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| Team Nigeria at the Rio 2016 Paralympics. Photocredit: Getty Images |
Firstly, belatedly though, let me
join the teeming number of proud Nigerians in saluting our contingent to the
Rio 2016 Paralympics where Team Nigeria with her stellar performance shone like
a million stars with a formidable medal haul comprising of twelve medals.
Asides the 2016 Olympics and of
course the ubiquitous Brazilian weaves (which we cannot get enough of); Brazil occupies
a key position in West African history for both good and bad reasons. Brazil
accounted for roughly forty percent of the African slaves brought to the Americas
during the Atlantic slave trade with most of them processed at Bahia before
being sent off to plantations across the country. Centuries after the slave
trade, the Yoruba influence is still heavily felt in Bahia where their dialect is
a blend of Portuguese and Yoruba. Deities such as Orunmila, Obatala, Ogun,
Sango, Obatala, etcetera are also worshipped. Babalawos nko? Dem dey there too!!
Even local delicacies are well represented, take for instance the utterly scrumptious
fried bean cakes called ‘akara’ here, in Bahia, ask for acaraje instead!
