When I began to write about my African Queen a few months ago, many did not appreciate my deep interest in the future of this young woman. It was not a deterrent, as I continued to follow her growth and transformation into the success personified in her Valedictorian speech at her graduation last Friday. In her Poem:  “I am who I am, and who I am becoming…” “Zeny” described her departure from the sprawling hills of Uganda, to the green lawns of California. How she left her legacy undefined as an orphan of AIDS to find herself terrified of the unknown in a strange land filled with milk and honey, comforted in the unconditionally loving arms of her adoptive parents. In it, she further described how she’d lost her birth parents only to become discovered by her current and the incredible growth that has surpassed even the most enchanting of her dreams. She ended her speech and poem so strongly that tears welled in several eyes that evening.

For this poignant poem and speech, Zeny received the only standing ovation in the captured crowd; mine. I cared very little if all the “bourgee” folks did not see the significance of my gesture.  Instead of viewing it as a negative, I was actually reassured, knowing long ago that several positives have been experienced through their benevolence so much that Zeny’s speech was just “not unusual” but mundane in the scheme of things--an ordinary way of life on that campus and amongst the benefactors. Giving back is norm there.

The study of this young girl led me to critically begin to review the Collectivist theory of “giving back”. Sometime not too long ago, I had actually heard someone call another a fool for giving the little they have to charity. It was very easy to quickly dismiss such thinking knowing that frame of thought was owing to a poverty of spirit and profound inexperience with being touched by genuine kindness.  As they say, “you can’t give what you don’t have”.  If one is completely content in how they “give back”, what did it matter then how others may view such goodwill. 

As I continued to search for others’ thoughts on this concept… in a desperate attempt at uncovering why most unconventionally wealthy Nigerians are not actively engaged in giving back for the betterment of our society, I discovered that many may not exactly understand the potentials in such an act or what “giving back” can really mean or represent in the life of another and it’s impact on society at large. 

In my quest, I came across some persuasive ideas/arguments on the subject. Ron Pisaturo, a writer and philosopher, explained giving back thus: “Those advocating "giving back" are not merely saying that a successful individual should give to society, out of generosity or some altruist notion, they are saying that he should give back; that he has taken something that--in justice, according to the noble code of earning one's money and paying one's debts--he must return”. He further explained giving back in other interesting ways… http://capmag.com/article.asp?ID=1406

Another economist, Walter Williams says, paraphrased: “Giving back does not only make good sense, it’s the moral thing to do”. He further went on to explain giving back from a punitive perspective, perhaps rightly so of those who became very rich from grabbing others’ share of wealth. That reminded me of the Nigerian experience. He couldn’t have been more perceptive, really. In that regard, he concluded aptly by stating that “If giving back means anything, it should apply to thieves and social parasites, not those who became wealthy by serving us”. Err… delving further into his capitalist theory of giving back, I opt to think ‘the wealthy by serving us’ also have a moral obligation nonetheless since not only thieves should/do give back. http://capmag.com/article.asp?ID=1515

Yet, another angle to “giving back” is indisputably the context within this next author’s explanation of totalitarianism when juxtaposed with how Nigerian graduates are mandated to serve in the NYSC after receiving very poor education. Quite enlightening as well… http://capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3635

The Zeny fever captured my spirit in the area of education, proper education, of our youths. The type received in the old Nigeria. The type dreams were made of, the type which does not bar limitless possibilities, the type which conferred a gown of accomplishment and a key to excellence at it’s finest. The type I believe many Nigerian children would want and perhaps, unspoken, thirst. The type Nigeria could have ensured indiscriminately available to the masses from which giants could have emerged, and as a result guaranteeing the perpetuity and recycled abundance of brilliant minds. Thereby, creating a ceaseless pool of intelligentsia through which Nigeria could have become great, and eternally remained so. Through that process, she could have become befittingly the giant of Africa. But all, as we see, is continually lost to greedy, uncaring illiterates and elitists, further lending a divide into the gap between the rich and the poor.

I didn’t just arrive at the above today. It only highlights my unreserved passion about what or who we could have been and are becoming… at this time in our history.

