My personal experiences with South Africans

South Africa is a highly literate society, with 94% of its population being able to read and write in any language. In contrast, Nigeria is merely above average literacy at 65% of the population (see Figures). However, it is no news that the literacy pattern in Nigeria is heavily skewed towards the southern part of the country, and that the overall literacy rate is diluted significantly by very high illiteracy in the northern part. Notably, a similar scenario also plays out in South Africa where Whites, followed by Indians, are the most literate, with the Blacks bringing up the distant rear.

By nature, human beings are always curious or inquisitive when they first encounter anything exotic to them. That is why, whenever I speak to a new person in America, the first thing they say to me is ‘‘I love your accent. Where are you from?’’ Being inquisitive is, in part, a function of educational level; better educated people are more inquisitive, and higher literacy is indicative of better education as well. I found out that those who bother to ask me the above question are often the educated Americans, as our discussions show, eventually. Thus, there is an interplay of these factors. So, I would ask myself what do South Africans say to African foreigners in their country? Do they say ‘‘I love your accent’’, instead of ‘‘go back to your country?’’

How can a people (South Africans) with such high literacy rate wantonly and unceasingly kill African foreigners in their midst? Make no mistake, as with its literacy rate, the educational rate of South Africa is skewed toward the White, then the Indian population. The Black population is highly under-educated (See Figure). This is worrisome, given that they constitute about 80% of the population. So, is the xenophobia constantly exhibited by South Africans linked to low educational attainment of a majority group in the population? The answer may be yes, much as the high incidences of killing (by Boko Haram and cattle herdsmen) are linked to the same factor in Nigeria. In essence, South Africa and Nigeria have one thing in common: education (lack of)- induced societal problem, leading to a fatal outcome. One slight difference is that in the case of South Africa, the outcome is directed towards African foreigners, while in Nigeria it is directed towards self. Not sure which is worse, they look alike to me - African-on-African crimes. I leave you to judge. As for me, I have only encountered educated South Africans and that could have made the big difference. Which brings me to the crux of my article: my personal experiences with (Black) South Africans.

I have not been to South Africa. But I have had personal experiences with three South Africans, all of which have been positive, and one actually personal and life-long. For that reason, I am having a hard time lumping every one of them as xenophobes. When I was in Nigeria, I was a very young man of 22 years working for an International agency (name and location withheld). During my third year with the agency, I got a new boss. Guess from where? South Africa. Before then, my old boss was a Nigerian. He was a great guy, but looking back now, I feel that he did not let me learn a lot from him that will progress my career. When my South African Boss, a highly educated fellow, settled down in Nigeria, he taught me many of the things I knew today. He did not see me as a future competitor, but in fact, did take me as a much younger brother. He invited me to his home to meet his family and we had more than a boss-worker relationship. Somewhere during the course of time, my father passed away. I informed him about it and told him I would be taking a couple of weeks off to attend to my father’s funeral – I am the first child and a lot was on my shoulder. He asked me what type of man my father was and I told him – hardworking, honest, loving, a local leader, and a man of average means. I added that my father being a community leader, his burial events would be at that scale as well. He knew about the costs of burials and marriages in Nigeria and he knew how much I earned – pay was good but could be better. When I was leaving for the burial, he handed me 50 Thousand Naira and told me it was a loan from him to assist with the burial expenses. This was years back, during Abdulsalam Abubakir's regime. So that was big money back then. I never asked for it, but I needed help. So, I took the money with gratitude, and in my mind I reckoned I will have to ask him to let me repay him in installments. When I returned, which coincided with end of month, I requested for installment payment and he agreed. It took me 3 months to repay all the money - no interest. In the third month, after I handed him the last installment, he did something that surprised me the next day. He returned the money - I mean all 50K - to me and said ‘‘let the loan be buried with the dead’’. I was shocked beyond belief. That was how nice he was and still is.

