{"id":12839,"date":"2016-09-19T01:12:21","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T05:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/verastic.com\/?p=12839"},"modified":"2016-09-18T23:54:41","modified_gmt":"2016-09-19T03:54:41","slug":"but-is-it-safe-there-in-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/personal\/but-is-it-safe-there-in-nigeria.html","title":{"rendered":"“But Is It Safe There [In Nigeria]?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is part of the Verastic In Nigeria series<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m back from Nigeria (and still very jetlagged)! I came back on Saturday afternoon, and all I have been doing since is unpacking and sorting and eating and sleeping. I’ll start working on the videos this week, and I’ll publish my first one next week. But before I do, I want to tell you about the rubbish question that this woman asked me on the plane to Nigeria.<\/p>\n

I flew Lufthansa, and it was my first time flying it. I chose Lufthansa because they land in Abuja (which is closer to Plateau State than Lagos), and because their stopover time [in Germany] was not too long (four hours). I had a really pleasant time flying with Lufthansa, but that’s not what I want to tell you about. I want to tell you about this White American woman who was seated behind me.<\/p>\n

For the purpose of this post, let’s call her Jane. Jane was seated behind me with her two kids, age 3 and 5 (she told me), while her husband was seated next to me in front and there was an empty seat between us. They were moving to Germany for three years because her husband is in the military and Germany is his new post.<\/p>\n

Jane and I got to talking and I excitedly told her that I was going to Nigeria after being absent for 16 years. When I say that I excitedly told her, I mean that I was very, very excited to share this information. Jane cocked her head to the left, nose-squeezed, and asked me, “But is it safe though?” I was hot from the inside.<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> Well, it’s just like America.<\/p>\n

Jane:<\/strong> How so?<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> People don’t want to come to America because they’re afraid they will get shot.<\/p>\n

Jane (voice a little higher than usual):<\/strong> It’s not even like that!<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> Exactly.<\/p>\n

Her (two seconds later):<\/strong> Oh, I see.<\/p>\n

I am Nigerian. I am not ignorant of the problems my nation faces. I know that we are not where America is. I also know that we are only one-quarter of America’s age. And I am not in any way implying that we can use age as an excuse, nor am I trying to encourage bad behavior. But as a Nigerian and African living in America, I am so sick and tired of the single Nigerian\/African story. People look at us and our entire continent with pity because they think we are all dying and their\u00a0money is what’s keeping us afloat.<\/p>\n

On my About Page<\/strong><\/a>, I describe myself as a cultural ambassador, and it is exactly during moments like this one that I remember why I describe myself as that. Yes, Nigeria has a lot of problems. Yes, our youth get frustrated from lack of employment and go into armed robbery. Yes, we have a terrorist group called Boko Haram. \u00a0Yes, Nigeria has a lot of problems. But Nigeria is my country, and I will defend her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is part of the Verastic In Nigeria series. I’m back from Nigeria (and still very jetlagged)! I came back on Saturday afternoon, and all I have been doing since is unpacking and sorting and eating and sleeping. I’ll start working on the videos this week, and I’ll publish my first one next week.Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_14738191_14738191":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[561],"tags":[208],"class_list":["post-12839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal","tag-nigeria","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n"But Is It Safe There [In Nigeria]?" - 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