Deep from within , livre ebook
440
pages
English
Ebooks
2024
Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus
Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement
Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement
440
pages
English
Ebooks
2024
Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus
Publié par
Date de parution
05 septembre 2024
Nombre de lectures
0
EAN13
9789789212460
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
9 Mo
Deep From Within chronicles the life of Alfred Olúsegun Fáyemi from his early years at Ìfàkì Èkiti and Abeokúta Nigeria, through to his ninth decade. He attended Igbobi College, Yábàá and Abeokúta Grammar School, the latter for the Cambridge Higher School Certificate course. He studied Medicine at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel and graduated with an MSc (Pathology) and MD degrees. He served as an intern and senior house officer at the University College Hospital, Ibàdàn, Nigeria followed by a Pathology residency at the Mount Sinal Hospital and Medical Center, New York. He is Board certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and he is a Fellow of the College of American Pathologists. He practiced as a pathologist and later, for decades, as the director of pathology and laboratories of hospital systems in New Jersey and New York. He also served as an Associate Clinical Professor of Pathology and Professorial Lecturer at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, Visiting Professor of Pathology at the College of Medicine, Obáfémi Awólówo University, Ilé Ife, Nigeria, Èkitì State University College of Medicine and Afe Babalolá University College of Medicine, Adó Ekiti, Nigeria. An accomplished and renowned documentary photographer of the African continent with an extensive history of exhibitions in the United States and Nigeria, he is the author of three outstanding and celebrated books of photographs
Voir
Publié par
Date de parution
05 septembre 2024
Nombre de lectures
0
EAN13
9789789212460
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
9 Mo
DEEP FROM WITHIN My Story, My Song
Alfred Olús/ /égun Fáy/emí
BOOKBUILDERS!EDITIONS AFRICA
© Alfred Olú/s/égun Fáy/42,02eím
e-ISBN: 978-978-921-246-0
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying , recording, or otherwise without the expressed written consent of the author, who is the copyright owner.
Produced in Nigeria by BookBuilders • Editions Africa 2 Awosika Avenue, Bodija, Ibadan www.bookbuilderseditionsafrica.org email: folatundeus@yahoo.com; bookbuildersafrica@gmail.com mobile: 08068052154
Cover design Tunde Omirin 08128882628
ii
D E D I C A T I O N
To
My children: Délé, W/olé, Tóyìn
My grandchildren:/Sadé, Cole, Lará, Olivia
My families: Fáye/mí, Martins, Kammen, Quealy,
C O N T E N T S
Dedication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Foreword. v . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Preface. viii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Acknowledgments. x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . List of Abbreviations. xii
One: Beginnings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Transformative Years: High School. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Two: The Next Seven Years: The State of Israel and Beyond. . . . . . . . 85 Three: Years of Apprenticeship: Internship and Pathology Residency. 131 Four: Professional Odyssey: New Jersey and New York.. . . . . . . . . . . 159 Five: Adventures in Imagery: Documentary and Fine Art Photography Six: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Et Cetera I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 Seven: Et Cetera II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 Eight:
Afterword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bibliography. 421 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index. 423
iv
F O R E W O R DPàpáadélé. The honorific, intergenerational title is how I was first introduced to Alfred Olús/ /égun Fáye/mí, whose fascinating, multifaceted, multicareered, and densely familyconnected story is told inDeep From Within.When my wife of thirtytwo years, Bámidélé O/mó/wùmí Fáy/emí and I got together, a watershed moment in my mind was when I was invited to their home in White Plains, New York, for a holiday weekend fromuniversity. I was excited to be deemed worthy of a trip to their home, where I would get the chance to meet the family and delve deeply into Nigerian food. I knew I would get to “face” or talk with her father, ‘Pàpáadélé.’ What I knew at that point, almost four decades ago, was precisely what he wrote with such insight about his own children in the preface of this wonderful book: “They know the highlights: NigerianAmerican, doctor, pathologist, studied in Israel, accomplished photographer and artist. That is about it.” What I did not know then about this remarkable man could fill volumes, literally. The book you now hold,Deep from Within,puts an amazing flesh on that skeleton. Over the decades, I have learned and gained a great deal of insight and perspective fromPàpáadélé. First and most selfishly, I learned that I had a key, silent ally in Pàpáadélé. One cannot do better than to have that behindthe scenes support froma future fatherinlaw, especially as I was asking to marry the very accomplished, track star and national medical fellowship recipient, Dele, when I was well, unemployed. I learned much later on, that on at least one of Dele’s subsequent trips home, Pàpáadélé had inquired from Dele: “Where is thatòyìnbó, Dan?” I had an ally in someone who championed family and togetherness. When Dele and I decided, most pretentiously, t o avoid American materialism and get married in Nigeria, we inadvertently set a massive, culturebending task for Pàpáadélé to coordinate a busload of logistics for an oyinbo army to travel from Lagos to IfakiEkiti to not just attend, but to participate in a wedding where many traditions were discussed, argued and then enacted realtime. In fact, one of the many delights for me inDeep From Withinwedding had some echoes of a Fáye, is that our 1992 /míCoker wedding of precisely forty years before, where Daddy IA “married the beautiful, elegant
