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ELLY ODHIAMBO: An old question has been given new relevance by Channel deaths

TEN years ago I co-wrote a low budget theatre piece that we called ‘Did You Come by Boat?’ The storyline of the play was the initial difficulties a young woman from Africa faced in integrating herself to the sub-cultures of Derry. The story captured the many moments of confusion and despair of a woman who had personally undervalued time until she came to the island of Ireland. The sense of humour was different, people spoke in some places as if they were singing and sometimes it was too fast to comprehend. People ran about from one place to another with their dogs – this was part of life. Did You Come by Boat? seems very timely now. We have seen on our screens about what is happening in the English Channel. People are dying. In newsrooms, pubs, emergency services, border control and the parliaments of Europe the conversation remains as predicted – the push and pull factors. If we want to save a life and put an end to this cycle of deaths in the channel why are we so interested in the question of WHY are they coming here and not staying in the first port of entry? People were calling a local radio station last week complaining thus: “Those immigrants, why can't they stay in France? “You know why? Because this is the land of milk and honey.” Such migration experts don't dare tell the truth about a similar journey of desperation by the Irish during the Famine, economic flight and pushed away by the horror of the troubles. History is important. First, the English Channel and other routes of water migration away from France. The UK government must work with European governments urgently to address this crisis. A human face can be put in practice, for example by allowing all those people stuck in the French-UK border, those wanting to sail to the UK, to travel. What will it cost to sabotage the work of human traffickers by simply putting the poor people in the refugee tents in France into the Channel Tunnel to England? Germany took nearly a million people nearly ten years ago. Kenya has the largest refugee and displaced people camps in the world at Kakuma and Daadab. So, those of us complaining that the British pound or the EU euro will take a hit and the stockmarkets will behave funny because of a softly-softly policy, they are wrong. Bringing these people to where they want to be would be the greatest thing that the UK and its partners have done in a very long time. The anti-migrant Rivers of Blood (Enoch Powell) camp would say no to this proposition because they just can't entertain the other. We cannot allow any more deaths in the Channel. That is a victory for the human traffickers because they only care about the money they are making from victims. And please don't tell me that some victims are affluent and some are not. It does not matter, they are still victims. When I co-wrote Did You Come by Boat? with the legendary artistic director Patricia Byrne, I had one thing in mind – these things were going to happen one day, and they are really happening now. A workmate some fifteen years ago inspired the title of the play. He used to mock me: did you actually come by boat? And by that he meant the slave boats. Elly Omondi Odhiambo is a writer based in Belfast. ellyomondi@gmail.com

ELLY ODHIAMBO: Two talented men who had very different stories

IS there such a thing as Westernisation? Is it a culture? What is the opposite of this animal? Easternisation? Northernisation? Southernisation? I don't know. Let us talk culture. We all make broad claims about it, that there is African culture and on the other side, a Westernised model of doings things. So we use broad terms to describe these situations. There are very many fine lines between cultures, yes, but there are also very extreme differences between these things. For example, not many Africans will purchase the classical titles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The only thing he shared with another prominent person from Africa during the same period, 18th century,was the hairstyle. The Beninian, Olaudah Equiano, if not for being a young black man uprooted from his country in West Africa and enslaved in the Americas, could have been the prolific musicologist Mozart. Just compare the faces of the two writers,they look so much the same, except colour. Their hairstyles unite the two. Both were made for big things: Equiano, a pioneer abolitionist who travelled in Europe, especially Britain and Ireland (he lodged with Samuel Neilson at what is now the Northern Whig in Belfast) while Mozart was busy composing ink-messy manuscripts that took the world by storm. One can comfortably say that Mozart and Equiano were interested in protecting their cultures, one with music, the other one by using his biographical work to demand the end of the evil trade in fellow humans. Equiano knew the cultures of his fellow black men, Africans exported to the West were under threat. Equiano's fourth publication of his autobiography was published in Dublin during his stay there. At the time the subculture that would have been under threat in the eyes of Mozart was his music. He blamed the establishment for opposing his art. However, a lot of the classical works by European composers of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries paid a lot of respect to racist ideology. Richard Wagner, for example, blamed the Jews for anything wrong that was happening in the arts and music. Most of Wagner's work does not sell and in fact is unofficially banned in Israel. This is also an irony of the landscape of music, art and culture because, while proscribing Wagner, most right-wing Israeli government figures have expressed their racist policies against minority tribes there and the Palestinians continue to be under subjugation. Culture and defending culture can be a ruthless and complicated affair because everyone is at it, either consciously or subconsciously. When others think that their version of culture is not being heard they must use misleading and inappropriate language. A person who says, ‘This is my country, respect my culture and way of life’ is actually vindicated because patriotism is not a bad thing if it is harmless. Humans will fight for their cultural identity. However, cultural identity is not a universal, uniform way of thinking. To test this claim, I would say football fans in the UK and Ireland support different clubs because of that democracy of culture. It is important then that those who fight for their culture to be respected must also individually do the same to other cultures. This is a better way of driving cultural diversity to the right destination. If we all pretend we know one another's culture, like one of my colleagues who cannot pinpoint to Timbuktu in an atlas but claims to be the expert geographer, we are wasting our time. We should research where we all come from, the internet serves that purpose.Today, nobody should be ignorant about places and cultures. • Elly Omondi Odhiambo is a writer based in Belfast. ellyomondi@gmail.com