Zeny’s school has a penchant for discovering promising minds and nurturing potential leaders just as many other great schools. Uncommonly, Zeny’s school is even more unique because it boasts of an outstanding governing body whose members utilize their fortune in giving back, such that future generations not only capture their essence in their rearing but have seeds of unfathomable ingenuity deeply buried in their psyche.

Such is the story of Zeny. She was discovered in the hills of Uganda by a couple who owned a school there. Subsequently, she was adopted and brought to California, placed in an excellent school, raised to believe in herself by exposing her to the best education money can buy. She learned, traveled, assisted, fund-raised and now, she’s on her way to becoming an ambassador of Uganda.

In her speech and especially through her poem, she described how she was discovered as an orphan from AIDS but how that calamity has transformed her into the person she is and still becoming… She described how her life would have been doomed if not for this couple who accepted and loved her unconditionally thereby succeeding at helping her to realize her dreams which would otherwise have become squelched within the stark poverty in which she suffocated along the sprawling hills of Uganda.

Interestingly, unbeknownst to me, although drummed severally into my ears by my daughter, Zeny’s story is not the only unique discovery on her campus. In fact, she would be one of them… but her story may not be one for today, well, perhaps it is. 

On the eve of her resuming classes in her sophomore year, I had called the admissions director to indicate that due to unforeseen limitations, we would not be able to allow my daughter resume that Fall but rather postpone her admission until Spring. He asked why and I explained that I would rather leave her funds for college as I had been recuperating, barely working 1-2 days per week, not knowing when I would return to work fully.

He responded, quite unexpectedly, more distraught than I was. He insisted that she had tested well and that it would have been a waste not to allow her utilize that opportunity to discover how much she could be transformed through such great education. I’m somewhat teary as I write this because God has indeed been Faithful. When he located me in the reception crowd last Friday, nudged me, looking into my eyes as if to remind me of the opportunity I/we could have lost if I had not followed his lead, my voice trembled as I whispered a very deep “Thank You”.

That eventful Fall eve in 2006, at about 3 pm, he asked why I had not indicated previously that there could be potential challenges as he could have helped sooner, saving me worry.  He said mine were temporary challenges that had no bearing on my daughter’s ability to attend the school.  He said hers could have been a simple academic scholarship if I had asked. He asked for my fax number and hurriedly sent a shortened, one-page application all within one hour. I completed the application, pensive and humbled at the interest with which an unknown human being embraced my problems.

As I waited pacing and praying, I was comforted by the thought that even if Chris did not succeed in persuading the Board of Trustees that ours was a worthwhile case, I would still rave about the school. It became very clear to me that his/theirs was not an attempt at filling a quota as there are several underprivileged children in many underserved communities in the area. It was not an attempt at making my daughter and a few others like Zeny, tokens from the “other” race. Instead, it was a genuine interest in the promulgation of equality …something so lacked in Nigeria… and a concrete plan at promoting a well balanced society which extends opportunities in maintaining not only an upper or lower class but a middle class as well.  Such a middle class would be integral and highly necessary in ensuring a functional society. A luxury, we, Nigerians, lost a long time ago and have not regained at the moment.

Ten minutes before 5 pm, that evening, I received the much awaited phone call from Chris. Joyfully, he informed me that the Trustees would have given Misi a full scholarship if not for the depleted funds from which many had already been awarded for the school year. He announced that she had been awarded half scholarship towards tuition and in addition, an extension of opportunities to complete educational excursions at several places of her interest, and much more.  He concluded that there was no longer a reason not to enroll her in the school immediately. 

The following year, she received a full scholarship and the final year, half of the cost as I had returned to work fully.  Even at that, Chris continuously asked if I needed a helping hand and more perks continued to flow into our lives during her years at the school.  

Perhaps this gives a glimpse into who I am, why I do or write some of the things that consume me. Genuine giving is not an act of stupidity or weakness or an expectation of anything in return, rather, a gift from one’s deepest core, a largesse to some other, who, hopefully, in turn, through that gifting, will bless others in many other inconceivable ways. In all the applications, genuine giving of ourselves any which way possible is the essence of who we are and the upliftment of the other to become someone, or something, unimaginable.

