park City, Utah for the final leg of my western book tour, took me to her Park City Newcomers Book Club yesterday morning. Almost all the 18 women had read Nigeria Revisited My Life and Loves Abroad, just like in Weston, and had lots of questions.

They have a custom of lunch together for all who can attend after their meeting. We went to Red Rock Brewery for more conversation. Karen is on the far right.

Patrick, Karen’s husband, took Clem to the Olympic Park yesterday when Karen and I were with the book club. Besides the Olympic site, Park City is filled with trails for walking, biking, or running, and of course for skiing. The mountains are beautiful and the wide open space is totally amazing to see.

Yesterday afternoon Patrick took Clem and me to the Park City Museum where we saw how the silver mining was carried out.

Karen invited guests for drinks last night. I saw Molly, Karen’s sister who is the same age as my sister Beth – they were also friends in Fort Thomas many years ago – came with her husband Peter. We exchanged more stories as Karen and I have been doing.

I also had the chance to meet Karen’s daughter and granddaughter as well as other friends.

I love learning about others’ lives. I do believe everyone has a story, though only some of us decide to write whole books about them!

Peaceful scene on the trail walk this morning.

Peaceful scene on the trail walk this morning.

This morning Patrick and Karen took me on a trail walk. Clem is not one for walks, so we left him sleeping happily.

On the trail in Park City

Karen and the two of us, on the trail in Park City

Tonight is the final event of my western book tour. I’m speaking at the Summit County Library.

Nothing New in Nigeria?

Okey Ndibe, writer and frequent contributor to Sahara Reporters, wonders if Buhari’s government will bring change.

He noticed there were no young people on the podium with Buhari at the inauguration. He said he saw the same old faces and was disappointed.

But then I read that on his second Monday morning in office  Buhari declared that selling of illegal homemade liquor would be stopped. I can’t find the source where I read this tidbit of news. Has anyone else seen it?

Hard Life for Women

I had never heard of PEO until my publicist Aline arranged a talk for the PEO group in Weston. To my surprise Karen in Park City is part of a group. Her PEO chapter knits and crochets 11′ squares to send to the Fistula Project.

What a coincidence that I’m with her when I received the article stating that Nigeria is the worst country in the world for women in large part because of early marriages and pregnancies in Northern Nigeria, which often result in obstetric fistulas. The women who suffer the fistulas are sometimes ostracized and sometimes divorced. Their lives usually are rather miserable.

Jonathan’s Important Final Act

Ending these early marriages would be a worthy goal in Nigeria. Another human rights goal is to end female genital mutilation. It may result in the same problems as early pregnancy. Steve Clapp who was with us in Berkeley as part of the Friends of Nigeria, sent this article, saying that President Goodluck Jonathan outlawed the practice as one of his final acts in office. Good for him! Now for enforcement . .

 

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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