When he left Nigeria a few years later, we kept in touch. When I was leaving Nigeria to study in the United States, he was one of those who wrote me a recommendation letter that contributed to my being granted a scholarship, even though he had not seen me in three years. While I was studying, he returned to Nigeria briefly and was organizing a global workshop for the agency. Of all the qualified people he knew, he invited me from my base to be his assistant in the Workshop. I flew back home, all expense paid from the Workshop funds, and on concluding my one-week role in the workshop, he facilitated a handsome honorarium for me. I swear, I could have done the work for him for free; the paid trip afforded me a free opportunity to visit Nigeria after 2 years and to see my mother. The honorarium payment, 1000 USD, was an unexpected appetizer and a good augment to my scholarship stipend. We still kept in touch. When I was applying for the US Green Card (GC) few years later after my studies, I again called upon him for a reference letter. If you know anything about the National Interest Waiver (NIW) pathway for GC, you will appreciate what a strong letter of reference could do for you. He wrote me a strong letter and with similar letters from 10 other people (including, by the way, my former Nigerian boss) in my application package, I obtained the Green Card. Today, I am a US citizen and the rest is history. On my part, I have not done much to repay my South Africa boss, except that I also wrote him a recommendation letter which he asked of me when he was applying to become the Dean or Executive Director (or something like that, not so sure, but he did tell me it was a big position; the biggest ever he would be occupying if successful) in the University back in South Africa. At that time, I had become quite successful and risen in my own career in America, and he felt my recommendation would contribute positively to his application. And yes, he did get the position. Such is my relationship with this person, and hopefully, you would understand with me why I could not call him a xenophobe.

My second experience with a South African was brief, yet notable. In 2017, I was invited to a one-week conference in Beijing China as a Keynote Speaker and I flew into China from US. At the conference, I saw only a handful of black people in a sea of Chinese faces, but I was not bothered; I had a great travel and stay arrangement with my Chinese hosts and would not really be lonely or lost - it was my first time in China, a country of 1.3 billion people. During my presentation, the program moderator introduced me as Dr. xxxxx from the U.S. Yet, anyone who knows anything about ‘’American accent’’ will know that I may be American by nationality, but I was not born and raised in America. I have my proud African (Nigerian) accent. After giving my presentation, one of the black attendees approached me and introduced himself. He was a PhD student in the country who came originally from South Africa. I also introduced myself as originally from Nigeria. He then told me that two of the other black people in the conference were also Nigerian students. I was enthused – I have familiar company, or so I thought. That was my second time of seeing a South African in real life, whereas I have traveled to many places around the world and come across Africans of different shades and nationalities. It was always refreshing meeting people that look like you in foreign lands. I was hoping that the Nigerians would make contact with me. After all, I am their guest and they are the host, so to say. But they did not. Instead, the South African kept in touch, and during the weekend volunteered to take me around town/country and to show me places. We visited the Beijing Olympics complex and the Great Wall of China, among other places. Note that he left his studies to do all that. I did not pay him, he did not ask for any payment. However, out of my show of ‘‘big brother’’, I paid for our lunch and transportation to these places. But that was okay; he was a student and I was working. When I left China, we kept in touch. I was helping him to visit America; however, I am suspending that help until further notice, in solidarity with Nigeria and other African victims of xenophobia. He knows about this decision and accepts it as a consequence of the stupid things his compatriots have done.

The last experience was just a few months ago, before the current outbreak of xenophobia. I got an email from someone on LinkedIn asking me to get in touch with them. When I did, it turned out to be a young South African university Professor who had read my works and was interested in collaborating with me. During our discussion, I informed her I was Nigerian and she also told me that many Nigerians live and work in her country. We continued serious conversations concerning her work and within a few weeks, she sent me pages and pages of research work she had done that were yet to be published. Again, if you know anything about research and publications, you will realize that was not a smart thing to do. You don’t share your research to strangers until they are published. But she trusted me. I gave her suggestions on how to improve the research and make them ready for publication. Weeks later, she wrote back requesting for me to visit her university and organize a workshop for them. I told her that I had no immediate plan or budget to come to South Africa, as it will be cost-intensive and I have to justify that to my employer. She wrote back to say that all expenses will be covered for the two weeks. I then realized that would afford me the opportunity to visit with my former boss and have a happy reunion with him - free of charge to me. What more can I ask for? As fate would have it, the current xenophobic attacks happened months later and I wrote back that I may be shelving my trip in solidarity with Nigerians and other Africans – we had planned the trip for November. She understood and pleaded for me to postpone rather than shelve the trip, if need be. She maintained that the South African government will do what it can to stop the violence and that things would be normal by November. She reiterated how ashamed she was writing me when her people are conducting the disgraceful act of killing, maiming and looting the properties of fellow Africans. I felt pity for her and told her I will shelve the proposed trip to such a time that peace has returned to her country. We ended on that note. As I do not live in Nigeria and do not patronize any South African products (MTN, DSTV, Shoprite and others), this is the way I could ‘boycott’ South Africa. Still, how could I rightly call this person a xenophobic killer?