ELLY ODHIAMBO: Why laughter is a valuable integration tool

Have you ever read a book that you really enjoy because of its serious subject and the ability of it to make you laugh so loud as well? That is what I am experiencing. The book is called ‘The Truth About The Irish’, written in 1999 before the Celtic Tiger emerged, by the renowned English literary and cultural critic Terry Eagleton. This guy decided to expose his biased theories about the Irish by blaming others for stereotyping them. For example, the Americans who are only interested in one thing: Irish leprechauns. It is biased and unbiased tell-it-all literature, both entertaining and annoying. I have the luxury to entertain both because I was not born here. So in one passage Eagleton rebukes what he calls a curiously common Irish affliction especially among middle-aged men. He says that you will notice that every few minutes one or both will say “Ah?” even before the other person has said enough for there to be anything to mishear. One would wonder why I even bother reading the humour and anthropology of the lucky Irish; I should stick to the black social landscape here. To integrate oneself people should try to educate themselves funnily, getting to know the local jokes and ways of saying things. This is so important. It can be natural, it removes suspicion and isolation in a conversation that you are part of. It is sometimes enriching, and on some occasions awkward and unbelievable when the things that have been said are not understood in context. When the winter is on its way, we better be prepared. For some, the winter is never over, they feel the cold all year round, which is the nature of the beast called integration, even the weather spoils it for you, and it is in the head you think you are freezing during the summer. And then when you are that foreigner who has lived here for what seems like centuries, like me. You think you can stage pop-up weather classes – hilarious. There was a certain winter that I will never forget. The Beast from the East, it was called. The February 2018 temperatures dropped to -10C overnight in some parts of Ireland and the UK. Then there was the coldest winter in living memory in 2010 which pushed its sub-zero temperatures through to April. These are the kind of climatic events that help to determine our identities, how much one can take. I was horrified seeing men and women taking pictures posing in their birthday suits out there on sub-zero temperatures. Maybe they were showing off, perhaps it was a morsel of practical joke, humour by inflicting oneself with pain so that the audience can laugh along. By the way, do you know that I have met people here in the North who asked me the genuine question: Does it rain in Africa? Ask the American rock band Toto. They did sing the lyrics ‘I bless the rain down in Africa.’ Have a blessed weekend.Elly Omondi Odhiambo is a writer based in Belfast. ellyomondi@gmail.com

ELLY ODHIAMBO: Irish and Ethiopian famines share a history

IT is tempting to compare the devastating Irish famine of the mid-19th century to the Ethiopian food disaster 140 years later. The Ethiopian famine went on for three years while the Irish one lasted nearly ten years. These two terrible narratives can fit into one glove, that is, the man-made causes of both disasters. In Ireland, the then colonial power, Britain, had her landowners keeping food prices artificially high and at the same time the government refused to license the distribution of surpluses to the poor Irish. People were dying essentially because they could not afford the food which was actually there. At the time, extensive commercial and agricultural wealth did not belong to the poor Irish, obviously. There was token emergency famine relief for the poorest of the poor and that was part of the state-manufactured famine. In Ethiopia, every single element of their famine was created by the state. When Bob Geldof, an Irishman co-wrote and sang of the Ethiopian disaster, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, the Ethiopian government of dictator Lieutenant Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam crafted a denial that his regime was to blame. The civil war in the country made matters worse. In the long run, the Ethiopian civil war ended up splitting the country, hence the birth of Eritrea.

