Arma Veirana 2022 Season Post 5: A Tale of Discrimination

 

            This is the tale of Babalola, the final member of our team to arrive, and the shameful discrimination he encountered during his travels and attempts to join us here in Erli. 

At the airport in Malawi, after passing through security and trying to board a plane with tickets purchased by HOMER (Human Origins and Migration Evolution Research consortium) at ASU, an agent of Ethiopian Airlines refused to let Babalola take his seat on the plane. She sent him to another agent who told him that Nigerians are scammers, and they know his documents are fake. When he offered to let them speak to Dr. Jessica Thompson, ASU IHO alumna and IHO Research Affiliate (now at Yale University) who directs the Malawi Ancient Lifeways and Peoples Project, they told him they didn’t need to speak to anyone, he can’t tell them how to do their jobs, and his papers are fake. They told him to see immigration, who said his papers were fine and told him that the agents can’t keep him from boarding the flight… but it was too late and he watched his plane fly away. 

He headed back to the Ethiopian Airlines office where one of the agents called the police, who said they didn’t understand what he had done and why they had been called in, but they escorted him out of the office anyways. Two days later, after Babalola spent countless hours at the Ethiopian Airlines main office in Malawi asking for explanations in writing about why he could not board and speaking to unhelpful managers and agents, an agent from the airlines finally called Jess Thompson to assure her he could fly, but when he returned to the airport they treated him much the same and he was refused boarding. Finally, with a lot of outside pressure and phone calls he was allowed to board, but the airline messed up. They did not give him a “ticketed” ticket, they simply changed his reservation in the computer without giving Babalola a passenger number or flight number. So, when he landed in Rome (getting through customs easily with his genuine Visa, BTW) and needed to switch to another airline, the new airline didn’t have a “ticketed” reservation for him. And so, he entered limbo: Alitalia telling him they needed a ticket from Ethiopian Airlines and Ethiopian telling him it wasn’t their issue, he was now flying a different carrier. In the midst of this new mess, he missed his flight to Genoa. 

This situation was totally unnecessary, harmful, and horrible. It should never have happened. Getting Babalola to us took teamwork. On the Malawi side, Jess has set up a network of contacts: people at hotels, drivers, media contacts, etc. which provided a safety net. She was able to funnel funds to support him until he left Malawi. An Ethiopian HOMER student gave a tremendous amount of time and effort calling Ethiopian Airlines speaking in Amharic. This is the only way we were able to get actual flight numbers. This saved us! This student began the HOMER rotation after Babalola left, so they never met. Yet, this student said they were happy to make phone calls because, "We are all a team here." 

On the Italian side, Jamie and Caley, our collaborator, colleague, and friend Dr. Fabio Negrino, and Alex, our Italian PhD student at Yale, made calls to the Italian consulate in Nigeria, the Nigerian consulate in Italy, Ethiopian Airlines in Rome, and Alitalia Airlines in Italy. All this work resulted in no information because at first, we didn’t have flight numbers. Jamie, Caley, and Alex decided to drive to Genoa to wait for Babalola at the airport, wasting 2 train tickets previously purchased for him, hoping he would arrive on the only flight record we had, but still not knowing if he left Ethiopia. But he didn't arrive. After waiting anxiously at the airport and checking in at the train station in case he headed there, our Ethiopian HOMER student in Malawi was able to confirm that he had in fact made it to Rome and was booked on a flight to Genoa in the evening. So why did he miss the original morning flight?

The answer came to us in the form of a cryptic email from a man named George at the Rome airport. This complete stranger was the friend we needed, he confirmed Babalola was there and asking for a train ticket, which concerned us since we were at the airport in Genoa trying to find him. Later in the day, once he was off his work shift and at his own house, George called to explain the situation: Ethiopian Airlines had booked his flight but not ticketed it. So, back and forth Babalola went between the Alitalia and Ethiopian offices, missing his morning flight to Genoa, and unsure if he had an evening flight. George selflessly worked to correct it and called to inform us what was happening and that Babalola had a flight to Genoa. And so finally, we were united at the airport!

                  

                                                

From left to right: Alex, Jamie, and Babalola identifying a tooth in the lab. Babalola's focus is geoarchaeology, but he has seamlessly integrated himself into our faunal analysis lab work.