Helges
tells of the possible reason why anyone could easily assume his
closeness to the root of Africa. “We have similarities in the culture
between our two different countries. Both Nigerians and Brazilians are
very happy people. We like making friends. We like talking to people. We
are more out-going. We, that is Nigerians and Brazilians are more
relaxed than people from other countries. I think Nigerians and
Brazilians makes friends more easily. We enjoy inviting people to our
house; our notion of family is more extended. I think that even here in
Nigeria, your notion of family is even more extended than what we have
in Brazil. That notwithstanding, I think and believe that we have a lot
of similarities between both countries.”
He speaks
further on this: “You also have to remember that Brazil has a very
strong African influence. You can see that we have two religions in
Brazil ‘Candomble and Umbanda’ which are both based on Ifa and they are
very popular in Brazil. The followers of these religions to this day,
still chant and sing in Yoruba, although not all may know what they are
singing. It is like when in the olden days when people used to attend
the Christian Mass which was prayed in Latin. You know the people just
followed the mass in Latin replying the prayers in Latin even when they
didn't know what they were saying. But that was what they were taught
to do and that was what made sense to them.
I think the
same thing happens in Brazil with the people who still sing and do the
enchantments in Yoruba. It is these religious that are also part of
Brazil lifestyle and you would even see Brazilians who do not have
African descendants, practising these religions and understanding them.
The Orisas are very well known in Brazil. Almost all Brazilians know the
main Orisas and what they stand for. However, not all the Orisas have
crossed the Atlantic Ocean! Some have only stayed here in Nigeria but
Yemoja, Oshun, Sango, Obatala, these are names that when you mention
them in Brazil, people already know what you are talking about.
Asked where
his knowledge and deep, rich Yoruba accent comes from, Helges
re-adjusts his sitting position on the office sofa and chuckled. “Yes, I
am very conversant with the language, culture and history of Nigeria
and especially the Yoruba people. As I told you earlier, to us in
Brazil, it is also part of our culture, we do not see it as something
that comes from abroad, or something strange, we see it as something
that is Brazilian. When you tell somebody in Brazil that Yoruba culture
actually came from Nigeria, a lot of people become even more fascinated
with the idea. I recently went to Osun-Osogbo, where I saw the festival;
I saw a lot of Brazilians there. You may not have noticed it, but
Brazilians, are one of the few people in the world that love Nigerian
culture, and sincerely want to come to visit Nigeria. If you talk to
people from other countries, you will notice that sometimes, they are
not as fascinated by Nigerian culture as Brazilians.
The young
diplomat shared his experience at the recently held Osun-Osogbo festival
with us when he was asked how he felt when he saw Brazilians and
Europeans and others wearing the Yoruba aso ebi, “I do wear native
Nigerian clothes” he replied. “Most are actually gifts from friends.
They know that I enjoy and cherish traditional culture a lot. What I
usually tell people here is that, if you don't know your past, you don't
know who you are. You are lost and have no way of planning your future.
We in Brazil know that we are a developing country as well. “Ofcourse
we want to be a rich country, a developed country, but we do not want to
be like Europe or United States, we want to be Brazil, but we want our
people to of course have access to more resources. And I think the same
thing applies to Nigeria. And in order for that to happen, you need to
have a very clear understanding of who you are, where you come from, and
your current situation. So I think it is very important to cherish
these traditional cultures. And that’s what you have so much in Nigeria.
Everywhere,
there is so much culture here. Which I think can be economically
explored. For instance there are these Brazilians who despite all the
bad things that are being said about Nigeria, they keep coming. There’s
kidnapping here, there’s fraud, there are scams, some say the airport
sometimes does not offer enough security, but despite all that these
Brazilians still come here. That is how strong your country is. I often
say this to Nigerians that you have a treasure which I think sometimes
that you do not care much about: Which to me is very sad to tell you the
truth, especially after the huge, fascinating experience that I had at
Osun-Osogbo!”
Since
Yoruba culture is so popular in Brazil, does he eat Nigerian foods?
