Nigeria

=Nigeria=

This shows the Obudu Plateau. Its surrounded by tropical rainforest, where annual rainfall is 60 to 80 inches a year.

Market Place media type="file" key="roni2.m4a" width="300" height="50"

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The sun shone through the cracks of the dome shaped mud house I laid in. My eyelids fluttered open and I stretched my arms wide. Excitement flooded through my veins. Today was the day Evie would show me the marketplace. I twirled my blonde American curls around my finger and yawned. I listened and heard many different sounds. Birds singing, splashes of water, chatter amongst the elders, and running children. ======

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I turned to my side and looked over at Evie. She smiled, "Barka da safe Lily" she said, which meant good morning Lily. "Barka kadai" I responded politely.Evie was 11 years old, as I was, and had pearly white teeth that showed brightly on her smooth chocolaty skin. Her eyes were big and dark, and her head wrap covered her shaved black hair. She wore long robes of scarlet and purple, with gold hoop earrings and bracelets. We'd become great friends since I had come to her village in Nigeria. ======

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I quickly got dressed so we could head down to the markets. The streets were crowded with people. Women carrying children, men lugging stands filled with boxes and children riding bikes. It was humid and little beads of sweat began to form on my hairline. I did my best to keep up with Evie as we shuttled through the clusters of people, but my legs were short compared to her long ones and I had trouble matching her strides. ======

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Finally we arrived at the area where many children our age were gathered. It was segregated boys on one side, girls on the other. My heart pounded and I felt venerable to these new customs I had yet to experience. All at once the boys began to sing. Some girls looked flattered and Evie explained to me that they were singing a song of praise, in which they described the charms of girls, and how each girl ranked among the boys in terms of desirability for marriage. ======

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One boy looked deep into my eyes, I felt my cheeks heat up. Then suddenly Evie grabbed my hand and us girls began a dance of our own. We twirled and made simple hand movements; I caught on quickly. Many girls had stopped dancing and stood next to a boy, Including Evie. Embarrassed I hadn't noticed, I searched around for the boy that had caught my eye before. In the corner he stood shyly, alone. I smiled and made my way over to him raising my hands in the air like the other girls had. ======

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I reached to twirl my hair, forgetting I had out in a wrap like the other girls, in a sign of modesty. We greeted each other and spoke small conversations in the little Hausa that I knew. He made a joke about America and I laughed, his name was Obafemi. He was charming. ======

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Soon enough Evie walked over, a sign that the time had come for us to head back to the village. We said our goodbyes and began the walk back home. I looked among the sunsetting and cherished the new experiences i had been given then chance to have that day. ======

By Roni Bowen

A New Sense of Home - media type="file" key="narrative.m4a" width="300" height="50"

I get off the airplane feeling the humid and dry air. My stomach rumbled from the lack of nutrition and only airplane food. I have finally arrived in Lagos, Nigeria with my family. I am with my father, mother and sister, and we have come all the way from California.

I can already tell that things will be very different here. As soon as I got off the plane, I immediately hear music playing from speakers around the airport. It’s a kind of music that I have never heard before. I asked an older woman at the front desk about the music, and she says that it is Fela Kuti, a very popular artist in Nigeria. She also tells me that next time I greet an elder that it would be polite to bow my head and wait for them to offer their hand to shake. I thank her for her advice and walk back to my family. My mom is mad that I left them so soon. I try to explain that I only wanted to hear the music that was playing on the loudspeaker.

She then says “I don’t want my fourteen year old son running around Nigeria asking people about music so next time ask me.” But I did not listen, as I was too busy looking at a framed painting on the wall of an African American women in traditional looking red dresses. As my family and I walked by it, I quickly looked at the caption below that said “Edo women.” I wondered what this meant and wanted to find out.

When we stepped outside the airport, several local women who looked like they worked at the airport offered us drinks. The drinks were in plastic cups with mini umbrellas coming out of the top. Before I could take one, my mother was right on my case asking if the drinks had alcohol in them. The women told my mom how most of the Muslim people rarely consume alcohol. Although my mom was hesitant, she let me accept the drink despite her respect for their culture and her preferences.

We were driven into the city of Lagos, which is also the capitol and we were dropped off on a street corner not knowing where to go or where to find our hotel. We wandered around Lagos for hours looking for our hotel. We were approached by many street vendors and others seeking money. I sometimes felt scared. But mostly, I was overwhelmed by the smells and sounds of Lagos. The smell of incense and the sound of people bargaining pervaded the air.

We finally found our hotel. It was not quite what I expected. There were many men dressed in uniforms at the entrance ready to help us get to the front desk. But, the hotel was not very fancy. However, when we finally got inside the hotel I felt very safe even though the room was very sparse.

After we settled into the hotel we walked around Lagos, which I found to be an amazing place. The colors were so vibrant and all of the people were very interested to know about me and where I came from. This one man said to me, “Would you rather be here or home?” His question left me speechless. I had no answer. While I loved my home, I felt a new sense of being in Lagos.

As soon as I told him this, he took my hand and led me outside the hotel, he took me to his stand where he sold jewelry and some of his paintings. They were amazing! He told me that I was the first American to say that to him and that he wanted to take me back to his village for a day which is called acaputi.

geography: This is where residents of lagos dump their electronic waste. this is located in a residential area right outside of Alaba market in Lagos. culture: This is a picture of Edo women doing a dance to a traditional nigerian song. culture: traffic in nigeria is an every day struggle for people in nigeria. as you can see, many cars and people are having traffic problems in lagos.