For The Love of Motherland

I did promise during my last visit to share a bit about Danju's visit to motherland - Nigeria; his second visit in twelve years. This was no ordinary vacation and had begun with an invite by the Nigerian BasketBall Federation (NBBF) for him to join the under 18 national camp. The coaches and some FIBA agents and scouts had seen video clips of his shoot around and some game clips as well and were impressed enough to send an invite through 'yours sincerely' to him. You can imagine my pride to have my son being invited to the junior national team camp of his motherland. I was ecstatic.
When the excitement had worn off, it was time for business. He was writing his grade eleven last semester exams, I was not sure if his Nigerian passport was current and whether his Canadian passport was still valid and not expired. Furthermore I had my fears about being able to get him a seat on an airplane in time for him to make the 23 hour transatlantic flight from Edmonton to Lagos to make the camp. I also thought of the impact of jet-lag as he would literally be stepping off the airplane and straight to the national stadium for a selection practice. My excitement had metamorphosed into anxiety and concerns. And as I often are wont to do when faced with obstacles, I turned to prayers. And pray I did.
To the glory of the Almighty God, Danju made the trip and I was on hand at the airport to receive him. Once he was done with immigration and customs and stepped into the arrival section, I broke out in a wide grin of relief and love. I rushed over, hugged him, grabbed his luggage and we headed to the parking lot. I gave him his brief  which was to get some passport photographs taken and to head to the national stadium for practice. This was a 'baptism' of fire and a welcome to Nigeria.
We made the hour-long journey snaking through traffic to the stadium and he was thrust into the fray right away. Some of his initial shock (which did not surprise me) was about the state of the basketball court and how he could compete without risking injuries due to the slippery nature of the court and the very physical style of play, a huge departure from the style in Canada which was longer on skills . He quickly made some adjustments after taking a few knocks and was right smack in it 'dueling' for a spot. After three grueling days of two practices each day with each practice lasting three hours, Danju made the cut of twelve players who were to represent Nigeria on a four nation tournament in Africa.
For anybody who had ever worn his country's colours and represented his country, this is a feeling that lasts a lifetime I'm told. By this, Danju had added another page to his basketball portfolio.

Coincidentally, while Danju was on this trip to Nigeria, he was picked to attend the Milo "Giants of Africa" camp run by Masai Ujiri - the GM of Denver Nuggets, a professional NBA team. This was an icing on the cake for his trip. For anyone who may want to sneeze at this, Masai Ujiri is the first African General Manager of a North American professional sports team and the only one as yet. To have Danju be part of a camp run by Masai along with some local and foreign coaches and with tons of scouts in the stands, was huge for me. Perhaps a corroboration of this was that CNN Africa Voices recently ran a feature over many days of this camp and Masai Ujiri; and seeing my Danju along with kids who attended that camp being shown repeatedly on CNN made my day.

Danju has since returned to school in Canada for his final year of high school and is shopping for sports scholarships for university as I write. I hope I have some cheery news to report with time on this.

Talking of sports, Papa's junior high school football (not soccer ) team - the Bellerose Bulldogs had a fantastic run right up to winning the city championships without dropping a game. I understand from an excited Papa (and for good reasons) that this was a first in the school's history. Way to Go Bulldogs.

http://bchs.spschools.org/?p=2033


I must not fail to mention, that Danju travelled to various parts of Nigeria during his down time while visiting and was able to squeeze in a trip to the UK (his first trip to that country) and did so during the Olympics and had good bonding time with his aunt (my youngest sis) and his cousins - Jaaziel and Marjon and their dad in Nottingham.

I'd share more of Danju's trip to Nigeria when I return.

Catching Up 2

I have just finished going through some photos Danju shared with me on whatsapp of what he termed a crazy weather in St Albert-everywhere and I mean everywhere is covered in snow. Is that news and should it be news? Well, the great white North, as us Canucks fondly refer to Canada, is famed for her winter and cold weather so ordinarily having lots of the white stuff around should be familiar to Canadians as tea should be to the Chinese. To have Danju then make this a discussion item should be some food for thought. Just in case you are wondering, this was recorded in the first week of November and winter in St Albert is known to last until late into April. Phew! Crazy indeed.
Just a week earlier we were dealing though not directly in St Albert, but down in Ontario ( our home province for almost a decade) with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Are these signs of the end times or are we paying the price of a depletion of the ozone layer? Perhaps it's a result of a clash between El Nino and La Nina. Whatever it may be,I pray God to spare us the inconvenience and heartache.
As a dad who dotes on his kids, you can imagine my anxiety at the times such as I have described above in trying to connect with Sampi in St Johns, Newfoundland (where her university is) as well as Danju and Papa in St Albert ( where their high school Bellerose is); and doing so from Nigeria where the need to make a living and earn some dough has brought me back to. Life indeed can be a challenge.

Between the last time you read from me and now, so much has happened in the lives of my little angels: Sampi in addition to her undergrad program had become a certified home painter; Danju had come to Nigeria (invited by the Nigerian Basketball Federation) to play basketball for Nigeria's U-18 national team. That was some experience and a subject for another day. Papa had completed his junior high and was now at Bellerose Composite High School where as part of the junior football team was riding an undefeated season (the first in the school's history if my records are valid). Their championship game comes up next week Tuesday- November 13. Go Bulldogs Go...
Even though I'd be physically unable to attend, I'd be rooting for you in spirit from Nigeria.