ELLY ODHIAMBO: In a crisis, nurses must be given their proper worth

THERE Is a crisis in the National Health Service (NHS) over the shortage of nurses. The Belfast Trust is desperately urging all registered and unregistered nurses to go to work. There is a similar problem in the Western Trust area. This serious problem will affect many patients in the coming winter months and government should act. If there is a crisis in Northern Ireland with domiciled nurses not attending work because of various unforeseen circumstances, the immigration authorities, politicians and the NHS should act vigorously in recruiting nurses from other parts of the world. An emergency situation calls for fast action. The Health Minister Robin Swann should really avoid all the needless international recruitment roadblocks and apply his powers, whatever they are, to urge the private companies to bring nurses forthwith. Last week, the Belfast Trust used its social media handle to plead with nurses to come to work. When a busy large organisation like the NHS makes such an announcement anywhere, let truth be told, it is in a big crisis. “We are under extreme pressure as we care for an increasing number of sick patients. We are asking for any available nursing staff (both registered and unregistered) who can help this afternoon, tonight and over the coming days to contact their department manager.” There is this thing called brain drain. It is being blamed for the unequal distribution of health sector workers around the world. It is true that an impoverished society will face more problems in their health services because of low numbers of doctors and nurses. Private sector agencies are recruiting thousands every year from other countries and the poorer economies take the hit. There are two moral lessons here. The countries that are exporting their medical personnel to the outside world should pay them much better, that way they won’t leave their work stations to come to Northern Ireland. Also, the NHS system should appreciate the locally trained nurses and also pay them better. This is not a play with words. Nurses the world over are probably fed up with not being given the recognition, monetary or otherwise, that they deserve from their employer. Actually, while the new nurses are here, why are they the ones to suffer most in the crisis that the Health Service is going through? When they arrive, their rights must be guaranteed as per the contract with their recruiter. In my community activism, sometimes I see more than one should see. Only just the other day, I received a call from a union member of a nursing organisation who is based in England. She told me that a colleague who was directly recruited from Kenya is in a crisis of her own because of how her agency contract was terminated when she had poor health. I phoned the trade union and one of their officials was tremendously helpful. Of course, because of data protection regulations, I had to urge the nurse that she would have to make the call herself and approve my conversation with the trade union. The problem was not that she could not speak for herself, no. She had just reached the edge and could not take this situation anymore. No foreign nurse or doctor should go through what this lady has to tolerate right here in Belfast. So the country needs nurses, but then contradicts itself by terminating the contract of a hardworking nurse because of her recent health issues? • Elly Omondi Odhiambo is a writer based in Belfast ellyomondi@gmail.com

ELLY ODHIAMBO: UK Brexit border system hits non-Europeans hardest

DID you know that Northern Ireland border agency officers conduct more immigration checks than in any parts of the UK? In comparison to the low number of non-UK/Irish citizens in Northern Ireland, the obsession with controlling the flow of newcomers does not make sense. Sociologist Chris Gilligan, who has for years mounted campaigns with others to address the plight of detained persons awaiting deportation, says that too many unnecessary resources are being used to monitor the lives of non-citizens who are moving across the borders of the UK and Ireland. This level of immigration enforcement has mostly affected people from non-European countries. The post-Brexit realities will change Northern Ireland’s border control and still interesting is the fact that Ireland is the only EU land border that the UK shares with the European Union. Here in the North, immigration is one of those classically controversial subjects. Many people have embraced the new faces; others are against new cultures, the laughter, hardworking people, the smell of their foods and the joy on the streets. Rome was not built in a day, should we say? Such politics of immigration will hopefully settle in the long-term. Northern Ireland has a unique idea – parity of esteem – which essentially means that the communities here can be legally British or Irish or both. Many ethnic minorities in Northern Ireland have both or one of the two local identities, British or Irish. • Polish people share some history with Africa. In the six years after 1939, 40,000 Polish refugees were spread across five to six African countries. Most of them had been deported to Siberia when Germany and Russia occupied Poland. They were then allowed by the Soviets to move to Iran. From the Gulf,t hey moved to East and Southern Africa.The refugees lived in Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa. After the Second World War, the multitude of refugees left Africa to reunite with family in Canada, Britain, the United States, France and Australia. Many Polish people in Northern Ireland do not know about these migrations of the 1940s. It is important that this history is shared with communities here because then can they learn from each other that during the 19th century, Caucasian people were heading south to Africa for safety from Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin's political grip in Eastern Europe. History is a strong part of cultural diversity. Ireland is celebrated for its welcoming nature to new communities. This is what any part of the world should be like. Unfortunately, there are continued reports of hate speech, physical violence and discrimination against ethnic minorities.S o,there is a lot of work to be done. Government should be increasing funding to community organisations that are working to end the racial tensions in our society.Live and let live. Elly Omondi Odhiambo is a writer based in Belfast ellyomondi@gmail.com

