Dear Martin

Dear Martin,

Happy Birthday!

You would have been 88 today had it not been for that day in Memphis….well, today is special so I won’t dwell on that.
Are you having a party up there? Did Coretta throw you one? Whatever you are doing today, have fun!

I hate to bother you with this but things are not going so well down here. The nation is divided more than ever. There is so much divisiveness and rancor. We cannot see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues. People are still judged by the color of their skin with disastrous consequences. The poor keep getting poorer and injustices are rampant.
You know that Valley of Despair you asked us not to wallow in? Well, some of are living there now!.
If I may borrow your words and change them to reflect how things are:
In spite of our faith, we are unable to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. In spite of this faith, we are not be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. Even with this faith, we cannot work together, pray together, struggle together, go to jail together, stand up for freedom together….we are broken!
So on this day, do pray for this great nation. This nation that you loved so much. Pray for us because we need it!
Enjoy the rest of your wonderful day!

Sincerely,

Nanadadzie

That Bass Line

Kashif Saleem, popularly know as Kashif was found dead by a neighbor yesterday at his home in LA. He might have died a day earlier.
Anyone into R&B and in their late-forties has to know Kashif. If you don’t, listen out for the bells because it’s school time!
A multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, record producer, artist, composer, author, director and educator who taught himself to play a $3 flute at age 7, he made sweet music for himself and all.

Where do I start? – Whitney, Melba Moore, Evelyn King, Howard Johnson, Kenny G, George Benson, Dionne Warwick, Melissa Morgan, Stacy Lattisaw, Al Jarreau and on and on.
At one point, he also taught a course on recording music at UCLA. He was an innovative synthesizer player and was known to be one of the early experimenters in electronic music.
What is so prominent in his songs is a powerful bass line. It draws you in on a magical trip of notes and hooks that leaves you bumping your head and shaking whatever mama gave you (If mama give you anything, that is!).
My all time favorite Kashif song has to be “I Just Gotta Have You (Lover Turn Me On)”, a hit from 1983. A bumpy track, it is an amalgam of sweet soul, that winding bass line and catching vocals. Like my friend JT said, anyone who can write a song that starts with “Eee! Eee” has to be a genius. That song is genius. Kashif was a genius!
The song takes me back to days on that hill called Kwabotwe when dreams were vivid and everything looked possible.
“Stone Love” is another…reminds me of a time of change and decisions…aaah! Music!
People who make such good music shouldn’t die but then what do I know. I am a mere mortal, detached from reality and in reality, people die. Even the good ones…sigh!
So Kashif, if you had to go up there , well make sure you get them bumping their heads to that bass line! Eeee! Eeee!

The Mad Doctor

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
– Matthew 25:35

I dedicate today’s post to an amazing man and physician that I only recently heard about and for that, shame on me!
Dr David Fuseini Abdulai.

Dr Abdulai, born in the Northern Region of Ghana, was one of 11 children. He is the only one still alive. His siblings and parents died from poverty-related diseases. His dad contracted leprosy (Hanson’s Disease) later in life and his mum had to beg for food for the family.. After he lost his family, he lived on the streets where he often went without food. That experience proved critical in what he was going to devote his life to.
Through the help of the Catholic Church, he managed to go to school and then to Ghana Medical School. After graduation, he practiced at Korle-Bu and 37 Military hospitals till 1989 when he decided to move back to the Northern Region to give back.
And has he given back!
He founded the Shekinah Clinic for the indigent and the destitute. He founded the clinic to serve the Very Important People (VIPs, like he calls them) in his life – lepers, the mentally challenged, the crippled, in short any one who society had cast out. In parts of Ghana, lepers, the mentally challenged and the crippled are often homeless. From his childhood experience, he remembered how hungry these people were so he fed them. He still feeds them, houses them, clothes them and treats them when they fall ill.
They come to him in droves, willingly and he goes out to find them too.
All the care is for free, financed by donations and volunteers. His mantra is “God Will Provide”. He hasn’t ever drawn a salary.
He also operates a “meals-on-wheels” service that feeds the destitute and homeless in a 65-km (40 mile) radius. His target here also are the mentally challenged, who live on the streets and are often hungry plus poor families who do not have enough to eat. He has been doing this since about 1992 and has never missed a day.
Every Christmas, he has a party for every destitute person in Gurungu, where his clinic is, and it’s environs.
He has since opened a second clinic.
Besides his VIP patients, he also takes care of the poor who need medical care – for free.
He is assisted by 27 volunteers and serves about 120 people daily.
What a man!
For his efforts, he was affectionately called “The Mad Doctor”.
Life sometimes calls upon us to serve our fellow men. Few recognize this challenge and even fewer are able rise up to this challenge. To the few who can, it is forever an honor and a blessing. To us who can only look on, it is a constant source of amazement and awe and it forces something out of us. It forces our better selfs to the surface, forcing us to rise and be better people.
Most of us became doctors hoping to one day heal the world. Along the way, life gets in the way and we forget our ideals. Dr Abdulai never forgot his ideals. He is out there healing the world.
Dr Abdulai, thank you!