v
FOREWORD
and graceful Miss Phebean Olús/olá Coker.” These words could have been said about Bamidele. Then, when Papaadele and I decided, audaciously and optimistically, to ‘drive’ almost 3,000 kilometers fromNairobi to Lake Chad, most of the way on unpaved and unsecured roads, he showed ultimate patience as my truck quite literally did not make it 30 kilometers out of the wealthiest suburb in Nairobi. Oops! No matter, we still had an amazing time by bus traveling a very tame 600 kilometers from Nairobi to Kampala, eating, chatting, and laughing our way across just two of the six planned countries. Today, the KammenFáye/mí home in Oakland, California, and our outpost apartment on Capital Hill in Washington DC are both generously adorned with beautiful, elegant, and graceful art created in different artistic modes and styles by Papaadele. Why begin this introduct ion with selfcentered stories of what Papaadele has done for me, and not a direct recounting of what a remarkable personheis? The reason is simple and gets – at least in my eyes – to an essential feature of Papaadele,ubuntu.perhapsUbuntu is both a noun and a verb, or more accurately a social dialog where one’s situation in life is defined, refined, and amplified by the networks, community, and ecosystemin which one lives. As this narrative makes clear, Papaadele is very much a nodal person across generations in Nigeria, across social networks of the African diaspora in the US and Europe, and through his keen artistic eye, across the continent in ways thatDeep From Withinvery much brings alive. Deep From Withincan be read and appreciated on many levels, and many of them are enlightening. There are lovingly detailed descriptions of a dense network of family members fromÌfàkì to Lagos, to Abeokuta, to Israel, to New York State. His childhood joy of ‘running t he hoop’ is more than reminiscent of/Sóyínká’s memoir,Aké: The Years of Childhood.The bonds of learning and growing that defined Olús/ /égun’s days at Igbóbì College that has been a pillar of his education in Latin, Biology, and other subjects, has been an ubuntuplatformand focus for his social bonds via the Igbobi College Old Boys Association. In his medical school experience in Israel wonderful admixtures of Israeli and international culture began to dot the landscape of his social networks, but never too far away, were elements of Nigerian camaraderie, such
vi
FOREWORD
as theèsúsúand the landscapegroup (a Yoruba savings and lending group) once more reminds the reader of the deep, pervasive family and community ties that run through the entireDeep From Withinnarrative. The transition and evolution of the Fayemi family to New York, the Bronx, and ultimately their home in Greenburgh/White Plains also resonates with a ‘little Nigeria’ away from West Africa. A st eady stream of family members, family friends, and of ‘parallel lives’ as Pàpáadélé calls his career different aspects of the USmedical industry, medical research, establishing Clin Path, and the wonderfully titled role of aMorbid Anatomist (Anat omic Pathologist) are all interleaved narratives that make for a fascinating read into how many opportunities exist for an exceptionally talented, massively connected, and happily curious scientist and artist. It is perhaps the artistry that more than anything defines the evolution of experience and connectivity that winds throughDeep From Within.Pàpáadélé has the eye of a passionate observer, be it in human pathology, or in observing life in communities across Africa through a wide range of photographic and artistic storytelling. Hisfriends and children are the beneficiaries, as we all have copious examples of his creativity on our walls. Olús/ /égun’s art is magnificent. His uplifting portraits of the African spirit are front and center in each of his books and exhibits that champion African women, AIDS and HIV survivors, and children across the continent. In each of the country travel narratives what comes across is not only the pride and joy t hat Olús/é/gun elicits from his subjects, but also the joy of discovery that he so clearly shared with each of his regional guides (me included), and the naturalness of the images he is able to capture. He is a passionate uplifter of life in Africa, something that each of his images so wonderfully captures, reflects and shares. It is ultimately the sharing of joy and stories – of family, of education, of his children and grandchildren – that makes Pàpáadélé such a beautiful encapsulation ofubuntu, as everyone – esteemed scholar, school master or fellow pupil, grandchild or chance acquaintance on a dusty backstreet in any African nation, all feel an immediate connection and fondness for Olúº/égun, who is truly an ambassador for all of Africa.