South Africa is now a pariah state of sort, in Africa. It will likely pay a huge economic and diplomatic price for its madness - it should. At the same time, I remember my own native country and its many problems, and ask myself rhetorically when the Nigerian government will do all it can to stop them.

OP, thanks for your humble ''contribution'' in boycotting South Africa. As your article indicated, majority of the boycott effect of SA will have to come from Nigerians in Nigeria. If they all throw their MTN SIM cards and DSTV dishes away (or at least lock them up in their cupboards until further notice), and stop patronize Shoprite, and withdraw all their funds from Stanbic Bank, it will go a long away in damaging SA.

AfricaUnited:


South Africa is now a pariah state of sort, in Africa. It will likely pay a huge economic and diplomatic price for its madness - it should. At the same time, I remember my own native country and its many problems, and ask myself rhetorically when the Nigerian government will do all it can to stop them.

Good question

What are Northern leaders doing to educate their people? At times I am tempted to believe that Northern leaders keep their people in ignorance deliberately and allow them to be brainwashed with religion. With this approach, the Northern leaders remain at the very top stealing money and living opulently, while their people remain poor, uneducated and ignorant. It is quite sad.

When I was in the North, in the good old days, education was FREE with all expenses paid for, and still they would rather go to alamanjari school to learn Arabic , than learn how to read and write. Nothing has changed since then.

As for South Africa, all the South Africans I work with in the UK are WHITE. They are well educated and friendly.

I dare say that the South Africans who hate Nigerians are a minority, most of the rioters came from the poor uneducated parts of the country, fired up by incendiary comments made by irresponsible leaders. The leaders know there is a huge gap between the poor and rich in that country, housing is dismal, education is substandard, women are regularly raped and murdered, violent crime is rampant, but rather than fix these issues, they stir up hate against hardworking immigrants. Leaders in both countries have failed the continent and put it to shame.

Finally, all Nigerian drug dealers and scammers, STOP participating in illicit trade, stop giving us a bad name, stop trafficking in young vulnerable girls, get REAL JOBS and REAL LIVES. All your money acquired through your wicked trade will not last, your descendants will not enjoy it, and poverty is the karma that will eventually come back to bite your asses together with illnesses, prison or even death. STOP NOW.

frosbel2:
Imo State literacy rate – Youth (91.8%), Adults (82.4 %);

Read more: https://www.legit.ng/1161372-literacy-rate-nigeria-by-states.html

I am aware of the high literacy rates in Imo, Anambra, Rivers, Edo, Abia, Ogun, Ondo, etc. Those are part of the southern states I alluded to in my first paragraph. Nigeria as a whole has a mediocre (average) literacy rate due to the vast North. But please that is not the point of this article.

AfricaUnited:


I am aware of the high literacy rates in Imo, Anambra, Rivers, Edo, Abia, Ogun, Ondo, etc. Those are part of the southern states I alluded to in my first paragraph. Nigeria as a whole has a mediocre (average) literacy rate due to the vast North. But please that is not the point of this article.

I was still updating..take it easy :-)

frosbel2:


I was still updating..take it easy :-)

Okay oh!

frosbel2:
What are Northern leaders doing to educate their people? At times I am tempted to believe that Northern leaders keep their people in ignorance deliberately and allow them to be brainwashed with religion. With this approach, the Northern leaders remain at the very top stealing money and living opulently, while their people remain poor, uneducated and ignorant. It is quite sad.

When I was in the North, in the good old days, education was FREE with all expenses paid for, and still they would rather go to alamanjari school to learn Arabic , than learn how to read and write. Nothing has changed since then.

As for South Africa, all the South Africans I work with in the UK are WHITE. They are well educated and friendly.

I dare say that the South Africans who hate Nigerians are a minority, most of the rioters came from the poor uneducated parts of the country, fired up by incendiary comments made by irresponsible leaders. The leaders know there is a huge gap between the poor and rich in that country, housing is dismal, education is substandard, women are regularly raped and murdered, violent crime is rampant, but rather than fix these issues, they stir up hate against hardworking immigrants. Leaders in both countries have failed the continent and put it to shame.

