I cried!
I have just had a huge argument with my housemates...white european students. And i cried!!!!! I cried out of frustration. We argued about the dearth of social policy on the continent, Dafur, corrupt politicians, Darfur, poverty and AIDS, Dafur and all the other ills that besiege that continent.
I cried because i know it is true. I know that our politicians are corrupt and foolish. I know that the AU sit by why people die in Dafur. I know that our politicians sit by why the Niger-Delta is ravaged and plundered once again!I cried because pensioners die everyday of hunger and disease. I cried because deep down inside i could not answer the question if this had anything to do with the people or the leaders. I cried because i had only this morning seen the awful pictures of the same people we have entrusted our futures to at the so called thisday concert. I cried because i am not doing anything about it. Am i going to end up like every other Nigerian boy my age who comes to the UK for education? Marry a local white girl beneath my standards who likes me for my exoticness and the brown babies i would give her? Become a second class citizen, paying tax on everything and and paying allegiance to the very monarchy that plundered my nation for so long? What do i do?
I can't even talk on my own country because i am not there. I am not a part of that society anymore. I could not live there, i could not believe in it, i could not adapt to it. I refused to adapt to it. My detachment similar to most across the continent explains our dire status on the world stage!! What do i do?
What do i do?
8 Comments:
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I recently told a zimbabwean friend of mine about my disillusionment with life here, and her consolation was: "You think Nigeria is bad?? try Zimbabwe!!!" It's amusing that when africans get together, we start competing for the "most fucked up country" award.
It is saddening, and the problems are so many, and so big you often feel like you can't do anything to change them. I feel you on being detached: there comes a point where you start to say, me first, screw everyone else. Don't know whether this is encouraging, but lots of people feel the same way as you. We just have to somehow contribute to improving things at home in whatever little way we can come up with. For some ppl, its moving back, for some its supporting change initiatives in Naija from abroad. For others its focusing on their own lives and dealing with all the demons they accumulated growing up here (let it be said). Don't despair.
Thanks a lot everchange, it is sooooo frustrating..especially when you argue on the loosing side!!But you are right, we have to forge on. As the nigerian saying goes, e go better!
you decide. don't put yourself in a victim frame of mind.
no one is forcing you to marry any local lower class person - black or white. you won't marry your househelp in nigeria, so there's no reason to choose a chav just because she is white.
as for everything else - just don't give up.
at the end of the day, none of your white friends can do anything about darfur either. and they should look at what their government has let loose in iraq.
africans need to stop dividing each other. when will we learn?
Ngozi, thank you very much for your trully thoughtful comment. You are right about the Iraq reference as it is true, however; my concern really is the detachment that seems to be prevalent on the whole continent...how long will it go on for?
You are right. When will it end? It's really embarassing that I'm afraid to go back and take up residence in my country. My OWN country is "dangerous". A foreign country is SAFE. Bodies lie in the streets of Lagos for days at a go. As a young girl in Nigeria, I was petrified. I don't know if i can ever adjust to living in Nigeria. Have been in the States for 10 years now. When i ask, is it getting better, Nigerians retort "It has gotten worse! Much worse!!"
We shall overcome! Somedaaaay...
You are right. When will it end? It's really embarassing that I'm afraid to go back and take up residence in my country. My OWN country is "dangerous". A foreign country is SAFE. Bodies lie in the streets of Lagos for days at a go. As a young girl in Nigeria, I was petrified. I don't know if i can ever adjust to living in Nigeria. Have been in the States for 10 years now. When i ask, is it getting better, Nigerians retort "It has gotten worse! Much worse!!"
We shall overcome! Somedaaaay...
You are right. When will it end? It's really embarassing that I'm afraid to go back and take up residence in my country. My OWN country is "dangerous". A foreign country is SAFE. Bodies lie in the streets of Lagos for days at a go. As a young girl in Nigeria, I was petrified. I don't know if i can ever adjust to living in Nigeria. Have been in the States for 10 years now. When i ask, is it getting better, Nigerians retort "It has gotten worse! Much worse!!"
We shall overcome! Somedaaaay...
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