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Warri to Lagos, passing chaos alongside the road. Through the marks of civilization, wooden frames empty, others filled with various dallies of cheap Chinese junk, together sheltered with the tatters of canvas stretched overhead. They're empty, so empty it's worth mentioning again: They're empty, derelict, dry like a Mojave ghost-town with their rotting planks of siding. <br />

Murtala Mohammed

Camron Karsten
2006-02-18 20:07:49

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I feel selfish, like I've wasted my whole life over what? For what? It is hard to not absorb Africa and not want to be sucked into it for good. It is hard not to wish everything that I ever had for these people, because I know...I know they would cherish it more than I ever have.

As a popular song sings to my ears:
I don’t want the world to see me,
because I don’t think that they’d understand.
When everything’s made to be broken,
I just want you to know who I am.

It feels hopeless, a nihilist among many others, "The world is meant to be broken." But maybe it already is, and that's why I'm here? That's why we're here?

I remember the basketballs, the footballs (soccer) I brought the locals, even my little stupid "complimentary" cards with e-mail and address; and I remember how the young and the old looked at it with the reverence of chocolate mousse on a midnight veranda overlooking the Thames.
Eric Esplin at the Oba's in Benin City, NigeriaThey loved it, and in a way, it was pocket-change to me.

[Ha] No, I am grateful--extremely grateful--to the individuals whose lives I crossed within Nigeria. Indeed, we did just that; we came together, weaved like two butterflies within a garden of roses, and then departed. And I am grateful to the US delegates, including our leaders, as well as the Nigerian delegates for their strength, their zest for life with all characters across the board laid out and played with the finesse of a Maverick. It was beautiful, painful, and the question still lingers as a cornerstone in the twilight of a muddy graveyard: Where do I go from here?

Nigeria is a work of humanity. All of humanity needs to be renovated. Poverty, disease, HIV/AIDS, racism, hatred, greed, environmental destruction, political nuisances, pollution, terrorism... And now within the southern foothills of the Indian Himalayas, I take the time and space to step back and see what this wedge of humanity can do about it. Where do I go from here? --planet earth and what we can do together to renovate our consciousness and evolve with what we have within our hearts. I find myself back to a grassroots connection.