Finally, all Nigerian drug dealers and scammers, STOP participating in illicit trade, stop giving us a bad name, stop trafficking in young vulnerable girls, get REAL JOBS and REAL LIVES. All your money acquired through your wicked trade will not last, your descendants will not enjoy it, and poverty is the karma that will eventually come back to bite your asses together with illnesses, prison or even death. STOP NOW.

Great response, Frosbel2. Your last paragraph will make my rest of the day. My South African experiences have been with blacks, which makes it all the more intriguing for me.

frosbel2:
At times I am tempted to believe that Northern leaders keep their people in ignorance deliberately and allow them to be brainwashed with religion. With this approach, the Northern leaders remain at the very top stealing money and living opulently, while their people remain poor, uneducated and ignorant. It is quite sad.

I agree with this; northern leaders purposely under-educate their people for selfish political ends. But to my dismay, southerners with their high literacy and education, have faired only a little better, if any, in terms of good governance. The entire system (country-wide) needs a major overhaul.

igbobuigbo:
OP, thanks for your humble ''contribution'' in boycotting South Africa. As your article indicated, majority of the boycott effect of SA will have to come from Nigerians in Nigeria. If they all throw their MTN SIM cards and DSTV dishes away (or at least lock them up in their cupboards until further notice), and stop patronize Shoprite, and withdraw all their funds from Stanbic Bank, it will go a long away in damaging SA.

Thanks

Interesting read.

It took me 3 months to repay all the money - no interest. On the third month, after I handed him the last installment, he did something that surprised me the next day. He returned the money - I mean all 50K - to me and said ‘‘let the loan be buried with the dead’’. I was shocked beyond belief. That was how nice he was and still is.

Wow! That in bold sounded quite biblical. God bless that man. From what I read, he does not behave like a ''South African''. He must be a Mandela type. This article is a good reason to always get the other side of the story.

frosbel2:
What are Northern leaders doing to educate their people? At times I am tempted to believe that Northern leaders keep their people in ignorance deliberately and allow them to be brainwashed with religion. With this approach, the Northern leaders remain at the very top stealing money and living opulently, while their people remain poor, uneducated and ignorant. It is quite sad.

When I was in the North, in the good old days, education was FREE with all expenses paid for, and still they would rather go to alamanjari school to learn Arabic , than learn how to read and write. Nothing has changed since then.

As for South Africa, all the South Africans I work with in the UK are WHITE. They are well educated and friendly.

I dare say that the South Africans who hate Nigerians are a minority, most of the rioters came from the poor uneducated parts of the country, fired up by incendiary comments made by irresponsible leaders. The leaders know there is a huge gap between the poor and rich in that country, housing is dismal, education is substandard, women are regularly raped and murdered, violent crime is rampant, but rather than fix these issues, they stir up hate against hardworking immigrants. Leaders in both countries have failed the continent and put it to shame.

Finally, all Nigerian drug dealers and scammers, STOP participating in illicit trade, stop giving us a bad name, stop trafficking in young vulnerable girls, get REAL JOBS and REAL LIVES. All your money acquired through your wicked trade will not last, your descendants will not enjoy it, and poverty is the karma that will eventually come back to bite your asses together with illnesses, prison or even death. STOP NOW.

let me educated you a little almajiri are educated and can read and write in arabic symbols ,word etc literacy is not only ability to read English and write it .....nope literacy mean ability to read and write ,mandarin,Dutch,German,French,arabic ,hausa,ibo ,Yoruba ,ijaw ....all items in chemistry can be develop in other languages aside English....the problem of the almajiri school system is the begging attach to it,it needs reform and new curriculum where parent must fend for their kids and teaching should not only be religious but other item like science,maths ,reasoning,geography can be taught in arabic in the almajiri school

ahiboilandgas:
let me educated you a little almajiri are educated and can read and write in arabic symbols ,word etc literacy is not only ability to read English and write it .....nope literacy mean ability to read and write ,mandarin,Dutch,German,French,arabic ,hausa,ibo ,Yoruba ,ijaw ....all items in chemistry can be develop in other languages aside English....the problem of the almajiri school system is the begging attach to it,it needs reform and new curriculum where parent must fend for their kids and teaching should not only be religious but other item like science,maths ,reasoning,geography can be taught in arabic in the almajiri school

So why then is the illiteracy rate in many northern states as high as 80 to 90%?

astrodome:


So why then is the illiteracy rate in many northern states as high as 80 to 90%?

