My Village

I wanted to show everyone what it’s like to travel to my village.  It takes about 6 hours in a car to arrive to my Lagos to my village Abari. That’s like driving from Minneapolis to Chicago

In the video it shows us on a boat. We have to take a boat to get to my village because at the time I was traveling home it was during rainy season. And the water makes it impossible to drive there so you have to travel by boat. Our rainy season last for about four months June, July, August and September.

I enjoyed traveling to the village because I got to see where my family is from and where it all started from.

Afianzuwah Warri Nagberi

GRANDMA

This week marks the one year anniversary of my grandmother’s death. It was a hard event in my family, and harder still to deal with. I remember one of the last times I spoke with her face to face. She was unable to really walk and stayed mostly in her room, which was hard to see because that was so different from the woman I had known her to be. I went to her, hoping and praying for a return of her health and strength, but knew the odds weren’t favorable. We talked for a bit, and at the end of our conversation, I asked her to give me a middle name (something I legally do not have) and she said “ToboKeye”. This means Golden Child, I’ve already spoken/blogged about the importance of names in my country and culture, but this had a much more significant meaning to me personally. It not only came from my grandmother (a respected and loved role in our family dynamics) but I also resounded in me a desire to live up to that name. I knew that I wanted to and would live my life that would make proud each and every day. I will honor her through my interactions with my family, friends and community, be it my home or school community. I will be the blessing she named me to. We all miss her, the pain hasn’t really gone away. But my brother, wiser than his 10 years would have anyone believe, said at the start of the week “The show must go on” and it has, and it will with my grandmother looking after us/me.

  

              

Maria Afianzuwah Warri Nagberi

(March 25 1923- April 30th 2014)

Summer Internship

Summer Internship

 During my summer I can say I had mixed emotions upon my whole internship. The highs were great but then the lows made me rethink my decision if I want to carry on or just give up. The internship changed my view on how we Americans think is a luxury life and what a luxury life in a foreign country is.

What did I like? 

When it comes to foreign countries, what is there not to like. The knowledge I gained from observing people all throughout my trip is priceless. From watching the little boy who was about seven years old selling fish to the eighty-nine year old woman selling soup from her kitchen, it was obvious to me that Nigeria is the land of opportunity whether the rest of the world believes it not. Another thing I enjoyed was how welcoming and loving the people are.  It made selling the cars both easy and sad at the same time. I wanted to get the work done fast but I didn’t want to leave when the job was finished.

 What I didn’t like?

The weather had a major impact on my internship experience. During the time I was in Nigeria, it was the rainy season. Twelve months out of the year, it rains for a period of three months straight and I happened to be there at the same time the rains started.

Another thing that I didn’t like was the language barrier I experienced while working with some of the people. I need to work on learning more languages so I can not only interact with a greater variety of people, but to more effectively and efficiently make the sales. Also, the traffic in the city is horrible and made it very hard to be able to conduct business on some occasions. It was hard because you are only able to do one thing a day and the commute time was often very long.

The communication from Minnesota and Nigeria was another complication. I say this because the time zones are very different as Nigeria is six hours ahead of Minnesota which made keeping in contact difficult. Talking to friends, family, and my work had to be done late at night, often around two in the morning.

Another thing that was bothersome to me was how much money I was spending. The cost of living in Nigeria is very expensive in most areas, and quite frankly pretty ridiculous if you ask me. Every day I had to buy food and gas for the generator, just for the power to work in my home. I felt like I was putting a full tank of gas in my car every day. I even had to pay to talk to my mother and family because in order to call to the United States, I had to buy a phone card. When I left Nigeria, I got a phone call saying a local food stand missed me because he gained over three thousand-two hundred naira a day from me (which is approximately twenty U.S. dollars).



Clothing

Nigerian Clothing for women

1.Buba is a loose blouse that reaches down a little below the waist. 2.Kaba is basically a single-piece dress, which can have different styles. 3. Iro is the bottom part of clothing, which is a rectangular piece of cloth that is wrapped around the waist 4. Gele is a headgear. It is a rectangular piece of cloth that be tied in different ways to give different looks. 5.Iborun or ipele is a scarf that is either tied around the neck or just can be put diagonally across the body.

http://www.jumia.com.ng/traditional-mens/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ7Ug6Mv5Fs

Nigerian Clothing for men

1.Buba is a loose shirt that goes down till halfway down the thighs.

