A Revealing Traverse Through Washington DC

The transit in Charlotte wasn’t very long, but we still had to disembark from the aircraft, anyway. From my experience at Schripol airport in Amsterdam where I was shown a room with both Christian and Muslim prayer areas appropriately named meditation centre at the back of my mind, I asked my friend if there was […]

The transit in Charlotte wasn’t very long, but we still had to disembark from the aircraft, anyway. From my experience at Schripol airport in Amsterdam where I was shown a room with both Christian and Muslim prayer areas appropriately named meditation centre at the back of my mind, I asked my friend if there was any at that airport, or if we could pray along the corridors if there was none, I jokingly added. He quickly responded by saying, ‘I don’t want to be the person responsible for causing a stampede at the airport’.

We flew out of Charlotte airport with the thought that someday a meditation centre could be provided. What with the advancement of dialogue being promoted by the current American administration, which I believe, will lead to a better understanding of our religion and what it truly represents. We landed at Reagan International airport and immediately picked a cab to my friend’s temporary residence. Away from the airport, I noticed the slight similarity to our nation’s capital, in terms of the wide streets and avenues, but then, that’s where the similarities end. When it comes to the buildings, and especially the organization, it’s a totally different ball game.

What first caught my attention were the trees, oh, how well wooded DC is! All of them planted at almost equal intervals on all streets. Looking at how each tree was given its dues by the authorities, considering the space allocated along the interlocked walkways and the manure neatly deposited [without any spillover on the pavement], which I figured was enough to last months, for each tree got me thinking that they[the trees] must be really happy and having a good time.

I REMEMBERED MY STOLEN BICYCLE

How much more of the citizenry, I continued thinking without letting my brother into my thoughts. The cabs screeching halt at an intersection quickly jolted me back to reality and I noticed some middle-aged couple on bikes. This threw my thoughts back to my stolen bicycle and a voice inside me said ‘why don’t you get a new one, now that you live in Abuja? Thinking about our intersections, I just perished the thoughts. The wide sidewalks make DC streets one of the most bicycles friendly I have seen anywhere. I will get back to the city a little later.

We got to Bellos temporary apartment after about what I thought was not more than 10 minutes of driving from the airport, because I was deeply engrossed in my world of comparisons I am sure every visitor from out here will have to do either consciously or otherwise. Upstairs, we were welcomed by Bello’s ever friendly family and the much missed and thought of tuwon Sallah. It was after Ramadan and the Eid was spent in Chicago without the tuwo. We prayed and immediately descended on the dining table like little ninjas, not to mention that we did justice to that meal. After some time, Bello’s colleague in the office called to say he had finally secured accommodation for me at a hotel called Days Inn on Connecticut Avenue near the Nigerian embassy.  

 

AT DAYS INN IN CONNECTICUT

I bid farewell to the family and came downstairs. The lady at the reception of the apartments downstairs, who could easily pass for a Nigerian except for her accent, called a cab to take us to the hotel. A friendly young man behind the reception counter of Senegalese descent, named Ibrahim, checked me in at a concessionary rate applicable to embassy guests.

As soon as I settled down in the room, my friend left.  The following day I woke up a little bit late because I was up, almost all night watching TV being the election season in the US, and, you know how exiting the build up to the last presidential elections were. I pray that someday ours will also be that issues-oriented and equally exciting. With a little description I was able to easily navigate my way to the embassy where I was introduced to virtually every body, from the deputy ambassador, right down to the secretarial staff. It was some few days to October 1, so preparations were in top gear for the celebration of our national day which was to take place right in the embassy premises.

During lunch hour I was particularly delighted to find out that, there was a canteen run by a chubby Nigerian woman [don’t all caterers look chubby?] at the basement. I was also pleasantly surprised to find two old friends of mine, Yusuf Abdullahi Saulawa, [Namu] with whom we served at Ilorin, working as the head of chancery. The other with whom we spent our formative years together in Kaduna, working as a local staff in the embassy, having spent over 15 years in D.C. These three friends collectively helped in making my stay easier and more interesting. Like I always say, what can I really do without my friends?

At the close of work, we drove back to the house for dinner, after which the adventurer in me said don’t take a cab back, try the subway. At that point even my friend hadn’t tried the trains as he was still new in town. Some things from those years remain with you forever.

IN THE AMERICAN SUBWAY

Now, the subway was quite a surprise and a little scary for me that first day because of the depth to which I kept descending to reach the tracks. It was the first time I was seeing subways that deep, the descent must have been like 30-40 metres underground. This is like coming down from a 10-12 storey building right to the ground floor. These guys are workers, I told myself. It’s amazing how they perforated and excavated that deep to build those tracks around the city.

Having discovered the cost and convenience of the subway, I continued using it from then on throughout my stay. But, despite the fact that DC boasts of one of the world’s safest public transit systems, I still avoided it at late night because of criminals, especially after seeing some weird looking guy who looked like a loner or psycho leering at me one time. It was much later I learnt from a tour guide that one cannot build above the U.S. Capitol [seat of parliament] in DC, so that was why they decided to go under.

