 Hi everyone Thank you all for coming and thank you to Litquake and thank you to the library I think it's particularly apt that we're having this conversation in the library, which is one of the few remaining public spaces that remains Unsegregated socially and economically and I think that's very important. So thank you I'm going to read a piece that I wrote last month and I'll Entitle it for the purposes of tonight January's people On election day, I flew out of San Francisco to London The last time I'd done this was on the eve of Brexit and as with that flight Many passengers were nervously checking mobile devices before takeoff We were informed that the pilot had decided not to announce election results for fear of a mid-flight Eruption But for those who cared to check there would be intermittent internet access one passenger took this as his cue to preemptively declare a winner and As if further proof were needed of his Trump allegiance. He proceeded to make crude passes at the flight attendant Hours later when he let out a celebratory yelp and pumped the air with his fists. We all knew who had won You're in my country now a British woman snapped at him as we landed I'll give a fuck. He laughed. I can do what I want When you're a star they let you do it you can do anything I recalled Donald Trump's lines from the infamous access Hollywood tape As we disembarked I scrolled through text messages from friends expressing shock disbelief and to please one Sarah, please don't fly on an election day again and the second may God have mercy on us I'd been worried for months that the American election would go the way that it did and I'd written about it Drawing on the Nigerian expression shine your eyes in The hope that we might all see more clearly the inequalities and the ever-growing disconnect between established parties and the electorate Having grown up in Nigeria and Kenya, I've witnessed how quickly democracies can unravel I've seen the appeal of a big man promising to make a country great and I've seen how these men stay in power by muscling the press intimidating the opposition and Rigging elections with or without foreign aid But the fact that I'd foreseen America's election result didn't reduce my shock upon hearing it Having arrived in London. I lamented the election results with friends all the while aware as with Brexit That we were busy lamenting in gentrified parts of London The fact that most of us could jet from one city to another Immediately marked us as different to many who felt left behind by globalization and their governments I would later meet two men both part-time Uber drivers struggling to make ends meet Who believed in Trump's self-proclaimed business smarts and expected him to rule America well But even their admiration for Trump was not without reservation All of these things Brexit and Trump said one who was Nigerian are the shakings of end times They are the fulfillments of the book of Revelation May God have mercy on us. I muttered I'd come to London en route to Abeikuta, Nigeria to attend the Ake Arts and Book Festival Where authors and attendees continue to speculate about the reason for Trump's win Some of us took part in school visits and when they had missed us to the school that I visited Learned that I lived in America. She shook her head in sympathy We'll pray for you. She said Which sounded like something Americans used to say about the rest of the world? Brexit and Trump's win had not only ushered in political reversals But these results were reversing the way the rest of the world viewed Britain and America With people in so-called Third World countries pitting us Nigeria had its problems Yet Nigerians were offering those of us living in America a place to stay if need be By the end of November my despair at the prospect of a Trump presidency had deepened Despair at his twittering and flittering away of what remained of the world's precarious peace And despair that for all his talk of making America great and we won't even go into the again bit Social and economic divides would only deepen An accountant friend of mine recently transferred from Harari Zimbabwe to St. Louis, Missouri said You know from the movies you picture an America where everyone has it easy And then you get to the place and you see that so many people seem to be struggling There's no denying that America's failed many of its citizens and that out of desperation people look for saviors in America these saviors had emerged as Bernie or Trump With parallels in other parts of the world if not politicians then charismatic religious leaders And I sat next to one such leader leader When flying out of Lagos I Watched as grown men prostrated before him their hands clasping his shiny red shoes Calling him daddy One such admirer informed me that I was blessed beyond measure to be sitting next to this apostle known for his miracles and prophecies and Then in the midst of my despair I too was drawn to a savior figure At the beginning of December. I met Pope Francis I'd accompanied my husband to a meeting of business leaders in Rome And it was in this context that we were granted an audience with the Pope. I Listened to the Pope's words to the way. He was holding the CEO's accountable, and I felt relieved He said in Italian Involve in your efforts those whom you seek to help give them voice listen to their stories learn from their experiences and Understand their needs see in them a brother and a sister and a son and a daughter a mother and a father Amid the challenges of our day see the human face of those you earnestly seek to help The Pope's humility and his emphasis on human dignity touched me and yet As I dwelt on his words It struck me that what I heard might be similar to what others heard in the lines of Trump's victory speech Every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer as Humans we need hope We also need leaders in Pope Francis. I saw a man whose life reflects the ideals he espouses and whose integrity and humility are befitting of a leader I Returned to America with a little less despair and a flicker of hope Knowing that there are some world leaders who walk their talk and whose message is not driven by political expediency or a hunger for power My flight back coincided with another election But this time when I landed Austria's far-right presidential candidate had lost and snap