The University/5

“Comrade…” The man sitting next to me on the bus is saying, distracting me from my thoughts on Philip“…how are you?”
“Fine thanks”
“Where are you from?”
“From Nigeria”
“But you look African”
“Yes. Nigeria is in Africa”
“Is it a village or a town in Africa?“
“No it’s a country…”
“I hear that there’s war and famine in Africa…”he says as if he didn’t hear what I just said.
“I’ve heard that also.”

There’s been quite a lot of talk lately about the famine in Africa. They’ve been showing documentaries with pictures of the poor starving African children with protruding abdomen’s and with flies trying to perch on their cracked lips as they slowly die of hunger under the burning African sun. And they’ve been playing that Bono song that he used to raise money recently for the Children of Africa, where they ask if we know its Christmas time.

“It must be difficult for you poor Africans.”
“Yes…”I wish I had a book or something to start reading to give the man a little hint that I didn’t feel like talking.
“So are you a refugee here?”.
“No, I am a medical student…”
“Medical student?!” he asked surprised “…I didn‘t know you have African Medical students. I used to think that its very hard to become a Doctor these days!”.

Its moments like this that I wished Barry was here with me; much as I don’t like the way he would have become confrontational and start challenging the man but he at least had enough information to make the man go on the defensive and eventually shut up. Barry always finds it difficult to deal with these kind of questions and wouldn’t mince words about the fact that he believes that the person is ignorant…not even if he is the only black man on the bus. Unfortunately, he’s gotten himself beaten up quite a few times as well.

But I am beginning to understand why Barry feels he is engaged in a battle and why he feels so angry with most of us, especially the Nigerians whom he says are "squabbling over petty tribal issues" while the rest of Africa waits for us-"as the most populous black nation on earth"-to lead. “You guys are an embarrassment to the rest of the black race...” Barry would say.

He also says that all white peoples minds are made up about Africa and Africans anyway and that asking them to change that opinion would be challenging them to "change their conceited opinions about themselves".

"Why would a people want to stop thinking of themselves as better human beings anyway?" he would ask...."It is such beliefs that keeps them from confronting their own vacuous lives, so tell me why a person would replace a feeling of security with nothing. Most of them are either too conceited or too ignorant to believe in God so what is left for them to believe in? Tell me."

I usually don’t know what to say when he begins to talk about people's beliefs because i have my own unresolved issues. But I am beginning to see that its human nature to want something to believe in and that it doesn’t matter whether its true or not because what‘s most important, at the end of the day, is the function of that belief for the individual-or group of individuals.

“How did you become a Medical student?…”the man is asking.

The bus is trying to park at the central market where we all need to get off and I don’t want to answer his questions anymore, so I pretend that I didn’t hear him.