that means u didn't read what I took time to write or u read without comprehending... literacy data are dole out on persons with ability to read English and write it.....for Nigeria but if u China literacy data will be based on education in mandara or Japan (Japanese)...if u use same parameter used in Nigeria for Japan (ability to read English-speaking)nigeria will be higher..... in the gloden years of Islamic science (trigonometry, optomtery space science ,irrigation) all have their root in Islamic science taught in arabic .....u can do a phd in hausa language...that why we have hausa and arabic new paper which an average almajiri can read and write

ahiboilandgas:
that means u didn't read what I took time to write or u read without comprehending... literacy data are dole out on persons with ability to read English and write it.....for Nigeria but if u China literacy data will be based on education in mandara or Japan (Japanese)...if u use same parameter used in Nigeria for Japan (ability to read English-speaking)nigeria will be higher..... in the gloden years of Islamic science (trigonometry, optomtery space science ,irrigation) all have their root in Islamic science taught in arabic .....u can do a phd in hausa language...that why we have hausa and arabic new paper which an average almajiri can read and write

No that is not true. Literacy data world over is always based on ability to read and write ANY language, not just English. So, yes, Almajiris who can read and write in Arabic are counted in. What the data means is that majority of northerners, including Almajiris cannot red and write even in, Hausa or, Arabic, let alone in English.

astrodome:


No that is not true. Literacy data world over is always based on ability to read and write ANY language

then what do u think they read in almajiri school ? Their is virtually no Muslim northern that can read or recite arabic cos that the language for prayers which u must learn and recite ....so how do they read the Quran.....open your mind

ahiboilandgas:
then what do u think they read in almajiri school ? Their is virtually no Muslim northern that can read or recite arabic cos that the language for prayers which u must learn and recite ....so how do they read the Quran.....open your mind

Reading and writing is different from recitation by heart. You don't have to recite a book by reading it. You may be taught orally how to repeat lines of quoranic verses. All Almajiris recite by heart what they have been taught orally.

A National Literacy Survey (2010) conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics in
Nigeria estimates the adult literacy rate as 56.9 percent, with huge variations between
states (Lagos 92.0 % and Borno only 14.5%), regions (urban 74.6 % and rural 48.7%,)
and sex (male 65.1% and female 48.6%). More importantly, statistics from the Federal
Ministry of Education indicate that only 500,000 of the 40 million adult illiterates are
enrolled in adult learning classes. There are also 3.5 million nomadic school-aged
children with only 450,000 of them accessing any form of schooling. Nigeria is further
saddled with the largest number of out-of-school-children estimated at over 7 million
(10 percent of the global total). These are Northern states which have majority Muslim and pastoralist
populations.

http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/pdf/Nigeria.pdf

It says ''any form of schooling''..... So you can see that most Hausa-Fulani and Kanuri adults and kids are not even in Almajiri schools. They are normads tending to cattle in the bushes or just lazying about.

astrodome:


http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/pdf/Nigeria.pdf

It says ''any form of schooling''..... So you can see that most Hausa-Fulani and Kanuri adults and kids are not even in Almajiri schools. They are normads tending to cattle in the bushes or just lazying about.

u don't want to learn ....mr literate or

.

AfricaUnited:





I agree with this; northern leaders purposely under-educate their people for selfish political ends. But to my dismay, southerners with their high literacy and education, have faired only a little better, if any, in terms of good governance. The entire system (country-wide) needs a major overhaul.

..sadly the political class lacks the will to being about the desired change.
Worse still, the Military who may have the might to bring about a drastic turnaround lack the moral rectitude to do so.
Nigeria is just a conundrum!

blabla....its not about if they can read....its about if they can comprehend what they read....

justtoodark:
blabla....its not about if they can read....its about if they can comprehend what they read....

yes they do...

ahiboilandgas:
yes they do...

tahh....most black people cant....its not only about south africans....

AfricaUnited:
My personal experiences with South Africans

South Africa is a highly literate society, with 94% of its population being able to read and write in any language. In contrast, Nigeria is merely above average literacy at 65% of the population (see Figures). However, it is no news that the literacy pattern in Nigeria is heavily skewed towards the southern part of the country, and that the overall literacy rate is diluted significantly by very high illiteracy in the northern part. Notably, a similar scenario also plays out in South Africa where Whites, followed by Indians, are the most literate, with the Blacks bringing up the distant rear.