Some of the US train stations are like a whole city out here. Take, for example, the Union Station. It has 120 shops, banks, restaurants, cinemas, etc. I tell you it’s like a whole city down there and you wouldn’t even know or feel you are several meters underground. It took nine million tons of cement and steel to build. I took a whole day out there one day, exploring. Back at the hotel that night, I enquired from Ibrahim at the reception about guided tours of the city. He told me Zohery Tours pass by the hotel for pick ups every morning at 9 am and that I could pay right there and then, if I wanted to go the following day. I told him that’s why I was there so why not? He handed over their flyer plus a form for me to fill and pay the $35 fee. I promptly did. The four or five of us going for the tour gathered at the reception downstairs for coffee early in the morning the following day, and as expected, the Zohery bus parked right in front of the hotel at 9 am.

TOUR BEGINS

I was surprised when told by two elderly American women from Seattle already seated, that they were also visiting Washington D. C. for the first time. We did some few more pick ups from hotels around town and came to a final stop at the Hyatt, Melrose place near the capitol from where the tour actually began. There, we came down and filed into a bigger bus. After sometime a very amiable, gentle and, sometimes, funny African American hopped on to the bus and introduced himself as our driver and guide or the other way round. He spoke slowly, professionally, knowledgeably and deliberately in that nice African American accent which suited me well because there were several instances in which I couldn’t really understand what the— they [African Americans] were talking about, especially at fast food joints. He first requested everybody to introduce himself and that’s when I discovered we had quite an international mix. All continents were represented with yours sincerely proudly representing, not only Nigeria but the continent. I was the only African in the group, which made me feel good even at that in-quensequencial level. How about that? Now, before I let you in on where we went and what we saw, let me tell you a little bit about Washington D.C.  Washington is an international centre with over 200 foreign embassies and a plethora of international organizations such as the World Bank, IMF, the organization of American states and other world renowned organizations like the national geographic society. It is also a city of monuments.

Now, its important for you to know there are no industries as we know them in D.C. Tourism is the number one industry, followed by government as number two. education is the third industry. There are seven major universities in the district, with many more in the metropolitan area along with the nations top research institutes. The fourth industry, for which Washington is known, is Law. The city’s most famous landmarks are clustered in and around the national mall and memorial parks, an area spanning about two miles from the Lincoln memorial to the U.S capitol, flanked by several museums and memorials that made me think the nation [America] will never forget its past.

How I wished we could say or be the same here, I thought. Lots of students in Nigeria now have no idea what happened in this county just 50 years back tragically, or what do you think? This vast lawn plays host to festivals, protests, gatherings and performances. As we set out for the tour, heading towards the imposing capitol, the driver picked a microphone and started giving us some few basic tips about going around the city either in a car or public transport. He told us D. C. is divided into 4 quadrants  NW, SE, NE, and SE and that all streets and avenues are repeated in all districts so you have to check the  quadrant indicator of an address at all times before setting out. Numbered streets in the city run north to south where as lettered streets run east-west. Imagine that order. As we passed the US Capitol, which marks the centre where the entire quadrants meet, he pointed at the Union Station and gave us a description of what is there down under.

That was what pricked my interest of visiting it subsequently. We saw the Library of Congress, considered the worlds most complete library and the engraving and printing building where all the dollars come out. We continued our drive passing by the labour ministry, named after Peskins, I think, the longest serving secretary of labour, who served for 12 years, through to the national holocaust museum which has the broken swastika and drove slowly by the 555ft George Washington monument completed in 1848 after about 40 years of construction and to date the second tallest monument in the world.

We stopped at 1600, Pennsylvania Avenue,[The White House] for a 30-minute break to enable us take pictures and tour the ground. There isn’t much to tell you about the White House, one of the most popular buildings in the world, except to say that its foundation was laid by George Washington, who incidentally, is the only American president who did not resided in it. Perhaps, some distant cousins of mine are now the occupants. We continued our tour to the Jefferson memorial, passing by the 385 mile long Potomac River. Let me tell you a little bit about this great former American, president.

Thomas Jefferson who spoke six languages, was a great chef, as he, it was, who introduced French fries and ice cream to the states and was the father of Virginia University. He served as secretary of state and V.P. before becoming president. He authored the declaration of American independence and the statute of Virginia for religious freedom. He was a man of letters, a great admirer of architecture, painting and music. In fact, in one of his famous quotes he said, were he to proceed to tell us how much he enjoyed those things [architecture, painting and music] he would want words. Tell me, what better preparation does one need for that exalted office? But the most admirable thing about him, to me, was that of all his achievements, he only wanted to be known for the documents he authored and for the establishment of Virginia University. How modest. We then went ahead to the F.D.R.[Franklin Delano Roosevelt] museum. He also was a great American president. He served three or four terms during the great depression, a most trying period for his country and its people, mostly confined to a wheel chair.