The wonderful story of Dr Abdulai has however taken a sad turn. In May, he was diagnosed with advanced thyroid cancer and is now reportedly fighting for his life. It sounds like he hasn’t had any form of treatment since his diagnosis and is having complications. He was recently flown down to Accra for radiation therapy. He may need further medical care. Also, his work needs to continue. To these ends, a GoFundMe campaign has been started for the dear doctor and his clinics. If you care to donate, please go to:
https://www.gofundme.com/2xbgkzac
His story came to my attention through FB posts of friends and people I follow.
To Pakwo Shum, Kobby Blay, Nana Awere Damoah, Nana Ama Agyeman Asante, Ama Opoku-Agyemang and Christa Sanders, ayekoo!
To President Mahama and Dr Victor Bampoe for facilitating his transfer, thanks!

The Amazing Professor Leutert

A hush had fallen on the group of young men and women assembled in the lecture hall. One could hear a pin drop.

Professor_Gerald_Leutert_ADA_Dimensionsmalerei®_Benita_Martin

The portly and balding gentleman who stood in front of the chalkboard looked over the group like he dared then to take their eyes off him. Then he spun around and grabbed 2 pieces of white chalk from the tray that was attached to the side of the chalk board. Now facing the chalkboard, he set both hands, each with a piece of white chalk in it, on the board. If one looked closely, only the pieces of chalk touched the board. Keeping the chalk pieces on the board, he swung his hands out in an arc. Both hands worked simultaneously as he drew. Like a conductor, his arms moved around. He reminded one of Kurt Masur, conducting a Bach performance at the Gewandhaus a few miles away.
As he worked, exhibiting his ambidexterity, a collective gasp went up from the collection of young students. They had heard about it but seeing it made it all the more mystical.
Soon he was done and like a maestro, he lay the pieces of chalk down and spun around. The students were on their feet, in thunderous ovation. When the ovation finally died down, he said:
“That is the cross-section of the spinal cord.”

Gerald Leutert was the Professor of Gross Anatomy when I was at the University of Leipzig. He was feared, revered and respected. He was a legend in his day. As first-year medical students, we had heard stories from the older students. The most amazing story was how he drew a cross-section of the spinal cord.
Now a cross-section of the spinal cord looks like two half-ellipses put together, one on the left and the other on the right. Well, Professor Leutert, being ambidextrous, drew both half-ellipses simultaneously and also added in the nuclei, laminae, tracts etc simultaneously. If you cannot imagine the skill it takes to do that, look at the image of the cross-section of the spinal cord below.

SpinalCord copy

Over the years, I have wondered what his intentions were when he made that drawing with so much pomp. Initially I thought he was just showing off. However as first year flowed into second year of medical school and the anatomy lab become a home away from home, I couldn’t overcome the feeling that there was another reason.
The Anatomy Lab. Home of broken dreams and high hopes. Of the end of life fueling knowledge. Professor Leutert ruled it like a king with us as his lowly subjects.
On those days that he came back to inspect our dissections and test our knowledge, it felt like judgement day. Come to think of it, was judgement day! Portly and short, it seemed he could rest his hands on his ample belly. Flanked by two assistants, and holding forceps in his hands like a scepter, he moved from table to table, passing judgement swiftly and mercilessly, in an atmosphere enriched with formalin.
“What is that?”, he’ll ask, picking up the delicate tissue.
“The radial nerve.”
With a nod he’ll be off to the next table.
“What are the structures that border this organ?”, pointing at the liver.
A hint of hesitation and one wilted under a barrage of even more questions, like said organ when cirrhotic.