By nature, human beings are always curious or inquisitive when they first encounter anything exotic to them. That is why, whenever I speak to a new person in America, the first thing they say to me is ‘‘I love your accent. Where are you from?’’ Being inquisitive is, in part, a function of educational level; better educated people are more inquisitive, and higher literacy is indicative of better education as well. I found out that those who bother to ask me the above question are often the educated Americans, as our discussions show, eventually. Thus, there is an interplay of these factors. So, I would ask myself what do South Africans say to African foreigners in their country? Do they say ‘‘I love your accent’’, instead of ‘‘go back to your country?’’

How can a people (South Africans) with such high literacy rate wantonly and unceasingly kill African foreigners in their midst? Make no mistake, as with its literacy rate, the educational rate of South Africa is skewed toward the White, then the Indian population. The Black population is highly under-educated (See Figure). This is worrisome, given that they constitute about 80% of the population. So, is the xenophobia constantly exhibited by South Africans linked to low educational attainment of a majority group in the population? The answer may be yes, much as the high incidences of killing (by Boko Haram and cattle herdsmen) are linked to the same factor in Nigeria. In essence, South Africa and Nigeria have one thing in common: education (lack of)- induced societal problem, leading to a fatal outcome. One slight difference is that in the case of South Africa, the outcome is directed towards African foreigners, while in Nigeria it is directed towards self. Not sure which is worse, they look alike to me - African-on-African crimes. I leave you to judge. As for me, I have only encountered educated South Africans and that could have made the big difference. Which brings me to the crux of my article: my personal experiences with (Black) South Africans.

I have not been to South Africa. But I have had personal experiences with three South Africans, all of which have been positive, and one actually personal and life-long. For that reason, I am having a hard time lumping every one of them as xenophobes. When I was in Nigeria, I was a very young man of 22 years working for an International agency (name and location withheld). During my third year with the agency, I got a new boss. Guess from where? South Africa. Before then, my old boss was a Nigerian. He was a great guy, but looking back now, I feel that he did not let me learn a lot from him that will progress my career. When my South African Boss, a highly educated fellow, settled down in Nigeria, he taught me many of the things I knew today. He did not see me as a future competitor, but in fact, did take me as a much younger brother. He invited me to his home to meet his family and we had more than a boss-worker relationship. Somewhere during the course of time, my father passed away. I informed him about it and told him I would be taking a couple of weeks off to attend to my father’s funeral – I am the first child and a lot was on my shoulder. He asked me what type of man my father was and I told him – hardworking, honest, loving, a local leader, and a man of average means. I added that my father being a community leader, his burial events would be at that scale as well. He knew about the costs of burials and marriages in Nigeria and he knew how much I earned – pay was good but could be better. When I was leaving for the burial, he handed me 50 Thousand Naira and told me it was a loan from him to assist with the burial expenses. This was years back, during Abdulsalam Abubakir's regime. So that was big money back then. I never asked for it, but I needed help. So, I took the money with gratitude, and in my mind I reckoned I will have to ask him to let me repay him in installments. When I returned, which coincided with end of month, I requested for installment payment and he agreed. It took me 3 months to repay all the money - no interest. On the third month, after I handed him the last installment, he did something that surprised me the next day. He returned the money - I mean all 50K - to me and said ‘‘let the loan be buried with the dead’’. I was shocked beyond belief. That was how nice he was and still is.

When he left Nigeria a few years later, we kept in touch. When I was leaving Nigeria to study in the United States, he was one of those who wrote me a recommendation letter that contributed to my being granted a scholarship, even though he had not seen me in three years. While I was studying, he returned to Nigeria briefly and was organizing a global workshop for the agency. Of all the qualified people he knew, he invited me from my base to be his assistant in the Workshop. I flew back home, all expense paid from the Workshop funds, and on concluding my one-week role in the workshop, he facilitated a handsome honorarium for me. I swear, I could have done the work for him for free; the paid trip afforded me a free opportunity to visit Nigeria after 2 years and to see my mother. The honorarium payment, 1000 USD, was an unexpected appetizer and a good augment to my scholarship stipend. We still kept in touch. When I was applying for the US Green Card (GC) few years later after my studies, I again called upon him for a reference letter. If you know anything about the National Interest Waiver (NIW) pathway for GC, you will appreciate what a strong letter of reference could do for you. He wrote me a strong letter and with similar letters from 10 other people (including, by the way, my former Nigerian boss) in my application package, I obtained the Green Card. Today, I am a US citizen and the rest is history. On my part, I have not done much to repay my South Africa boss, except that I also wrote him a recommendation letter which he asked of me when he was applying to become the Dean or Executive Director (or something like that, not so sure, but he did tell me it was a big position; the biggest ever he would be occupying if successful) in the University back in South Africa. At that time, I had become quite successful and risen in my own career in America, and he felt my recommendation would contribute positively to his application. And yes, he did get the position. Such is my relationship with this person, and hopefully, you would understand with me why I could not call him a xenophobe.