ELLY ODHIAMBO: We need more Cyrils of the Botanic

FOR an all-out cosmopolitan extrovert, I think I have done well meeting so many Irish people. Honestly, it is part of the drill when you are, presumably, an outgoing person, the ‘life and soul of the party’, don’t you think? You may feel small before having any of these interactions but when you meet many remarkable people, one has to start dropping names here because I think it is important. Meeting people is part of cultural integration with the natives of any land. It was nice meeting the celebrated music composer Liam Friel. What an amazing chap with so much time for chitchat with a stranger. Good old Liam got me into this nostalgic conversation about the poems of his friend, the late Pádraic Fiacc. He was a great Irish poet who had a remarkable life. Sometimes, Padraic wrote strongly worded poems that depicted the reality of the Troubles. For that he got a lot of stick from his critics but others wanted more of his writing. So, Friel decided to do a music journey that would revisit the works of Fiacc. He composed memorial music from the poetry of Pádraic Fiacc that would remember the life and times of his friend. I would like to meet Liam again. Cyril of the Botanic, or simply Cyril Botanic, is a hero. This is the only person I know with that combination of a name and a park. He has earned himself that moniker because of his love of the Belfast’s Botanic Park. Cyril is there so frequently he might as well move in. This man is a signpost in the city of Belfast, maybe one day he will be remembered as the man who does not look away when strangers greet him. His heroism is natural, Cyril will uplift the spirits of any person who talks to him and if they have a troubling stressful situation, he offers holistic advice. People love the patience and sincerity in his words.Sometimes he sounds very poetic, other times his voice repeats many things that he wants to emphasis and it is a mutual conversation with people. It really means that he does not mind if people ask him about his life, his bicycle that he walks along most of the time instead of riding. It is also notable that Cyril always carries a shopping bag full of books, documents and other things that he uses when he sits in the park. He has lived with a long mental health disorder which he manages to challenge daily. He does not like change or routine and has had to deal with anxiety spectrums. Overall, if many people were like Cyril, life would be a better place because he loves what he does in his daily life no matter what other think of him. Cyril is a wise man; you don’t meet many sages in our time because most people of his kind would be typing things behind their keyboard or on their mobile phone, endlessly swiping pages on the internet. Some people quickly pace past him with ignorance, treating him like a nobody because of his hippie look. They think he is a homeless man so they discriminate against him. He has a heart for everyone, locals or new citizens, Cyril loves them all. I just wish there were many people like Cyril of the Botanic.

ELLY ODHIAMBO: New Radio 1 host Gemma is a real talent

IT was a privilege last week to interview the singer-singerwriter, and now radio broadcaster, young Gemma Bradley. She is at BBC Radio 1, so no more introductions there, because that's big! Gemma is an emerging serious pop and r ’n’ b artist. She was featured on the Glastonbury 2020 Emerging Talent longlist.

ELLY ODHIAMBO: Fruits of Apartheid still being witnessed

SOUTH Africa has been burning over the past week. There is massive youth unemployment in the country, which was under apartheid rule from 1948 to 1994. The former President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, was jailed last week for contempt of court in a corruption case.

ELLY ODHIAMBO: The African affinity with Ireland is multi-faceted

THIS week the African and Caribbean community and the local people said a big thank you and best wishes to Joseph ‘Joe’ Ricketts as he leaves the post of Programmes Manager of the African and Caribbean Support Organisation, (ACSONI).