The graduation stories did not end with these two…

“Eduardo”, whom until last Friday I’d never met but had heard so much about, approached the podium, a slender, unusually handsome Hispanic gentleman, clothed in a befitting pair of brown slacks, a black jacket, white shirt and matching tie, humbled in his walk, graciously tearing, against the vastly backdrop of picturesque brown and fresh greenery of Mount Diablo hills and prime real estate, as the presenter in eloquent Spanish announced Eduardo’s well deserved quality education and a coveted diploma from one of the best institutions, now moving on to continue at another highly prestigious: The Cooper Union School of The Arts (CU).

The presenter spoke in Spanish because Eduardo’s family did not understand English at all. That was an electrifying moment for me, albeit, several others. Eduardo was the first in all his family to have privileged education, in fact, any formal education for that matter. If not for the vision of one unknown person, Eduardo’s dreams may have died unrealized at full potential.  If Ms. Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court did not pop into your mind here, I’m not sure what will.

You see, Eduardo, a second generation immigrant from Mexico, is from the impoverished part of Oakland. He lived in the projects, leaving home before 6 am in order to catch the school bus at a central location downtown, only to return every night way past midnight. He toiled and studied voraciously, passionately as a dedicated eclectic artist who brought variegated dimensions of art to life in his countless drawings and paintings. In addition, he was described as an all rounder in other facets of academics. 

Eduardo is said to have graced the walls of the school with the best of himself in the most unusual forms of Art around the campus. You cannot escape a glimpse into his mind as you stroll through the buildings aside the walls within the school.

Eduardo’s 4 years at the school had been totally sponsored by an unknown benefactor from the community. 

Eduardo applied to only one college at a time when a high school student’s average number of applications is reportedly as little as 8 or as many as about 12 to ensure one admission opportunity in a highly competitive world. He was literally begged to attend CU in full tuition scholarship.  In other words, Eduardo will have to pay for only his own room and board. Not knowing where that will emanate, he plans to work all through the summer to save up.

Unbelievably, he could not even afford the acceptance deposit required upfront. It was only $800. I’d heard about it from Misi and planned to withdraw funds before the deadline in an extension to him. Fortunately, the next day, 4 days before the deadline, one of the school teachers gave him the money so he would not miss out on such an opportunity.

That is only another story of many.

“Suzie” was found abandoned in a car, at age 5 by a couple. She had lived in a shelter until the adoption finalized. She too grew up in a loving home and if you were not told, you would never in a million years have guessed where she had been found. All her middle and high school education was completed at this prestigious school. What a girl!  How could anyone have done that to her? It makes me glad that there are laws in this country which allow young women to bring their unwanted babies back to the hospital in order to give them up properly for adoption. Still, there are other provisions for other women who at any time are unable to care for their children. To this end, I applaud several women in Nigeria, who out of the goodness of their hearts provide shelter, education and love to abandoned and motherless children.

Suzie was said to have since returned to the same shelter several times to give back, already, in time and efforts to feed the underprivileged. At the graduation, as she waited, emotionlessly at the podium, albeit pensive in thoughts, she was announced to have committed the rest of her life to improving the lives of other children/people like her in an effort to bring about social justice to the underserved and less fortunate. 

She and a few others will continue their formal journey at other prestigious schools like RISDY Art School of Brown University and others including Cornell.

Many of the 71 who graduated will be continuing their excellence in traditionally exceptional schools like Princeton, NYU, Columbia, George Washington University, University of Virginia, Case Western Reserve and many more, I have heard.

As I sat there and listened, I could not but imagine the deplorable conditions our own eminent universities have become relegated. How are we ever going to be able to compete equitably or confidently in our world without superior western education?? How and when? When I imagine our leaders’ romance with the term “Vision 2020”, I cannot but find that laughable. In my view, that is a senseless play of words without any concrete basis and or foundation for that imaginary bequeathing of status to the next generation.

