My Trip to Naija! I (May 23-27 and June 6-8)

This was my first time to Nigeria and my mom's first time in 27 years! We spent the first few days in Lagos State with my aunt and some cousins. Then we headed off to Rivers State for a few days to stay with my aunt and little cousins, before going to Abia State to see my people in the village. I tried to keep it low key, so I didn't take as many pictures as I would've liked.

Ikeja, Lagos State

When we first arrived at the airport, the first thing I noticed was that the houseboy had on an Eminem t-shirt. A lot of the young people in Nigeria are into the same music as Americans, hip hop, pop, reggae, etc. Everybody watched American Idol (which I never watch in the States) along with West African Idol and text-messaged their votes. There's also Nigeria's Next Top Model.

Lagos is the former capital, which means that some places are beautiful and some places look really rundown. Like any big city, the streets are crowded with buildings. Life is not easy, so you'll find a lot of vendors, peddlers, and "hustlers" (including little kids) crowding the streets and chasing down cars, bargaining and selling whatever they can: roasted corn and ube, cassava, phone cards, Ebony, Jet, and Ovation, toys, watches, you name it. You don't even have to leave your car.

Nigerians are of all shades, sizes, ethnic backgrounds, ages, etc. The diversity is very refreshing. (Even the fashion magazines reflect this, unlike American magazines that only have your typical stick-thin models.) In the streets, some dress contemporary and some wear traditional clothes. The traditional clothes are beautiful, made of lightweight cloth, in bright colors, with fancy, intricate patterns. I really wish I could've left with some traditional clothes. I'll have to save it for my next trip. All the women hook their hair up. If you want your braids done, fly to Nigeria! Just drive down any street and some woman is getting her hair did. Wigs, weaves, relaxers, naturals, cornrows, braids, you name it! (Check out the billboard. Cell phones are pretty popular. A lot of people have two or three phones.)

It seems like everyone in Lagos owns a car—or two or three, and it seems like everyone is driving at the same time. (On our last day, my cousins couldn't even say good-bye because they were stuck in a "go-slow" for five hours!) The right of way goes to biggest car that gets there first. There are so many motorcyclists and they really don't give a sh*t. They do what they want, like drive the wrong direction on the street. My cousins said if you bump one all of them will gang up and beat you to death. I couldn't figure out if she was just playing or for real. I felt safer in the plane than on the ground. I now understood why so many people hire drivers. Our poor driver was learning to drive a stick on those roads. I had several near-death experiences a day!

(Check out the billboard. That's the new president.)

This is my aunt's house in Ikeja where we spent the first few days. Like most big cities, there is hardly any green anywhere. Lagos is so overcrowded. Most people live within gated residential estates with more gates around their own homes with broken glass and wires at the top. Windows have bars on them, too.

The lady in the picture is my late uncle's wife. She came to the US when I was a baby, and she made AND KEPT the promise that she would carry me on her lap again before she died! She's seventy years old. (By the way, her house boy was fiiine!)

Before we headed to Port Harcourt, my aunt and cousins threw us a big family party. All of my cousins, their wives, girlfriends, their children, and some in-laws showed up. The food and drinks were delicious.

It's hot (Nepa's messing with the electricity again) but get your dance on!

Later that night, I went out with my cousins to a club on Victoria Island. Victoria Island has an interesting history. After emancipation in Brazil, many former Yoruba slaves returned to Nigeria. Many became elites. In some areas, the architecture reflects the African-Brazilian descendants. Igbo communities and secret societies still survive in some places like Puerto Rico and Cuba. There was a huge Igbo slave rebellion in the Gullah region of the South. I'm hoping to do some more research on Igbo diaspora.

In the club, they had a live band who sang some 70s disco, like Irene Cara (not my thing, but the girl sounded just like her) and then some Nigerian hits, asuka asuka! They gave me a hard time for being American. I had to be schooled on proper booty shaking.

I also met a guy with the same name as my dad. He changed his name and reintroduced himself before the conversation could proceed! (Isn't my mom a great photographer!)

My Trip to Naija! II (May 27-June 5)

Port Harcourt, Rivers State

Port Harcourt is another city, but not quite as big as Lagos. We stayed with another aunt and did little everyday things like go to the market, buy food along the expressway, and watch Nollywood movies on the Nollywood channel. On her street alone, there are like five or six churches. Church is like an industry. (They actually sponsor many of the Nollywood films, which explains some of the moralistic undertones in the genre.) Many churches have no doors in Nigeria, so you can hear those preachers shouting all day long on megaphones. The potholes on my aunt's street were no joke. If you fool around, your car will have no shocks in no time. My aunt lived in a cute little house with the same gated entrances and barred windows as Lagos, and she had adjacent apartments that she rented to tenants. We also saw coverage of the presidential inauguration. The show was huge and elaborate. I wish I could've taped it. The election was a big deal, the first handoff from one republic to another.