Helges felt teased. He laughed and then began, “now you are touching a
very delicate matter,” he laughs again. In Brazil we eat akara, but then
in Brazil when you say akara, it is a food offered as offering to
Orisas and the akara you eat is called akaraje. Don’t forget that eat in
Yoruba is je. So what we have for eating is akaraje. So when you travel
to Brazil, you can eat akaraje especially in Salvador where there is
strong Yoruba presence and I love to eat akaraje in Brazil. Of course
here in Nigeria, it is one of the foods that I like eating. I also like
pounded yam (iyan), I know that some Nigerians may feel sad when I say
this but the truth is, I don’t like egusi soup that much.
.
But how
about the local ogbono soup and other Nigerian soups, does he eat them?
“A-haa,” says Helges, “yes, I eat other soups. Usually when we go to
people’s houses and they serve typical Nigerian foods, we don’t have a
problem with it. But like I said, I don’t like it when it has too much
strong flavor or when the foods are too spicy! What I usually tell
people is that, I am Oyinbo but not very Oyinbo!”
From his
disposition, it is obvious that culture attracts Brazilians down to
Nigeria, but what on the other hand does Helges think Nigerians to
Brazil?
“I think
that currently we have different types of travelers from Nigeria to
Brazil. We have a lot of people in academia: A lot of professors,
students too travel to Brazil. We have a program for graduate and
post-graduate scholarships to Nigerian students who may want to study in
Brazil. It is an interesting program that has been in place for quite
some time now. Every year we have candidates which we select from. It is
based purely on merit. You don’t have to know any governor or any
politician. If you are a good student, we want you to come and study in
Brazil. So we have the students and professors who travel a lot, but we
also have businessmen who travel from Nigeria to Brazil, looking for
opportunities either to import or export or to invest. We also have a
lot of people who are associated with Ifa here in Nigeria who travel to
Brazil to see what or how Ifa is practiced there in Brazil through
‘Candomble and Umbanda.’ The Ooni of Ife has been to Brazil in recent
times and he is always sending people back and forth; same with the
Alaafin of Oyo.So we have a strong cultural connection between Brazil
and Nigeria and I think that spills over into other areas.”
One could
not help but ask Helges about inter-marriage between Brazilians and
Nigerians? “It’s very common too,’ says Helges. “We see mostly Nigerian
men marrying Brazilian women. The other way around is not very common.
But we see a lot of families of Nigerian men and Brazilian women. Some
of them live here in Nigeria, while some of them live in Brazil. To us
in Brazil, we are very used to mixing when it comes to marriage. We have
people from different countries mixing together in Brazil who are part
of our identity just like religion, which we do not even identify as
being foreign but something that belongs to Brazil. So I think that one
of the aspects of our society in Brazil is the ability to integrate, to
mix. If you go to Brazil you will see that everyone has a little bit of
everything: a little African, a little native, a little European, a
little American and so on. That is what Brazil is, a mix of different
ethnicity, different cultures and so on. It is very common to see
families of Nigerian-Brazilians over there.
Helges
Samuel Bandeira, the Brazilian Consul General would love to travel all
over Nigeria. If only that could be possible! “No,” he confesses. “I
haven’t travelled a lot to tell you the truth. There is a lot of work to
be done here in the consulate in Lagos. I try to be very diligent with
all the visa applications and with our fellow Brazilians that are here.
So I don’t travel a lot unfortunately. I have to stay here to oversee
all the operations and make sure that everything is running smoothly,
correctly and accordingly to the law.”
Ordinarily,
one expects or has the impression that most Consul Generals are not as
young as Helges, the Brazilian Consul General looks, but Helges has a
good explanation for that, Hear him: “I was assigned to Nigeria as the
Deputy Consul General but with the departure of the then Consul General,
I became the Head of Mission. That’s why I am the Acting Consul
General. It is true that most Consul Generals and Ambassadors are older;
but I think it is the reflection of our society. I think that things
are changing. Even here in Nigeria, I mean Lagos; there are Consul
Generals and Heads of Missions that are younger. I think it’s good
because we the younger ones might not have experience like the older
ones, but we allow ourselves to be more involved in all of the
operations and we are willing to do things ourselves, to put our hands
to work. Whereas when you progress more at work or in your career you
already expect other people to do things which you could normally do
yourself. Which I also think is understandable and is correct. A senior
embassador is not going to interview everyone that comes to ask for
visa. But I do that myself! If I think that somebody does not have good
intentions for the trip, I interview the person myself. I want to know
why you want to go Brazil, what you want to go and do there, your
intentions because we want good people to travel. And I think that is
important even for Nigeria. All consulates have to be very selective
because if we allow bad Nigerians or people that have bad intentions to
travel, that will give Nigeria a bad name.
