Visit to Vermont; Africa Summit Revisited

Quechee Vermont

Quechee waterfall

Waterfall in Quechee with Dorcy and me

I spent a lovely afternoon and evening with my friend and college classmate Dorcy. She’s visiting her sister Peg who lives in Quechee Vermont.

I drove up today to deliver the calendar Dorcy won several weeks ago when she was the first to answer my challenge question – which African author had died. It was Nadine Gordimer.

I didn’t have to deliver the calendar in person. But I like road trips, and this seemed like a good reason to see more of New England. I was not disappointed.

Tree with amazing roots

Tree with amazing roots

The dense trees, river views, and hills were fantastic. When I stopped to eat my picnic lunch in Greenfield, I saw the  most amazing tree – amazing for its roots. I could hardly believe how far the roots extended so I had to take a picture. I also took a picture of the leaves and I’ll try to tell you next time what kind of tree it was. With the weak internet connection here, I won’t try to identify it now.

We went to the Simon Pearce factory and display in Quechee. That too was amazing. We watched the glass-blowing and wandered awe-struck through the display of lovely glass work. Then we saw the wood display by Andrew Pearce who is following the family tradition but in a new direction. It showed how a carved wooden bowl fit in its original piece of wood.

Andrew Pearce wood display

Simon Pearce factory and display; wood by Andrew Pearce

Africa Summit Revisited

The Africa Summit has been over for a couple of weeks. But I just read an excellent article by Zainab Usman reflecting on the U.S. and Africa. This blog post, she says, is an article she wrote for Al Jazeera English.  The Africa Summit, she says, demonstrated our commitment but also showed our naiveté! Her article is called, Too Little, Too Late?

She is critical of the U.S. for just coming now to the table on the importance of Africa. She talked about other countries’ doubts on the sincerity of the U.S. and was on the lookout for the patronizing talk about Africa as a monolithic entity, when it is anything but.

She said that, “Vice-President Joe Biden and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s gaffe in referring to the “nation of Africa” further reinforced the initial scepticism held by many observers.”

It does make me cringe. Fifty four countries with fifty four – actually many, many more – different histories and cultures.

She was positive though about Obama’s efforts to get the U.S. on track in Africa. She mentioned Power Africa, an effort organized through USAID to help a few African countries improve their power infrastructure. I was just looking at that with my husband yesterday. He was the first Nigerian chief electrical engineer of Nigeria’s Electricity Corporation. He’s started work on his next book –  to reflect on his experience and the issues of power today.

I’ve mentioned Zainab Usman’s blog, Zainab’s Musings, before. I even posted her picture. I think she’s an excellent writer with a good knowledge of African and other political affairs. What do you think?

Title Suggestions

I had some wonderful suggestions for the title for my memoir. More on this soon!

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.