Most of the school’s Robotics team will impact the world after their respective quality education at illustrious institutions such as Harvard, Duke, Dartmouth, U Penn, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Georgetown, Occidental, Vanderbilt, University of Colorado, and many more mentioned. I expect to read or hear of them in the near future involved in amazing discoveries to improve our world. 

Undoubtedly, these children would not have only received formal education but a transformation into a society which instills altruism and a culture of giving back as unfolding in Zeny and her peers. In her, I saw a She, wanting to be an ambassador for Uganda (her dream), and others wanting to be similar spokespersons for the rest of the world at large through their knowledge, arts and crafts. In the real sense of it, they continue to appear as the up and coming “Obamas” of a conscientious world in which we now live and our future. 

Perhaps I’ll remain an utopist for life; I’m comfortable with that. I have come to understand that there is no other way to make sense of why one may be here, still, except through hope and a continuous search for that which is phenomenal in all of us.

Our new generation is limitless and desirable of the “Change” much required to restore hope and brightness in the world, our future.

A few months ago, if you recall in “Twilight”, I met an unusual and uncommon Nigerian Engineer, Efosa. I found someone who is worth watching as an instrument of change like a very few who have taken up the fight to make a difference in our beloved country. Since, he has not disappointed me at all. Recently, he wrote to me and said: “Aunty A, we are ready…” In our subsequent conversations, he detailed his website and the astounding changes ongoing in his world. He is very committed, in the same fashion as the students presented above. A different path to his awakening, just as each is unique, nonetheless equal spirit and sense of purpose. Look at what he’s becoming… take a glimpse right here www.povertystopshere.org.

In Zeny’s words of a famous philosopher “giving back… is a debt owed, a price for living”. And so, here, I present the unlikely as a product of opportunity through a self-less act of giving. 

Make ours a meaningful life.

Robot  # 1 | 10.06.2009 01:04

When I began to write about my African Queen a few months ago, many did not appreciate my deep interest in the future of this young woman.It was not a deterrent, as I continued to follow her growth and transformation into the success personified in her Valedictorian speech at her graduation last Friday.In her Poem: “I am who I am, and who I am becoming…” “Zeny” described her departure from the sprawling hills of Uganda, to the green lawns of California.How she left her legacy undefined as an orphan of AIDS to find herself terrified of the unknown in a strange land filled with milk and honey, comforted in the unconditionally loving arms of her adoptive parents.In it, she further described how she’d lost her birth parents only to become discovered by her current and the incredible growth that has surpassed even the most enchanting of her dreams. She ended her speech and poem so strongly that tears welled in several eyes that evening. For this poi...Read the full article.

foskilala  # 2 | 11.06.2009 08:11

This is an absolutely awesome piece. We need more though provoking pieces like this.

mulan  # 3 | 11.06.2009 15:17

I'm so happy for your African Queen and your not so small chick about to fly to higher places, wish them all the best. Zeny's story is really inspirational and as you said, is a big urge on us all to give back. Another lovely piece...

denker  # 4 | 11.06.2009 15:41

=mulan;362813>I'm so happy for your African Queen and your not so small chick about to fly to higher places, wish them all the best. Zeny's story is really inspirational and as you said, is a big urge on us all to give back. Another lovely piece... I do not think I understand this. What do you want me to give back? I can only give back what I have taken, but I have not taken anything, therefore I have nothing to give back. Anyway, maybe, you have taken something thus there must be a big urge on you to give it back.:p

