The Train Ride

It happened again.
I stepped up to the train rails and as I waited a man came up to me and said "hello! Where are you from?" I'm thinking oh no! Not again! He was clearly an African - that comes with a certain familiarity that lowers my guard. I smiled and said "Uganda". I thought that was the end of it.


He reached into his bag and pulled out a leaflet. "If you don't mind, I would like to invite you to my church". The words "Winners Chapel" caught my attention. "Ugandabekiddingme!" Alarm bells went off. The little I heard about WC in Uganda was how shall we say? Iffy? Anyway, I said thank you and thought that was the end of that.
The train arrived, I found a place to sit and the gentleman came up again. "Can I sit next to you? I promise I will not bother you!" I couldn't get my self to say "er no thanks! Please find a seat somewhere else" I said it was ok and thought that was the end of that.
He handed me his business card and as it turned out our offices are across from each other. I thought "oh boy!! This is going to be a really long ride".

We were engaged in small talk about "home" - when the man sitting across from us jumped in. "Excuse me, I couldn't help but notice you're from Africa. Where do you come from?" My travel buddy chimed in "Nigeria". Super delighted the man said "I gave my daughter an Ibo name, we call her Chinue. As it turned out my travel buddy is Ibo, so his excitement was doubly visible. He went on to explain how "Chi" in Ibo meant God and it was only part of a longer name.
"It's an interesting story" the man went on to say. "When we were expecting our second daughter my wife said she didn't want to have another "Christ..." name so I asked one of the nurses in the hospital - she was from Nigeria, she suggested the name Chinue. It means Gods own blessing. I want to visit Africa, it's on my list. You see with slave trade and all we lost our roots with the motherland. Do you speak the local dialect? Yeah, that's so cool because all we know here is English".

People have the most interesting stories. It's easy to get to know ones life story once the right mood is set. I see how Humans of New York does it.

Anyway I was glad our new buddy had so much to say, I retreated to mind my own business. My travel buddy started talking about his church saying "If you are searching - God is here!" "The word of God is spoken here" He was quite excited. Then they went quiet and we were not even half way the journey.
Then he turned back and asked what I did.
"It is important for us to be excellent and deliver. Don't leave room for doubt" he said.
If nothing else, that was a good nugget for the day.