“There are
good people and bad people here, just like anywhere in the world. But if
only the bad people are traveling, the image that the country will have
abroad, will be bad. That’s why I cherish so much when we receive
information from other people that a particular person or persons that
has applied for visa is not genuine. It’s always so nice when other
Nigerians tell us that this company that is intending to travel doesn’t
mean any good. We often receive such information from other Nigerians.
And I think it is good and equally important for good Nigerians to
travel abroad and see other countries.”
We told
Helges that an interview with him cannot be complete without talking
about carnivals which Brazil is popularly known for. At that, Helges
once again came alive, reacting positively just like he would to the
beats of African drums and African songs. He laughed heartedly and
began, “carnivals are great moments in Brazil, and as a matter of fact,
we hold parades in all of our cities and everyone is happy. I often tell
people that in our carnivals, it is usually clearly easy to see strong
African influences. We did not learn to play the drums with the
Europeans. So when you hear the drums in the carnival, when you hear the
Samba, of course, you can trace the African origin!
Helges
again confessed to us that one of the things he misses out here is the
Brazilian carnival. “Yes, I do miss the carnivals! That’s something that
everyone participates in. Of course again, when you are much younger,
you participate more actively. Right now, I am not a big party goer. I
stay more in my house with my wife. I watch the carnival on television. I
miss carnivals. I enjoy carnivals as a cultural expression but can’t
participate very actively these days.
Just like
carnivals, Helges relishes to talk about football. His eyes lits up and
his body gestures play out naturally as he talks about football which he
calls soccer.
“Well, you
know I am a diplomat (laughs)! So I have never been athletic to tell you
the truth. Of course soccer is our national passion. Whenever Brazil
plays, I am usually also in my jersey like most Brazilians when the
country’s football side has an international engagement. At such
moments, I am always cheering for Brazil. When I was in the Headquarters
in Brazil, at such time, we used to get together with friends to play
soccer. But on a very laid back atmosphere. Even in family gatherings in
Brazil, it is very common to go to play. In Brazil, we like eating meat
a lot. So we eat barbecue and go play soccer with cousins. For me, I
play on a laidback and unprofessional way (laughs).
About his
work in Nigeria, Helges says, “it has been really challenging. My duty
majorly here is to separate the wheat from the chaff. And to allow the
good Nigerians travel and have good experiences abroad and made sure
that the bad ones remain here.”
He says
that when he moves around Lagos, especially Lagos Island, he feels
impressed and fascinated by the Brazilian culture that has been
preserved over the years by Nigerians who were once in Brazil but
returned back to Nigeria.
“I think it
is also important to note that some of the Yorubas that went to Brazil
came back and to this day we still hear of Brazilian first names and
last names here in Lagos. We also have different associations here who
want to protect the history of the Brazilian descendants which I also
think it is very fascinating. It is also fascinating that when you walk
around Lagos Island, that there are still some traditional Brazilian
architecture left. I hope that the Lagos state government can preserve
whatever is left there because as I told you earlier, a people without
history are a people without a future.”
As the
interview drew almost to an end, Helges showed to us, pictorial photos
of some of the cities in Brazil, he also shared with us his feelings
about some Lagosians with popular Brazilian names or those who seem to
have affinity with Brazil in one way or another, and how he reacts when
he meets such people.
“Well, they
are Brazilians! They are my brothers and sisters of course in a way.
When I talk to such people or walk around Lagos Island see those
familiar architecture, I feel at home so it’s really fascinating to see
this movement of these people, who have been there and came back and
still preserve their history and even helped to build what Nigeria is
today and even what it will be in future. I truly want to thank
Nigerians for all their warmth, kindness towards me and my wife. We are
very happy, we are always well treated. We hope that as with the
Brazilian government we can help you and you can as well help us, so
that we can have our both countries reach development together.”