My second experience with a South African was brief, yet notable. In 2017, I was invited to a one-week conference in Beijing China as a Keynote Speaker and I flew into China from US. At the conference, I saw only a handful of black people in a sea of Chinese faces, but I was not bothered; I had a great travel and stay arrangement with my Chinese hosts and would not really be lonely or lost - it was my first time in China, a country of 1.3 billion people. During my presentation, the program moderator introduced me as Dr. xxxxx from the U.S. Yet, anyone who knows anything about ‘’American accent’’ will know that I may be American by nationality, but I was not born and raised in America. I have my proud African (Nigerian) accent. After giving my presentation, one of the black attendees approached me and introduced himself. He was a PhD student in the country who came originally from South Africa. I also introduced myself as originally from Nigeria. He then told me that two of the other black people in the conference were also Nigerian students. I was enthused – I have familiar company, or so I thought. That was my second time of seeing a South African in real life, whereas I have traveled to many places around the world and come across Africans of different shades ad nationalities. It was always refreshing meeting people that look like you in foreign lands. I was hoping that the Nigerians would make contact with me. After all, I am their guest and they are the host, so to say. But they did not. Instead, the South African kept in touch, and during the weekend volunteered to take me around town/country and to show me places. We visited the Beijing Olympics complex and the Great Wall of China, among other places. Note that he left his studies to do all that. I did not pay him, he did not ask for any payment. However, out of my show of ‘‘big brother’’, I paid for our lunch and transportation to these places. But that was okay; he was a student and I was working. When I left China, we kept in touch. I was helping him to visit America; however, I am suspending that help until further notice, in solidarity with Nigeria and other African victims of xenophobia. He knows about this decision and accepts it as a consequence of the stupid things his compatriots have done.

The last experience was just a few months ago, before the current outbreak of xenophobia. I got an email from someone on LinkedIn asking me to get in touch with them. When I did, it turned out to be a young South African university Professor who had read my works and was interested in collaborating with me. During our discussion, I informed her I was Nigerian and she also told me that many Nigerians live and work in her country. We continued serious conversations concerning her work and within a few weeks, she sent me pages and pages of research work she had done that were yet to be published. Again, if you know anything about research and publications, you will realize that was not a smart thing to do. You don’t share your research to strangers until they are published. But she trusted me. I gave her suggestions on how to improve the research and make them ready for publication. Weeks later, she wrote back requesting for me to visit her university and organize a workshop for them. I told her that I had no immediate plan or budget to come to South Africa, as it will be cost-intensive and I have to justify that to my employer. She wrote back to say that all expenses will be covered for the two weeks. I then realized that would afford me the opportunity to visit with my former boss and have a happy reunion with him - free of charge to me. What more can I ask for? As fate would have it, the current xenophobic attacks happened months later and I wrote back that I may be shelving my trip in solidarity with Nigerians and other Africans – we had planned the trip for November. She understood and pleaded for me to postpone rather than shelve the trip, if need be. She maintained that the South African government will do what it can to stop the violence and that things would be normal by November. She reiterated how ashamed she was writing me when her people are conducting the disgraceful act of killing, maiming and looting the properties of fellow Africans. I felt pity for her and told her I will shelve the proposed trip to such a time that peace has returned to her country. We ended on that note. As I do not live in Nigeria and do not patronize any South African products (MTN, DSTV, Shoprite and others), this is the way I could ‘boycott’ South Africa. Still, how could I rightly call this person a xenophobic killer?

South Africa is now a pariah state of sort, in Africa. It will likely pay a huge economic and diplomatic price for its madness - it should. At the same time, I remember my own native country and its many problems, and ask myself rhetorically when the Nigerian government will do all it can to stop them.

Respect, Sir

justtoodark:


tahh....most black people cant....its not only about south africans....

This is a silly post

@ op thank you for sharing your experiences with us.

However, based on your background ( information you provided in the write up) I find it difficult to belive that you would reach such a glamorous conclusion about South Africans.

