bleu0;842120489 said:
While Cameroon and Senegal are geographically distant from each other, culturally they share a lot of commonalities, not only as bantu cultures but as francophone former French colonies of west and central Africa. Their immigrants often coexist in the same neighbourhoods of Paris, and they have more in common with each other than with African nations formerly under English colonial rule. Or with profoundly different cultural oddballs like Ethiopia. The Ethiopian community in the Bay area, for example, may not be such a big draw for young Senegalese or Camerounais. Different foods, different religions, etc.
If both RMAB and Diallo grew up in Africa, I have to believe this can only help Cal's recruiting efforts with Diallo. I wouldn't be at all surprised if RMAB ended up hosting Diallo on an official visit.
out of africa...to berkeley, california
bleu, thx you for drawing attention to the subtle nuances between countries within africa
while bak bak (who is originally from sudan and raised in nairobi, kenya) played a role in visiting with richard moute a bidias (cameroon) at the team banquet at memorial, i agree that it would make sense for rmab to host idrissa diallo (senegal) on his official visit (the critical 2013 bb official visit dates could be the frenzied ohio state fb game weekend in sept)...diallo (who is likely a ucla, usc & cal battle imo) will also visit berkeley this summer with his hs coach william meadowbrooks (longtime & well regarded so cal coach w/a longtime friendship with alan crabbe)
like the entire current cal bb team, diallo is an excellent student athelte with a 3.4 gpa...athletically he is as gifted as devon hardin and is the top 2014 bears big man priority (along with thomas wels4, evan fitzer & maybe sami if he enrolls at sfcc this summer) to join potential mcdonalds all american facilitator/scorer amhaad rorie
what are diallo's longterm goals?
"my goal is to be able to travel back to africa and help people...there are a lot of problems there, things like not enough clean drinking water...i have two sisters and women there aren't always treated well so i want to be able to help them too"
absolutely the best article i have ever read in the daily cal is jonathan kuperberg's feb 13th "morning glory: bak bak's seach for a home" which factually (and emotionally) chronicles bak bak being born in to war and then traversing the globe for survial
in my quest of playing the world's top 100 golf courses, i traveled (a 10 hr nonstop to heathrow followed by another 10 hr flight to cape town) for a 3 week tour of africa
while durban cc is the golfing gem of africa with its wildly natural & undulating fairways (monkeys steal your balls on the 7th fairway) plays thru the bush with views of the indian ocean, the highlight for me of this special day was my caddie "jordan" (wore a chicago bulls cap)...we walked & talked for 36 holes re: music & food with him providing local commentary regarding the then upcoming world cup soccer competition to be hosted by his country...at the end of the rounds, despite the local caddie fee being $9 usd in south african rand currency, i gave jordan my usual caddie payment of $100 usd per round plus my golf shoes (his tennis shoes had holes in them held together by tape) & we shook hands in saying our goodbyes (until we meet again)
while cape town first reminded me of sydney (and auckland) with its sun drenched weather and ocean port city with ultra high end hotels (stayed at the uber lux 12 apostles) backed by a magnificient mountain range (table mountain overlooks nelson mandela's prison island off shore), a visit to a shantytown quickly erases those comparisons
the most exciiting thing i have ever done in my life (thus far) is going on safari at the mala mala resort (which is reached by a small private plane) in kruger national park...being yards away from the "big 5" creatures is beyond words and an experience that everyone with the opportunity to visit africa should not miss
giraffes matter#