Despite his illness he persevered and provided good governance. He was quoted to have said one of the great lessons he learnt from his illness was the need for infinite patience and never ending persistence, ‘Hakuri da Zilama’, in order to succeed. The museum is full of engravings of his famous quotes, also. The two that caught my attention were the ones in which he said, he never forgot that he was living in a house owned by all the American people and that he had been given their trust. In the other, he said, ‘No country, however rich can afford to waste its human resources. Demoralization caused by vast unemployment is a great extravagance, and that morally, it is the greatest menace to social order’. There is also a memorial for his wife Eleanor, the only one for a former First Lady. We proceeded to the Lincoln memorial, built in 1922, an imposing structure with 36 massive columns, representing the 36 states at the time of his assassination. It was below the steps of the Lincoln memorial that the much revered and respected Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous, ‘I have a dream’, speech on August 28th, 1963. I stood at that exact location, overlooking the reflecting pool, and reflected on that day and the words that he spoke to over 250,000 supporters that gathered. I contemplated on the fact that an African-American had a good chance of becoming the nation’s next president.

AMERICA, WHAT A COUNTRY?

I concluded that the nation [America] was, indeed, about to rise up and live out the true meaning of the words that were spoken long before the reverend was born: ‘All men are created equal’. This has been in our books for well over 1400 years. President Abraham Lincoln, being one of the architects of the abolishment of slave trade, said in a quote engraved by his statue that he trembled for his country when he considered the injustice done to some of his country men and women, after reflecting that GOD Almighty is just.  He said slavery was despotism and nothing was more certainly written in the book of fate than this. He said it was in God’s plan to provide education for everybody in a nation, and that, it was the principal responsibility and business of governments to effect this. The lessons from these words have been taken by America, but still needs to be reflected upon by several others. I wouldn’t mention names]. Our next and final stop was the Arlington National Cemetery. This is a burial ground for some of the countries heroes.

There wasn’t much I could do there, so I went to see the sculptures in honor and memory of the United States Marine Corps who gave their lives to their country in the several wars the country engaged in since November 1775. There were many wars: the revolutionary war from 1775-1783, French Naval War 1798-1801, Tripoli, 1801-1805, War between the states 1861-1865, Spanish war 1898, Nicaragua 1912, Vera Cruz 1914, Haiti 1915-1934 Santo Domingo 1916-1924, world war1 1917, Lebanon 1958, Vietnam 1962-1975, gulf war 1987-1991, panama 1988-1990, and they are still fighting.

There is virtually no part of the globe where they haven’t engaged in war, from their little neighbour, Haiti to Europe, the Middle and Far East. Reading those epitaphs, I concluded they are either of two things. ‘Ko masu tsokana, ko masu kai agaji’, this literally means, they are either trouble makers or good Samaritans. I have made up my mind on what they are, you make up yours. At that place we bid farewell to our amiable guide and re-joined the small buses that initially picked us up back to our hotels. It was a fabulous tour that virtually gave me the history of Washington in one day, experience of which I would forever remember.

NIGERIA’S NATIONAL DAY IN AMERICA

Back in the hotel I had a good afternoon nap in order to be fresh and ready for the 1st October National Day reception coming up that night at the embassy premises. At the reception, I was thrown back home as almost everybody, including some of the foreign embassy staff, were dressed in Nigerian traditional [not native] attire. We had a good noisy time [if there is anything like that]. I met and mingled with so many people, including the tallest person I had ever met, who dwarfed all of us at the reception.

At first, from afar, I thought he was one of those basketball stars, but then knew he couldn’t be from his built, when he came up close. Most of his height was from the waist down. He was polite and kind enough to oblige me a souvenir photo when I requested for one. The following day, Yakubu, an embassy staff from Kano, picked me, and we drove to an automobile auction in Pennsylvania where I took advantage of the then meltdown and made a kill by buying a vehicle at an unbelievable price. With that experience, I don’t think I can buy a car here again.

Driving to the auction and seeing how it was conducted was in itself a spectacle. You could stand there for long without knowing what was going on. It was deliberately organized to be disorganized to a non-participant. It was only after Yakubu explained that I knew what was going on. With the tour, national day and auction out of the way, the rest of my stay in DC was spent with my good friends, sampling restaurants and checking out Malls, sometimes with the help of his wife Rayya and Aisha Umar. The markets and malls belong to women. As a radio fan, like most people from the northern part of the country, I couldn’t go to Washington without paying a visit to the Hausa service of the Voice of America (VOA).

This, we did, with the help of Ahmed Sahabi, a Washingtonian who is known to virtually all the staff. On arrival, Aliyu Mustapha Sokoto, who bears an uncanny resemblance to General Yakubu Gowon came right outside to receive us. He gave us a tour of their facilities and requested that we did an interview His argument? ‘Nobody visits a radio station without saying something’. I politely told him I wasn’t a politician, and he said I didn’t have to be. I told him all the same I would pass because it’s always better to keep quiet if you don’t have anything good to say.

We left it at that. Bello, a diplomat, diplomatically dodged the interview. Unfortunately, my favourite broadcaster, Halima Jimrau was away to Niger on leave so I didn’t get to meet her.

However, Tudunwada and Grace Alher Abdu were there to fill in her space. I will conclude this piece by advising you to please take time out from that conference, business meeting, World Bank seminar or worst of all, that shopping and go see Washington D. C. when next you are there. There is so much more to see, I just scratched on the surface.