Dan Kammen Dele’s husband and sonofOlús/é/gun
vii
P R E F A C E
I never thought I would write an autobiography; it was the furthest thing from my mind. I always believed it was presumptuous that an average person would think his or her life so important that others might want to read about it. Of course, each human being’s life is unique, no matter their social status, and therefore, anyone can fill t he pages of a book describing that unique life. However, in spite of my belief, many roads converged that spurred me to write about my life. I discovered that my children, even less so my grandchildren, know very litt le about my life. They know the highlights: NigerianAmerican, doctor, pathologist, studied in Israel, accomplished photographer and artist. That is about it. I decided to write about my life to fill the gaps missing from their knowledge. I made a 6page outline as a basis and guide for writing a short story of my life that I expected to privately circulate to my family. As I wrote, I consulted with friends to confirm facts that I had forgotten or authenticate the accuracy of some past incidents. I discovered that they were interested in my project and expressed interest in reading the book when it was published, some even reserving copies! Therefore, what I had conceived as a small private project for only members of my family became expanded to become a book of hundreds of pages. Once I mentioned that I would be writing an‘autobiography’ (really did not want to call it that), my good friend, Dr/Òr/é/Sólùádé, kept reminding me, each time I told him some aspect of my life he did not know before, that I should begin writing the book. Like most humans, I kept postponing, thinking, why write an autobiography after youalready turned 82. Most people perform this task a decade or more earlier in their lives. But here we are, and now, it is all done. Years ago, one of my grandchildren’s assignment was to tell something about their grandparents and family members who lived before them, a sort of genealogy. I could tell them only about my parents, their grandparents. That blind spot in my knowledge of my forebears set me on a quest to discover my heritage and I began to seek the necessary information. I knew all my close and notsoclose relatives, uncles, aunts, cousins, those with the Fáy/emí surname and others with other surnames. At the time, my father (Father) had already passed away, so I depended on my mother (Mother) to tell me the history of our family. She narrated, and I wrote as much as possible, not once but on three
viii
PREFACE
different occasions. I continued my inquiries from older cousins and got more information, corroborating and sometimes, expanding on Mother’s version of the history. In the end, I was able to pull together my many sources that yielded a multigenerational family tree. Another reason to do the autobiography. Memory fades. Facts are not as clear as they used to be. Names are forgotten. Particulars of events become muddled and unclear. However, I benefitted from my habit of saving papers, documents and important files, which I did for many decades. I have also kept a daybook since I was in Form 1 at Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria, but I lost all of my daybooks or ‘diaries’ before arriving in the US. Conversely, I kept all my daybooks fromthe early 1970s to now (2023), which afforded me the opportunity to remember and reconstruct dates of activities and events. And when I was still not sure, I did not hesitate to call someone who could help tickle my brain or might outright help with the information that I sought. Writing this autobiography has been a journey through memory lanes, remote and recent, a story of eight decades! I have thoroughly enjoyed the trip; it has been good for my soul, has made me relive my life and has allowed me to introspect and philosophize on the twists and turns, the intricacies and the meaning of life.
ix