My little cousin is wearing the basketball jersey we got him in the pic. The toddler is cute, but BAD TO THE BONE. There he is already messing with my sh*t. The little girl is the housegirl. Many Nigerians have house help and drivers. (I'll say more about this later.)

This probably seems kind of silly, but it was my first time hearing a child with a Nigerian accent, since all of the immigrants I know are adults. The kids tried to speak English like me, hearing an American accent for the first time, and said, "Rrreally?" and "Yeah!" They asked me some cute questions: "You actually have to wash dishes in America?" Yeah. "Do you have hangers and rulers in America, too?" Yeah. "Of course, America makes everything." Well, actually, Japan makes everything. lol.

That's my uncle's apartment below. I met some more relatives and my mom caught up with people. We watched his wedding video. He had a traditional wedding and a Christian (catholic) wedding, as many Nigerians do if they can afford it.

I was forced to go on many dates! The third guy from the left in the lower pic is one of them. At least I got to see some of the city. The first pic is a local bar. It had an outdoor patio type of feel. It was very nice. They never knew what I was talking about when I would order American mixed drinks so I gave up and always asked for a Smirnoff, which tasted just like it does in America. Nothing else tasted the same except Coke. The second picture is the Presidential Hotel. All the big shots go there, including the president when he visits. We bought some cool souvenirs there. The third picture is the entrance to a university. The professors were on strike because of teaching conditions.

The fuel tank drivers went on strike, too, and so did the fuel stations, all protesting the presidential election. Lines to gas stations that actually had fuel were so long. And on the way to the airport in Lagos, many cars died along the way, causing "go-slows," as people tried to make it home from work. In Port, we had to live without the generator to save fuel. That is no joke. We had a running joke at my Lagos aunt's place. The ten month-old baby would always shout, "Nepa!" whenever the lights went out, his first word. That's how bad the light situation is. (Nepa's the Nigerian electricity company.)


This is my double-date. LOL. Two dates at the same time. Both work with my uncle at an oil company. They took me to a bar/restaurant. It was really nice with outdoor huts, tiki torches, and a live band. There were also little TV sets so you could keep up with your football (soccer).

My Trip to Naija! III (May 30, 2007)

Umuahia, Abia State

The most special part of my trip was going to the village, "the east" as Nigerians say it. There are stretches of dusty red dirt roads, clear skies, and palm trees leading to the villages. My mom pointed out banana and plantain trees, as well as pineapple groves, and cassava. Even if they're an annoyance, armed police checkpoints along the expressway make sure no one too militant is getting through. I had never felt so close to my roots before going to the village. In the village, the elders welcome you with open arms. In Nigeria, the custom for a lot of people is to leave the village and move to towns and cities to go to school or find work. When you retire, you return. For this reason, many people build homes, some massive, I mean gigantic mansions that they don't even live in unless they're visiting, usually around Christmas. (Up above is the Abia tower.)

Umuahia is much smaller than Port Harcourt or Ikeja.

My Mom's Village:

It had just rained, so the dirt was blood red where it was still wet. My mom showed me coconut trees she had planted as a little girl and the elders gave us some water leaf and coconut for the road when we finally left. My uncle (below) lives in the village now that he's retired. He used to be a science teacher before he become a principal. He has prostate cancer, but you wouldn't be able to tell by the picture. My mom, my aunt, and his wife are in the other pic. The last pic is one of the schools my mom went to growing up. She moved around a lot because of the Civil War.

Down below, that's my grandfather in the last one. I'd never seen his picture, so I had to take a picture of the picture. My grandfather lived in the house below when he retired from being a court bailiff. He was a chief. Those are his thrones. His house was one of the only with electricity back in the day. The relatives that live on the other side of the compound live in thatch houses and are much poorer. It was really sad to see the differences within the same compound.

It's a shame that nobody kept these houses up. It's mostly older people in the village nowadays.

My grandmother's grave is down below. My grandfather married three wives. She was the second with five children. My mom is the third child.
The Legend
My grandmother died quite young and quite suddenly, because of a medical mishap. She died the same day that I was born, but two years earlier. When I was born in the hospital, a nurse came in and told my dad his mother in-law was here to see the newborn baby. He told them it was impossible, but he followed her to the lobby, anyway. By then, she was gone. My parents believe her spirit visited me, so my middle name, Ogonnaya, means "father's in-law."

