HE looked unassuming yet humorous, insightful and sharp. Even though I had never met him, I was honoured by his invitation to me and my colleague for a dinner.
He graciously welcomed us into the humble abode of his wife with a broad grin, saying, “Zakaria, na wow! Oga, make you com in.” “Eeei! who taught this white man pidgin,” I mumbled to myself. I was later to know that our host had lived in Nigeria for several years.
Mr Gerd Meuer is a retired German journalist with astonishing stories to tell the world. For almost 50 years, the veteran journalist had journeyed across the globe and reported from the various continents: bringing people’s miseries, challenges and success stories to light through the powerful lenses of Television and the fountain of the pen.
When I asked him about the number of African countries he had covered, he simply said, “Never mind Zakaria, 48 of the 53 countries…...” What always caught my attention as we chatted was his amazing retentive memory. Even in his advanced age, his ability to remember the names of countries, towns, villages, cottages and hamlets he had visited with such abundant ease was marvellous.
For instance, when I told him I was from Ghana, he mentioned the names of places, people and their backgrounds as if he had lived in the country for several years.
He even went further to talk about Tamale, where I come from in Ghana, and told me about familiar places he had been to in the city.
Aside from his African experience, Mr Meuer had also worked in most parts of Europe, the US, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific.
Apart from his native German, Mr Meuer speaks and understands many languages, including Spanish, English, Dutch, French and what have you. The thick tall man is no stranger to Africa. Indeed, he had been a student at the Ibadan University in Nigeria in the 1960s.
He had also been a long associate of the celebrated African Writer and Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature, Professor Wole Soyinka. They are still close pals.
Among the organisations the veteran journalist had traversed were the German Pubic Radio and TV System (ARD), Swiss, Austrian and French Radio. He had also worked with the BBC, the Irish Radio and Radio Pacific in the US.
The veteran journalist had freelanced for several newspapers, weeklies and journals in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, among others.
Mr Meuer is also described as an excellent translator who has translated many literature works into several languages. He also moderated and facilitated workshops in many countries.
He was born in the Rhineland in Germany in 1941. He studied English and French Literature. He also studied Political Science and Sociology at the universities of Bonn, Berlin and Aachen in Germany, Caen in France and Ibadan in Nigeria.
On the state of the media in Africa, Mr Meuer expressed concern over the dwindling fortunes of journalism in some parts of the continent, saying “Some of the articles I read from the papers nowadays lack depth and are not analytical enough; most of the brilliant journalists who used to write for Nigerian newspapers, for instance, have all left; no, it is too bad.”
As we prepared to part company after a sumptuous dinner, I was honoured with a precious book that is autographed by Professor Soyinka and other prominent personalities. The title of the book is “Journeys around and with Kongi-half a century on the road with Wole Soyinka.” The book is written by Gerd Meuer.
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