mulan  # 5 | 11.06.2009 16:30

=nigerdelta666;362823>I do not think I understand this. What do you want me to give back? I can only give back what I have taken, but I have not taken anything, therefore I have nothing to give back. Anyway, maybe, you have taken something thus there must be a big urge on you to give it back.:p ND666, Sorry if I have confused you but yes I meant 'give back' and not just give even though I strive to do both. If you have taken nothing from society, good for you. Still, this article may help you understand; think more deeply and make your own decisions... The Collectivist Notion of "Giving Back to Society" by Ron Pisaturo (February 11, 2002) http://capmag.com/images2y346y/people/ron_pisa.jpg Addressing the World Economic Forum meeting in New York last week, Microsoft founder Bill Gates said, "I think it's a healthy sign that there are demonstrators in the streets. They are raising the question of 'is the rich world giving back enough?' " Almost universally accepted today is the notion that successful, wealthy people should "give back" much of their wealth. For years, liberals castigated Gates for not "giving back." Then Gates started giving away billions and now says, "I decided at a very young age … that whatever wealth I had I would want to give back to society." A search on Google for the exact phrase "give back to the community" returns 25,500 Web pages; the thousands claiming to "give back" include the Magic Johnson Foundation, tennis star Venus Williams, Dell Computer founder Michael Dell, Federated Department Stores, and former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell. In 1997, at the Presidents' Summit for America's Future, all five American Presidents from Ford through Clinton declared, "Our obligation, distinct and unmistakable, is to assure that all young Americans have … an opportunity to give back to their communities through their own service." Thus the "give-back" notion is a key premise in the current push for community service, as espoused by President Bush in his State of the Union address. Though so many say they "give back," rarely does anyone try to explain precisely what the phrase "give back" means. Note the two words. Those advocating "giving back" are not merely saying that a successful individual should give to society, out of generosity or some altruist notion. They are saying that he should give back; that he has taken something that--in justice, according to the noble code of earning one's money and paying one's debts--he must return. But productive individuals earn money by selling products to customers; a customer buys a product only when he values the product more highly than he values the money he must spend for it. Therefore, a producer such as Gates has not "taken" any money; he has traded for it, offering value for value. Isn't it interesting that no one asks customers to give back Microsoft Windows, Excel, Word, etc. to Gates? Give-backers, however, assume a second argument: they assume that a producer such as Gates should "give back" to society because of all the unpaid-for benefits he got from society. If Gates had been born a thousand years ago, they think, he could not have become so rich. He would not have known how to make computer software, and no one would have wanted it anyway. Gates, they say, is benefiting from the accumulated knowledge and wealth of society, and he has not paid for that. Yes, Gates is benefiting from that knowledge and wealth. But from where--or whom--did that knowledge and wealth come? It came from great creators: individuals such as Aristotle, Newton, Carnegie, Henry Ford; and contemporaries such as Steve Jobs and Gordon Moore. And it also came from more modest creators such as Gates' parents and anyone else who may have helped him along his way. Though Gates had to exert great mental effort to gain the ability to understand and use this knowledge and wealth, it is true that he should properly owe a debt of gratitude to those creators. It would be understandable if he would want to give some gift or recognition to those individuals--if they were still alive. But the give-backers don't want Gates to "give back" to people like Carnegie, Ford, and Jobs; they want Gates to "give back" to the poor and the depraved--from drug addicts to third-world dictators--those who have given him nothing. The give-backers equivocate on the word "society." They first use the word "society" to refer to those individuals who have created the knowledge and wealth made available to Gates and other producers, and they later use the same word to refer to those individuals who have created nothing and to whom Gates and other producers should "give back." It is as if they think society is a single, living organism, a single, collective consciousness, a single moral agent--instead of a collection of sovereign individuals who must be judged individually. Indeed, that is precisely what intellectuals behind the give-back notion do think. This was the view of German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel, one of the main fathers of the Marxist, Fascist, and Nazi styles of collectivism, and still a favorite in university philosophy departments. The leading American philosopher Josiah Royce, a Hegelian, wrote in 1892 that to Hegel "the self is a world of organically interrelated selves, moments of the infinite organism." "Society is a living organism," wrote President Woodrow Wilson in 1913 and popular author Joyce Carol Oates in 1990. For a collectivist, therefore, an action of an individual is really an action of the collective. Hence if one individual does something of value, everyone deserves equal credit for it. When we receive value from one person, who is really just a part of a collective organism, we should "give back" that value to all parts of the same one organism. And the "parts" we especially should "give back" to are the poorer parts, since each part deserves as much wealth as any other. Brazenly, collectivists admonish producers such as Gates in the name of justice. Yet their premise, which credits and blames all for the actions of each, is a negation at root of the very concept of justice. Justice requires recognition that moral choices are made by individuals, not some mystical group-organism, that an individual must be judged based on his own virtues, not the sum of virtues of those in a group. If I become wealthy from reading books by great businessmen, that does not mean I owe something to people who never had job. Since the collectivist premise of "giving back" was unchallenged when productive geniuses such as Gates were told to give up their money to society, it is not surprising that all Americans are now being told, by our President, to give up years of our lives. Hegel wrote, "A single person, I need hardly say, is something subordinate, and as such he must dedicate himself to the ethical whole." His next sentence was: "Hence if the state claims life, the individual must surrender it." In justice, productive individuals have no obligation to give away one penny of what they have earned, just as a customer has no obligation to "give back" the automobile and computer he has bought. And all of us should be grateful to producers, not for their charity, but for their productiveness. The legacy of knowledge and wealth created by Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Ford is not their charitable foundations; it is the industries these men built.

