PT: What is the food like?
NAF: Because we are on the coasts, we have a lot of seafood. We have coconut rice, fish soups, fish and rice, fried empanadas, arepas. We use a lot of coconut milk. We have a lot of stews and soups, and cassava bread. We also have a lot of juices. The preparation is although different among the black populations.
PT: Could you tell us about your education in Colombia?
NAF: I attended Comfenalco in Cartagena. It is a private school. I attended with scholarship. Public schools in Colombia were not very good, so I had to study hard to get scholarships. I had my primary and secondary school education at the private school. I always wanted to be the best. It was a lot of pressure to keep my scholarship. In Colombia, the youth do not have access to good education. The government should make good education available to all Colombians. It’s one of the reasons for the current strike.
By Chris Onuoha
Koko Kalango is a household name in educational book publishing. She is an author and a pastor, born to a Nigerian father and Jamaican mother.
In 2014, her publishing firm, Rainbow book club, which has contributed immensely to improve the reading culture among school children in Nigeria, attracted the UNESCO World Book Capital to Port Harcourt. Recently, she celebrated her 50th birthday with a historic book; in a coffee table format called ‘One Love’ documenting decades of Jamaica/Nigeria relationship. In this interview, Koko speaks about the book and the long standing relationship.
You have come up with a historical book that tells an existing cultural bond between Nigeria and Jamaica. Now, what were you thinking about before you embarked on this project and at what point did it strike you to pick up your pen and write the book?
Views: Visits 1 By Chris Onuoha Koko Kalango is a household name in educational book publishing. She is an author and a pastor, born to a Nigerian father and Jamaican mother. In 2014, her publishing firm, Rainbow book club, which has contributed immensely to improve the reading culture among school children in Nigeria, attracted the UNESCO World Book Capital to Port Harcourt. Recently, she celebrated her 50th birthday with a historic book; in a coffee table format called ‘One Love’ documenting decades of Jamaica/Nigeria relationship. In this interview, Koko speaks about the book and the long standing relationship. You have come up with a historical book that tells an existing cultural bond between Nigeria and Jamaica. Now, what were you thinking about before you embarked on this project and at what point did it strike you to pick up your pen and write the book?
“Na Dem Dey Hunt Whales”: Onyinye Uwolloh’s New “Moby-Dick” in Nigerian Pidgin
Katsushika Hokusai, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Last year, Nigerian poet Onyinye Miriam Uwolloh published Ishmael Na My Name, a long poem in Nigerian Pidgin that retells the story of Moby-Dick
(an audio recording of Uwolloh reading from the poem at the Strand Bookstore is available here). Today on WWB Daily, Jesse Amar considers how Ishmael Na My Name updates and challenges Melville s original text.
Onyinye Miriam Uwolloh’s poem Ishmael Na My Name is a sequence of 136 haiku, all written in Nigerian Pidgin English, each summarizing a chapter of Herman Melville’s
Koko Kalango’s new book, One Love… The Untold Story of Jamaicans Contribution to building Nigeria since 1846, is set for virtual presentation tomorrow, December 17, 2020.
The book, which covers a period of over 170 years, is divided into three parts: Pre-Nigeria to the amalgamation (1850s- 1914), amalgamation to independence (1914-1960) and independence to date (1960-2020). It documents efforts in various fields and covers stories from different parts of Nigeria.
However, for the purpose of Kalango’s narratives, the definition of a Jamaican has been narrowed down to the first-generation rather than those, like herself, who acquired citizenship by descent.
The book is a memento to mark the golden Jubilee of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Nigeria and Jamaica (April 29, 2020).