When Hair and Language Becomes a Legal Quagmire, The Importance of Sports As A Bridge Builder To Peace, Love and Happiness And That Easter Trip To Reno, Nevada in 1992 that Neutralized My Plans To Marry This Woman from Chile
When Hair and Language Becomes a Legal Quagmire, The Importance of Sports As A Bridge Builder To Peace, Love and Happiness And That Easter Trip To Reno, Nevada in 1992 that Neutralized My Plans To Marry This Woman from Chile
By Ben Edokpayi ©
Word Count 1430
I am sure journalists have been faced with scenarios where communication and/or communication was hindered by a language barrier.
As a well traveled journalist I have faced several lingua franca hurdles that really stood out in countries where English was not the language of choice.
As a very young journalist I arrived Chile in 1987, after two days in Brazil (with former Vanguard Sports Editor Chris Okojie) to cover the junior world cup in Chile.
We stopped in Brazil for two exciting days in Rio De Janeiro. We spent the time visiting tourist attractions, attending a Carnival and watching a game between Vasco Da Gama and Santos, during which time we met the famous Brazilian player Gerson.
And the other confidential matter until now? I dated some Brazilian women after a game of Volleyball on the Copa Cabana beach.
Out of respect because I heard one of them was killed I will not provide more details only to say it was a pleasant day.
Our arrival in Chile created a spectacle of sorts at the airport in Concepcion when we were surrounded by natives who were enthralled by our kinky black hair. I guess in that part of the world (at that time) they had not seen too many black folks with our kind of curly hair.
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-pol-ca-natural-hair-discrimination-bill-20190703-story.html
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/2116/text
I would have given anything to figure out what they were saying about us and our hair in faraway Chile but my knowledge of Chilean Spanish at that time was rudimentary.
But that shocker was erased a few days later by a chance meeting with Ana Maria Bustos, a pretty Chilean girl, who and her friend virtually followed us as we shopped in a local mall. They were so interested in us that they approached, and before we knew it a conversation started. But a lack of understanding of the local language still proved a hindrance in dialogue. This was eventually resolved through a crash course in Spanish and the help of her mother (a medical doctor) who was very fluent in English.
The Chilean friend became so enamored that she was willing to ignore the snickers, sneers and strange stares that trailed a mixed race couple in the heart of this beautiful South American country. She was even willing to return to Nigeria with me, and gave me a treasured promise ring from her grandfather. I noticed the ring disappeared in Fairfield from my night stand after I started dating my ex-wife. It was just before she suggested we should take a trip just before Easter to get married. At that time I still held out hope that Ana Maria could join me in America.
Two years before the Chile experience, I had to figure out a creative way to interview Brazilian team Esporte Clube Vitória, during their tour of Nigeria. Vitoria, a well-known team from Salvador in Bahia, was founded in May 1899, and has a roster that has featured names like Bebeto and Hulk.
Another prime-time player for the club is Nigerian Richard “Daddy” Owubokiri who has also played in France for Stade Lavallois and FC Metz, and internationally for other clubs such as Portugal’s C.F. Estrela da Amadora, and Boavista FC, as well as Saudi Arabia’s Al-Arabi Sports Club and Al-Hilal FC. The language experience with Club Vitoria in 1985 proved to be valuable during a transit through Brazil two years later on the way to Chile, enabling me to engage in passable conversation with the great Brazilian star Gerson, whom we met at the Maracana.
And then of course how can I forget the most interesting language barrier of them all. This one occurred during a trip in the summer of 1988 to investigate the shipment of toxic wastes to Nigeria. I arrived Milan with no Italian words in my language repertoire. This situation was compounded by the expensive nature of hotels in the city.
Fortunately with the help of Nicola Cecere, a journalist friend at La Gazzetta Dello Sports I was able to navigate through the language hurdle to find a place to rest for the night before continuing to Pisa, from where the wastes were shipped to Nigeria in 1988.
Upon my arrival in Pisa I was fortunate to meet the group of Nigerian students who alarmed the nation over the wastes shipment. But because they were in the middle of exams at the time I arrived they could not help much. So my investigative journalistic instincts had to kick in.
By the time I left Italy a few days later I had a treasure trove of documents detailing how this clandestine trade which decimated the town of Koko (and resulted in the displacement of many natives) was conducted.
I left Italy in fear for my life because I knew I was dealing with a mafia-type trade. I recall calling Kayode Soyinka, the Newswatch correspondent in London at the time, upon my departure from Italy. (Kayode survived the parcel bomb assasination of our editor Dele Giwa. They were both on the breakfast table when an unknown cyclist delivered a 9x12 envelope which detonated on our boss’s lap as he slit it open. He was unrecognizable from the waist down after the bomb detonated Another coded covert blueprint for mayhem by gay analysts in Virginia? Straight People Be Careful Not To Be Confused With The White Misuse of the Word “Open” and morbid play on the word Miss and “Pen” T)
NIGERIA AT 25; MISSPENT PAST AND SOMBER PROSPECTS https://nyti.ms/29DlJvH
https://cpj.org/2009/10/nigerian-editor-dele-giwas-unsolved-murder/
PARCEL BOMB KILLS NIGERIAN JOURNALIST ACCUSED OF PLOTTING https://nyti.ms/29CJiox
Journalists Under Threat By The Government? https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/12/what-does-president-biden-know-and-when-does-he-know-it/
Yet there was still a language problem, because the documents were all in Italian. Fortunately, with the help of K.K. Yope, an editor at Newswatch/Quality, who is versed in the language, we were able to translate the documents to enable me write the expose on the illicit shipment of toxic wastes from Europe to Africa. At no time during the investigation was I exposed to any of the waste.
I was too young to know then, but in a world of constant changes it is certainly a plus to know a few words in other languages especially as a journalist.
(Picture shows me, Anna Maria, her brother and Mother and the city of Concepcion. For legal records since Concepcion Chile I have never been this close to a white man on a couch. This picture is a depiction of how close I and pony-tailed Sade Adu were close backstage on a couch at the Concord Pavilion after her 2000 concert. The ex wife was on the other side of the curtains during the interview and I think became jealous and suspicious that we made out. Sade has forgiven her. Nothing bad happened. Just two friends happy to see each other again after we promoted her career with several articles in Newswatch and Quality before I left Nigeria in 1989 https://www.sfgate.com/music/article/Sade-seduces-with-cool-soul-Singer-s-dreamy-2897932.php )
https://www.theafricantimes.com/2021/04/who-really-has-the-right-journalistic-perspective-on-africa/
Brazil Chill and that Museum fire a.hint from God! Confidential Until Now! About Me And Three Beautiful Girls from Ipanema Wrong And Twisted Intel By The CIA! Confidence crisis with our allies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5QfXjsoNe4
Copacabana beach! So what and when did that become a crime?Single and Ready To Mingle after some Volleyball with two Nigerian journalists enroute the Maracana stadium for a game with Santos and Flamingoes where we met a number of Brazilian Stars and that included Gerson, the greatest left footer in football.
https://twitter.com/NGSuperEagles/status/1506895558010707968?s=20&t=0T7N13ezbXbFb-wqyhOo-w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_tZGKP4Tnk&t=151s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybwqnFNAGQA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDlGxjhzN54
https://theintercept.com/2018/12/08/george-hw-bush-cia-director/
Affair in Brazil a year Before Cairo and bad intel Similar to Records Being Destroyed by Fire https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/03/fire-engulfs-brazil-national-museum-rio
The constant spin will only worsen the global tensions!