denker  # 6 | 11.06.2009 16:45

Ms. mulan, with that write-up you have built up a good defence. Well done! keep in mind the philosophy of collectivism is a complex system. Maybe, you need to busy yourself more on the topic. cheers!

foskilala  # 7 | 12.06.2009 00:19

i am not sure how to use this site very well yet so forgive me if i am posting this at the wrong spot. This is in response to the piece about NOT giving back. i will argue that the only reason you post such a piece is simply because you do so at the comfort of perhaps an airconditioned building while sitting in front of your computer. you have the luxury of narrowly viewing life from the perspective of people born and bred in relative wealth. some of us who have the privilege, albeit sacrificial, of looking at life through the spectacles of those who do not have basic necessities understand the importance of giving back. if you were one of such people, you would too. i humbly suggest you educate yourself about the ills and perils of people that are born into extreme poverty. walk a day in their shoes, perhaps two... at which point you can re-read your post. it is fundamentally flawed and selfishly callous.

Ayomide  # 8 | 12.06.2009 01:10

nigerdelta666, I’m smiling back here because yours was a dead give-away “tongue in cheek” statement without a doubt… Who are you fooling??:icon_ques you try well well…:lol::cool: Your monicker alone speaks volumes, much more than you may wish to openly admit on this board since it tells most what/who you represent. Furthermore, by engaging on this site, you have succeeded at what many wished they could have accomplished--"having a voice" to offer complaints/opinions… “Giving back”, perhaps not in cash, but already, you've done just that in kind through your activism. Thank you very much for representing those who have no voices. =nigerdelta666;362823>I do not think I understand this. What do you want me to give back? I can only give back what I have taken, but I have not taken anything, therefore I have nothing to give back. Anyway, maybe, you have taken something thus there must be a big urge on you to give it back.:p

Ayomide  # 9 | 22.07.2009 18:29

=foskilala;362708>This is an absolutely awesome piece. We need more thought provoking pieces like this. Hey...Fos, You're so awesome... No doubt, whatsoever, that through you, God manifests His Love in the most Amazing ways. I know. I have experienced your honesty, love and kindness in person, first hand. Everyday, I'm blessed in a new consciousness in everything I do; more so when I devote a bit of my time with your timely gift of "Streams In The Desert". Thank you for your continuous Ingenuity and Sacrifice... God Bless you abundantly. I stumbled on your You-Tube postings a while ago, and I include them here for those who may be interested in your work. Big ups man!!! YouTube - Poverty Stops Here - The Beginning YouTube - Why I am the way I am YouTube - PSH is You When next you visit Balogun village, ask the people in their own words (recorded for us to hear) what "water" means to them. Ask if it has helped to decrease diseases (wish there was a way to have done a comparative study between then and now), boost agriculture, empower the villagers, especially women, and most of all, if the local council/leaders have added their quota to improve the village in terms of education, passable roads, and other basic amenities. Thank you Efosa. As you always say…"One Village at A Time" "I'm watching this space"

foskilala  # 10 | 25.07.2009 18:22

i am amazed at your passion for this cause. everyday i thank God for the people He has put in our lives to help further our causes, especially causes that help the oppressed and downtrodden, I thank God for you. Thank you. foskilala.

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