First, you can not make such an assertion about South Africans based on your encounter with just three South Africans.

Secondly, these three persons are people you met in a professional environment chances are that they are likely to be well behaved than the average person or at least understood the ethos of professional life.

I find it questionable when people with your level of exposure try to persuade the general public based on very limited biased data. It makes me question the motives behind your actions.

Mind you I am not saying that South Africans are evil or that we should paint the country bad because of the actions of a few in the same vein we shouldnt assume the whole country a saint based on your encounter with three persons you came in contact with in a professional environment.

Why is this mode of addressing issue a concern to me?

We have a lot of young minds on this forum and heaven knows when you read what they have to say and how they process information on this forum you would agree with me that we have a long way to go in re-educating our population on how to look at issue critically.

I think people like you with your wealth of experiences should imbibe the culture of ensuring that whatever you put out here for these young minds should not only address the issues under consideration but also be able to point them in the direction of both critical thinking and how to access the quality of arguments put out by orders. I think we lack that in this forum even the blind can see that is a very big issue on NL and this NL members are mostly our leaders of tomorrow and I am of the opinion that every avenue should be an opportunity to learn. We should leave it all to the school, obviously the school system has failed in that regards.

Please do not get me wrong I am not against you sharing your experiences and I am not trying to say your opinion and experiences are invalid but if you may you should insert a caveat to point out the biases in your observations based on the environment where you met the people and the number of people involved.

Thanks

justtoodark:


tahh....most black people cant....its not only about south africans....

Now this kind of thinking calls for serous concern.

solihu:


Now this kind of thinking calls for serous concern.

its the truth....

astrodome:


This is a silly post

look at you....whats the logic in what south africans are doing....??

but to them it makes perfect sense....!!

this is how most black people are....

i mean,whats the sense in bleachin your skin....??
lets start with that....

whats the sense in whorshippin somebody that doesnt look like you....??

i could go on and on....

Query180:
@ op thank you for sharing your experiences with us.

However, based on your background ( information you provided in the write up) I find it difficult to belive that you would reach such a glamorous conclusion about South Africans.

First, you can not make such an assertion about South Africans based on your encounter with just three South Africans.

Secondly, these three persons are people you met in a professional environment chances are that they are likely to be well behaved than the average person or at least understood the ethos of professional life.

I find it questionable when people with your level of exposure try to persuade the general public based on very limited biased data. It makes me question the motives behind your actions.

Mind you I am not saying that South Africans are evil or that we should paint the country bad because of the actions of a few in the same vein we shouldnt assume the whole country a saint based on your encounter with three persons you came in contact with in a professional environment.

Why is this mode of addressing issue a concern to me?

We have a lot of young minds on this forum and heaven knows when you read what they have to say and how they process information on this forum you would agree with me that we have a long way to go in re-educating our population on how to look at issue critically.

I think people like you with your wealth of experiences should imbibe the culture of ensuring that whatever you put out here for these young minds should not only address the issues under consideration but also be able to point them in the direction of both critical thinking and how to access the quality of arguments put out by orders. I think we lack that in this forum even the blind can see that is a very big issue on NL and this NL members are mostly our leaders of tomorrow and I am of the opinion that every avenue should be an opportunity to learn. We should leave it all to the school, obviously the school system has failed in that regards.

Please do not get me wrong I am not against you sharing your experiences and I am not trying to say your opinion and experiences are invalid but if you may you should insert a caveat to point out the biases in your observations based on the environment where you met the people and the number of people involved.

Thanks

Below are 5 sections of my post that I hope you find answers to your concerns in

1. Topic says "My personal experiences with South Africans"


2. "As for me, I have only encountered educated South Africans and that could have made the big difference."

3. ." I was helping him to visit America; however, I am suspending that help until further notice, in solidarity with Nigeria and other African victims of xenophobia. He knows about this decision and accepts it as a consequence of the stupid things his compatriots have done.:

4.  "I felt pity for her and told her I will shelve the proposed trip to such a time that peace has returned to her country. As I do not live in Nigeria and do not patronize any South African products (MTN, DSTV, Shoprite and others), this is the way I could ‘boycott’ South Africa. Still, how could I rightly call this person a xenophobic killer?"

5. "South Africa is now a pariah state of sort, in Africa. It will likely pay a huge economic and diplomatic price for its madness - it should. At the same time, I remember my own native country and its many problems, and ask myself rhetorically when the Nigerian government will do all it can to stop them."