kano

Posted on April 9, 2004 
Filed Under images, out of town, stories

 (circa September 1997) The first time my plane touched the ground in Africa was in a city called
Kano. Kano is in the heart of Nigeria, and consistent with what I expected,
the military met the plane on the runway.
I wasn’t prepared for the military to board the plane, however. "A routine
inspection," we were told. "We’re just looking for anyone trying to enter
Nigeria illegally."
I silently wondered why anyone would want to enter Nigeria illegally.
Leave, I might understand, given the financial and ecological
devastation that General Sani Abacha had wreaked on the country.
The expressed concern over immigration was a ruse,
which became obvious once the soldiers began walking the aisles of
the plane. A business man who had traveled this route many times before
was sitting next to me. He told me to place anything of value out of sight
before the soldiers reached our row of seats. When the soldiers neared
our row, I learned why. I could overhear the soldiers asking unsuspecting
people, "is that for me?", referring to headphones, nice watches, and cameras.
For the most part, they seemed interested in electronic devices. Once each
had a "gift" from a traveler, they left the cabin, and the military told
the pilot that we could move on.
As the plane taxied to the end of the runway, we moved past
a graveyard… only this was a graveyard for broken and decaying planes.
There was one
that looked almost whole; it seemed to be missing only a front wheel. The
whole plane leaned forward, giving the discomforting look of a rough landing.When
you’re preparing to take off, that’s not exactly what you want to see.
At the end of the taxi lane, when making that sharp turn
to enter the runway, I could see from my window a man harvesting something.
I thought he might simply be cutting field grass, but the business man
sitting next to me told me that the man was actually farming. Since the
Kano International Airport is all that many people ever see of Nigeria,
the local government thought it would be a good idea to show travelers
the products of rich Nigerian soil… never mind the bath of jet fuels
leaching into the rows of wheat. I just hope that no one ever ingests whatever
crops are grown here.
Before I put my camera away once we were back in the air, I turned to
get one last look at Kano.
 

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