I survived Anatomy and went on to graduate. All these years that day in the lecture hall has stayed with me. The day that I watched Professor Leutert display his ambidexterity. Recently, the essence of it kind of hit me.
The dear professor wasn’t trying to show off. Not at all. In showing us his dexterity so early, he tried to impress upon us what it took to do a good dissection. He made us realize the importance of learning anatomy and made us gain a deep respect for those whose bodies we had the honor to learn from. He also made us realize very early that medicine is practiced with both the mind as well as with the hands. He was telling us that no matter what specialty we ended up in, we needed to exhibit dexterity and practice medicine with all our senses.
With that he gained our respect. We looked up to him and revered him. Moreover we feared him. Not because he could hurt us. (Well, if one flunked Anatomy, that was it). That wasn’t the reason we feared him though. We dreaded disappointing him. He had set the bar quite high and we all strived to reach it. We feared not reaching it.

Professor Gerald Leutert died in 1999 at the age of 69. Apart from a short stint as Rector of the University of Leipzig, he spent the majority of his over 40-year career teaching and doing research in the field of Anatomy.
In his own way, he managed to grab the attention of the young medical students he was entrusted with and hold it. In the process he formed them, trained them and influenced them. I would know – he got and held the attention of my peers and I and in the process formed, trained and influenced us.

Farewell Pat!

Tennessee coach Pat Summitt yells to her team during the first half of a basketball game against North Carolina on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007 in Knoxville, Tenn. Tennessee won 83-79. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
Pat Summit

Starting in the Fall, while surfing those TV channels, one would sooner or later chance on a basketball game…personally, when I chanced on a Lady Vols game, I would stay on that channel for just a little longer….just so I could watch her. She exuded a kind of strength – the tough, steely, bend-but-not-break type…it drew you in….sort of made you sit up straight and behave…..now she is gone!…..Pat, it sure was what it was but in the end, it was what you made it – an amazing life. Fare thee well!

Maame Maya!

maya_angelou_stamp_ghana

I would have called you Maame Maya…it’s been 2 years today since you left us….back in the 60’s, you came down and lived in Accra, you learnt Fanti, you loved kenkey, worked at the Ghanaian Times, mastered our sayings like “Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt”…you wrote about the “ceremonial fontonfrom drums waking the morning air in Takoradi”…your poems grace my bedside table for still, I need to rise….you may be American by birth but your soul was and will always be ours….Dr Maya Angelou, RIP!

Happy Birthday, Malcolm!

“I don’t feel that I am a visitor in Ghana or in any part of Africa. I feel that I am at home. I’ve been away for four hundred years, but not of my own volition, not of my own will. Our people didn’t go to America on the Queen Mary, we didn’t go by Pan American, and we didn’t go to America on the Mayflower. We went in slave ships, we went in chains. We weren’t immigrants to America, we were cargo for purposes of a system that was bent upon making a profit…..When I was in Ibadan at the University of Ibadan last Friday night, the students there gave me a new name….. “Omowale,” which they say means in Yoruba…. ‘The child has returned'”.
– Malcolm X at the University of Ghana, Legon, on May 13, 1964

Black Muslim leader Malcolm X poses during an interview in New York on March 5, 1964. (AP Photo/Eddie Adams)
 Malcolm X

Happy Birthday, Malcolm! You would be 91 today! Admire you for how you turned your life around!

It’s been 35 years, Bob!