ELLY ODHIAMBO: Shadow of history hangs over migrant debate

THERE is always a seasonal debate about irregular migrants or people who are liable to be deported for some issues related to their immigration status. Europe is one of the least densely populated continents in the world, with Asia taking the league title for the largest number of people per square kilometre. Still, the sometimes overestimated facts and figures about foreigners in Europe clearly make the former look like an unwanted species in their new adopted lands. To use the term irregular migration is to negate any link with criminality. Usually the popular press, certain policymakers in the centre of governments and the right-wing think-tanks that joyride with them prefer to use the term illegal immigrants.

ELLY ODHIAMBO: Trade unions must fight workplace injustice against African-Caribbean community

THE African and Caribbean community in Northern Ireland is very vibrant. It looks like they are not there but they are. You find them in major sectors of the economy, very important areas. This does not mean that other parts of the community are not as significant but the point here is to appreciate the role being played by ethnic minority communities in education, health, charity, sport, faith, culture, beauty and many more. There is still a big missing ingredient to integration and this is the ability to take a big step. Enough of the baby steps.

ELLY ODHIAMBO: Learning from two women united in hope but divided on Palestine-Israel conflict

THERE is a huge emotional support for Palestine and Israel, depending on who you talk to about the regional conflict there. Here in Belfast, there are some people who articulate their desire for peace no matter what are the consequences. Is it because of their experience of pre- and post-conflict Northern Ireland?

ELLY ODHIAMBO: Celebrate Africa Day by getting serious on race

EVERY year, Africa Day is celebrated worldwide on May 25. There are many reasons for such a day. Originally, it was a day to remember Africa’s wonderful stories that are often omitted, the remarkable cultural folklore of the continent and of course the tide of independence from colonialism.

ELLY ODHIAMBO: Anne starting to settle in after the shock of the new

The fashion industry in the UK and Ireland does not have many black models, agents, managers and companies in the world of the catwalk. Fashion icon Naomi Campbell said this. So in metropolitan areas, there is a tendency for ambitious young black men and women to do start-ups in the business. Most of them make it obvious that they are targeting young ethnic minorities, especially black women and girls, to walk down the catwalk because in their world they have not been recognised in the same way that black athletes, musicians, actors and other genres of life have succeeded. So, in the big cities, there are fashion enthusiasts, investors and fans who have the African or black couture on their to-do list, every year. They just can’t wait to get things up and running again after the long lockdown is finally over. It will be new energy for Anne Njeri, a very beautiful, brainy and smart working woman from Kenya who entered her name in the Miss/Mrs Africa UK 2020/2021 pageant. Anne has a background in the energy industry but fashion is her passion. She says it is not a beauty contest only, in fact it is mostly about how one impacts society and their drive to change things. Anne has a lot of confidence that she is making a name for her family, village, country and above all telling the human race that they must put philanthropy into practice, helping where they can the poverty stricken around the world. She is too polite to say whether she will emerge the winner in the July 2021 competition. Anne lives in Armagh and loves everything about the city and its people. She is married to an Irishman and they have a beautiful young daughter. At 38, she believes that life is just beginning and no one disputes that of course given her stunning young looks and positive outlook on life. In her own words, Anne says that the people of Armagh are warm and good craic. Wait until she comes to Belfast! The craic’s is even better – Barack Obama himself said it. In 2019 when Anne landed in the North for the first time via Heathrow, she had many culture shocks that in this interview she feels that she must share. Everything was so confusing to her and their little baby. The daughter stayed on her laps for the entire journey from Kenya. Being a very sociable person, she thought that at the airport shaking hands with a total stranger was just a given. On the dining table everywhere she went, the foods were a whole new world; Anne didn’t know what she had got herself into. Mentally, she wasn’t unhappy – that little feeling that she had of a fish out of water. “After staying here in Armagh for a short time I was learning the local lingua, it was surprising to me that someone says they are calling and I thought that’s fine, yes, you’re phoning me. I found out later what that meant that they would be visiting me,” she tells me. “Also, unlike in Kenya, when someone visits you here you are not obliged to give them a meal, I found that very strange. I also had to get used to carrying the baby around in a pram and then a stroller, never ending. In Africa we carry our babies on our backs, I really couldn’t believe what I was seeing, so many strollers. “I miss the madness of the music and jive in our public transport in Kenya, the matatu taxi, I miss those buses but I like the way the buses keep time here.” This is the place where Anne has met up with a thing called soda bread yet it is nothing to do with the soda drink. Don’t even mention wheaten bread because for her, the African loaf may have been bland but she misses it.Let us welcome Anne.

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