My Dad's Village:

My grandfather on my dad's side lived in this house below on the left. These are the remains of my dad's room, when he was growing up, on the right.



That's the river behind my dad's compound. All the kids in the compound grew up knowing how to swim. Depending on the season, it changes color. Right now it's red because of the rainy season.


That's my uncle. We're posing in front of the village hall. This is where big village events took place. This is the road leading to the village in the middle. The village women are making palm wine. I almost didn't get a picture. The one standing called me "city girl," (the only other time that I've ever been called city girl is in Nebraska) but she couldn't resist taking a "snap," and the one with the red scarf on said I could "snap" her butt. lol.
These little boys are helping out with sorting some beans.

Some Closing Thoughts:

I really enjoyed my trip. I met so many relatives. I love the family spirit and how respectful kids are to elders. Everyone is "auntie" or "uncle" regardless if they're related to you or not. House help call the lady of the house "mommy" or "madam" and the man of the house, "sir." There must be something in the water, because Nigerians don't seem to age. Everyone looks young and strong. Fellas, Nigerian women are the most beautiful. And whenever you go visit anyone, they always treat you to drinks and food just to be courteous. While in Nigeria I had foo foo, garri, jellof rice, snail (a delicacy), pepper soup, moi moi, beans, and more that I can think of now. My favorite was fried yams, plantains, and eggs for breakfast. Yummy! People always welcome you into their homes. You will always hear, "Illola" ("welcome") when you enter an Igbo home. (I probably spelled it wrong.)

While America has problems with racism, the thing that surprised me is how classist Nigeria is. I didn't realize how much social class matters, but it does. There are those who have--and have a lot--and those who hardly have anything at all. The situation with poverty is saddest for the children, many of whom are orphans and will never have the same educational opportunities that other kids have from more privileged families. In America, kids totally take compulsory free education for granted.

The little girl in the picture I said I'd say more about is a twelve year old orphan. As the housegirl, she did all of the housework and cooking. She would sing the Scooby Doo theme song as she did her chores in early in the morning, always trying to get a peek at cartoons while she worked. Her favorite cartoon is The Adams Family. The first day I arrived, this wiry little girl grabbed my suitcase and threw it on her back and came back for the second one and carried that one on her head. Sometimes rich families pay for their young house help to go to school as part of the arrangement, but not in every home. She only went up to primary three, which would put her around nine when she had to stop school and work full-time (meaning like sunup till everyone went to bed for the night), so she would try to study my cousin's primary two book. She sadly said that soon she wouldn't be able to read his homework anymore, that it was getting harder. She was teaching my two year-old cousin the alphabet, how to count, and his body parts in Igbo and English. She taught me a lot of Igbo words. She was sweet, but a little too boisterous and smiley for the kind of work she did. She was always in trouble. She'll always be my Little Orphan Uchechi.

So, Nigeria, along with fixing the lights, water, roads, oil industry, and corruption we especially need to look out for the children!

Things that didn't happen even though people tried to warn (or scare) me:

1). I didn't get mugged or get my luggage stolen.
2). No armed robbers attacked us.
3). I didn't catch malaria or typhoid or yellow fever. (Take the malaria medicine!)
4). There was no military coup or riot.
5). I didn't get bribed out of money by any officials!

Some things I'll do when I return:

1). Visit Abuja, the very beautiful new capital. (The election protests made travel to Abuja unsafe.)
2). Visit Victoria Island during the day, take some pics, and go to the beach.
3). Buy some traditional clothes and get my braids done there while I'm at it.
4). Bring Uchechi a pretty Sunday dress and bring my little cousins some toys.
5). Wear bug spray 24/7 and not eat any salads.
6). Fly Virgin Atlantic instead of Virgin Nigeria. We got stuck in London overnight and had to switch airports because they're connection system is sh*tty. Luckily, a Dutch Airways representative helped us so much. Thanks Carmen!!!
7). Stay in one of the fancy hotels for at least a night.
8). Go during Christmas when everyone's on vacation, so I can see some masquerades and parades.
9.) Try to find my uncle Emenike wherever he is in Lagos!
10.) Come back able to speak Igbo! EVERYBODY asked me if I spoke Igbo and then spoke to me in it anyway, even though they spoke English (or at the very least, pidgin), hoping I could learn it on the spot or something.

Question: Are there any Nigerian cartoons?