Keep resting in peace, Robert Nesta Marley! It’s been 35 years since you up and left and your music still has so much spirit, the lyrics so prescient. Prince is up there now. Have you two hooked up yet?

bob_marley_by_cheatingly1a

Like I said:
It’s been 35 years since you walked out of that door,
And the pain sure does knock more:
Ooh Bob, ooh Bob, is it feasible?
We wanna know now, for the pain to knock some more.
Ya see, in life we know there’s lots of grief,
But your music was our relief:
Tears in our eyes burn – tears in our eyes burn
While we’re waiting – while we’re waiting for the Jah Man,
See!
We don’t wanna wait in vain for Jah Man;
We don’t wanna wait in vain for Jah Man;
We don’t wanna wait in vain for Jah Man;
We don’t wanna wait in vain for Jah Man;
We don’t wanna wait in vain for Jah Man, oh!
We don’t wanna – We don’t wanna – We don’t wanna – We don’t wanna -We don’t wanna wait in vain.

The Day Bertha Went for a Ride

I am intrigued by what I call the Frisome Women (Friggin’ Awesome Women). I was raised by one who was raised by one, married to one, have a sibling who is one and may be raising one. Smart, focused, pragmatic, creative and tough, they have a certain sixth sense for what works! They don’t mince words, don’t suffer fools, and want to get things done. I am intrigued by what makes them tick. You all know one or may even be one.

Bertha

Bertha Ringer was a Frisome. She was born into a wealthy family in Pforzheim, Germany, on May 3, 1849 (167 years ago today). Her dad wanted a son and wrote in the family Bible: “Unfortunately only a girl again”! Bertha, however, was an intelligent girl who at an early age was very interested in technical things like the locomotive. When she was allowed to attend school at the age of 9, her interest was in the Natural Sciences. However, in that era, women were not allowed into institutions of higher education. It was the scientific belief that the lighter brain of women was logically unable to absorb and process as much information. Moreover, too much thinking was thought to be harmful to their reproductive abilities!
The beliefs of the day irked her greatly. It didn’t help when she read what her dad wrote in the family Bible. These factors might have lit up her subsequent determination to show her dad and the world that women could be great too.

On June 27, 1869, while on a trip with her mother, a poor young engineer joined them in their coach. They soon started talking and he told her about his dream of building a driverless carriage. She was hooked. By the next year, they were engaged. The man’s name was Karl Benz.
In 1870, Karl owned an iron construction company. His business partner was irresponsible and the company was failing. Karl was also a terrible businessman. As a single woman at that time, Bertha was allowed by law to invest in a company and so she rescued Karl’s business using funds from her substantial dowry.
They got married in 1872 and Bertha Ringer became Bertha Benz. They moved to Mannheim where she helped her husband start the Benz Gasmotoren-Fabrik – a company that manufactured internal combustion engines. Problems with the banks led to the closure of that business after a year.
In 1883, Bertha helped Karl Benz start another company – Benz & Cie. They made industrial parts. That business venture thrived. This allowed Karl to turn his attention to his lifelong dream – the invention of a driverless carriage powered by an internal combustion engine, in other words, an automobile. History then was full of several engineers before who had built versions of a driverless carriage but hadn’t been able to market them with any success.

After several failed attempts, Karl finally finished work on his first horseless carriage in December 1885 and received a patent for it in 1886. It was powered by a four-stroke, single-cylinder, 0.67 horsepower engine and had three wheels – one in front and two in the back. It was the Patent-Motorwagen No.1. For fuel it used the solvent ligroin that you bought from a pharmacy. It had no gear system and had brakes and wheels made out of wood!
By 1888, he had built 2 more – the No.2 and No.3. The No.3 was much improved with a 2 hp engine and max speed of 10 mph (16 km/h).
He showed the Model 3 at the Paris expo in 1887. In late summer of 1888, it went on sale as the Benz Patent Motorwagen.
Well, Karl like most great inventors was also terrible at marketing and couldn’t find any buyers or get anyone interested in his invention. Bertha had seen him build his Motorwagen and believed in the product. She thought it was ready for prime time and needed publicity. She had invested a lot of money in the venture and she needed to see some returns. Moreover, not too far away was a gentleman called Gottlieb Daimler, who together with his partner Wilhelm Maybach, were trying to build a driverless carriage too.

So one early morning in August of 1888 (may have been the 5th or the 12th), she left her husband a note, packed her two sons, Richard who was 13 and Eugen who was 15 into the Patent Motorwagen No.3 and drove off to visit her mum in her hometown of Pforzheim which was 66 miles (106 km) away!

Now let that go through your heads for a minute! 66 miles in a contraption that had never been tested before over more than a few miles in town! In 1888! On roads meant for horses and carriages! By a 39-year-old woman with 2 teenage boys! Now isn’t that just friggin’ awesome?

Now the big idea wasn’t really to visit her mum. It was to prove to her husband that his invention was great and ready for prime time and to give the car publicity.
The journey took her just over 11 hours. She stopped at several pharmacies to buy ligroin as fuel. The motorwagen used a surface carburetor which doubled as a reservoir for 1.5 liters of fuel. (Subsequent models had a fuel tank and also, her experience probably birthed the concept of the gas station). At one point, she had to repair the car’s ignition and she improvised with her garter. When the fuel line became clogged, Bertha cleared it using her hairpin! When the wooden brakes began to fail, she got a shoemaker to make leather pads for them, thus coming up with the idea of brake pads. At one point, she had to get two young boys to help her sons push the car up a hill (that bore the idea for a gear system).
The arrived in Pforzheim tired and dirty but in safely. Once in Pforzeim, she sent her husband a telegram to let him know they had arrived safely. Can you imagine him freaking out?
She stayed for 3 days with her mum and then made the return trip to Mannheim using a different route. This way, she was able to introduce the car to even more people. The reception ranged from wonder to frank fear of the “Smoking Monster”.

Benz Patent Motorwagen Typ III
Benz Patent Motorwagen Typ III

Beside getting a lot of publicity for the Motorwagen, she had also undertaken the first test drive of a car!
Her 120 mile trip was the catalyst Benz & Cie needed. Karl Benz became credited with inventing the predecessor of the modern car. By 1899, Benz & Cie was the world’s largest automobile company with a staff that had grown from 50 to 430. That year, they sold 572 vehicles!
Karl and Bertha, along with sons Eugen and Richard, also formed a new family-owned car company, Benz & Sons in 1906. The cars they made became popular in London as taxis because of their quality and reliability. It closed its doors in 1924.
Benz & Cie on the other hand stayed in business until 1926 when it merged with it’s main competitor, Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) to form the Daimler-Benz AG. The rest, as they say, is history!

Karl Benz among other inventions went on to build the first truck and also to invent the flat or boxer engine that is still used in Porsches and other racing cars. Among some of his honors was a doctorate from his alma mater, the Technical University of Karlsruhe. He died in 1929.
On her 95th birthday on May 3, 1944, Bertha was honored by the Technical University of Karlsruhe, her husband’s alma mater, with the title of Honorary Senator. Two days later, she died.
Among her many honors is also the Bertha Benz Memorial route. The route traces her path during the world’s first long-distance journey by automobile in 1888 from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back.

What a woman! A mother, investor, test driver, mechanic and inventor! Now tell me Bertha Benz was not a Frisome!
Can you imagine what she might have achieved if she had been allowed to study at a university? Can you imagine what Karl Benz would have done without her?
So as you speed off in your AMGs, G-wagons and SLs, spare a minute to wish her “Herzlichen Geburtstag” on the other side.
What is the saying again? Behind every successful man, is a friggin’ awesome woman!
Frau Bertha Benz, you were friggin awesome!

To Prince

prince

That Lady in the Red Corvette
One Sexy MF she was
Looks that made you never forget
A body that caused a buzz
Said, “My name is Prince.
I Wanna Be Your Lover”.
Looked at me with a wince
Said, “No go in The Holy River”.

The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
Donned in Diamonds and Pearls
As a Sexy Dancer she twirled
Raspberry Beret off, showing those curls
Said, “Money Don’t Matter 2 Night
So come and let us Kiss”.
For just a minute I thought she might
Just then came the hiss.

Said, “Let’s Pretend we’re Married”.
“Get Off!”, she said with a sneer
My world she just totally buried
Standing there in her Pink Cashmere.
I wanted to party like it’s 1999
Over at Paisley Park with her
With Peach, Cream and wine
Now that will never ever occur.

Betcha Golly Wow!
You did it without an apology
I guess now you take that bow
Leaving us your Musicology
As you walk into the Purple Rain
We understand When Doves Cry
It’s surely to hide the pain
When those they love leave for the sky.