2.Fila is a traditional cap.

3.Sokoto is the pant or trouser, which covers the lower part of the body.

4.Abeti-aja is another type of cap, which has longer sides.

5.Agbada is a festive clothing comprising buba and sokoto.

Nigerians put on a range of clothes, which include both traditional and western dressing. They take pride in wearing their traditional attire. Clothing is a significant part of the ceremonies. In the North, Nigerian dresses are primarily worn to work. However, in the south, western attire is more predominant. People wear suits, skirts and blouses, baseball caps and other dresses.

The media on Nigeria

Media against Nigeria

Do you believe that the media is always accurate? Do you think that maybe they stretch the truth? Everyone has their own personal feeling about the media. Some people usually find themselves displeased at the way the news portrays different countries, situations, and even global figures. Some people are provoked by topics that are rather controversial and repeated on in the media. The purpose of the news is to try to inform the public about things going on around the world or even in your backyard. When I watch the news, I get angry at how they try to portray other countries in a negative way. I strongly believe that the media in the United States has been destroying the name of the country Nigeria.

To begin, Dateline did an hour show bashing Nigeria, saying that the country has the most scammers, calling it “419” which means fraud, and that the country is filled with criminals. The problem that this brings is being a Nigerian myself many people may have a bad first impression of me because of how the media has bad portrayed and in a way bad-mouthed my country. Another way on how the media portrays Africa as a whole they always mention how they're assisting the starving kids in Africa. I believe before one begins to say they want to stop and help people in Africa, the United States media should focus more on the people and issues they themselves have. As the media continues to do this, it makes the remaining countries look bad when in reality the United States itself is having major problems of their own. An example of the media brain washing people is when one is watching TV and a commercial along with sad music takes over the screen, wanting you to donate money to a child starving some place far out of the US. But, the US itself has over 36.3 million helpless people starving in it's own towns, cities, and states all throughout the nation. However the media does not want their secret leaked to the public.  

Not only my own culture, but many more have been and currently are being missed represented for the things they don't possess rather the positive things they do. media. Though it holds true that everyone has a right to an opinion, this becomes unethical and uses negative and exaggerated "truths" to project onto other countries rather than our own. With this, you may leave a relatively bad impression in people’s minds and one that will stick in many peoples memories for ages. Informing people about the negative aspects of a country isn’t wrong, but I do believe there are different approaches that the United States media should be taking rather than solely the negative points of view. 

Top Ten favorite things to do in Nigeria.

Hello fellow students, and welcome to this weeks addition of the Nigerian blog! In this  post I will laying out my top 10 favorite activities to do in Nigeria! If you are ever in Nigeria check out some of these top places to enjoy your time.
http://www.lagosoriental.com/
http://lagospolo.com/

1.  Eating Suya (spicy grilled meat) best to enjoy with a cold Star or Heineken

2.  Visit Fela Shrine ( music god)

3. Lekki Conservation Centre

4. Elegushi Beach

5.  ShopRite Shopping Mall

6. Appa amusement park 

7. Stay at Lagos Oriental Hotel

8. Party at Spic Route or  Prive lounge

9.  Eat at Mega Chicken

10. Visit Lagos Polo Club

The importance of a name

How did you get your name? Did your parents just pick a random name, or did they put some thought into naming you? I have always wondered how people come to have their names and I find many of the reasons and meanings behind them to be varied and quite interesting. In my Nigerian culture, the naming of an individual is an important role and aspect of the beginning of the person's life.  Each of my five siblings have significant meaning behind their names.

In the Nigerian culture, it’s important to choose your child’s name wisely as the family is majorly influenced by each newborn's name. Separately, each child brings respect to the family’s name, and each is believed to be born with different attributes which makes the prospect of choosing a name an essential part to the family structure.

In most cases the parents will call the elders or grandparents who will have a list of boys and girl’s names ready .This list typically contains three names of each gender from the list from which the parents will decide the best name that they believe will be best suited for the child.

I was blessed to be named after my Godfather. The meaning behind my name is “good living”. Knowing this, I always strive to lead a blessed and successful life, trying to better myself each arising opportunity. This applies, also, to all of my lovely siblings. We embrace our names one hundred percent.

Ebifemare-Beautiful blooming woman.

Alaere- Important woman.

Ebitimi-Good living.                                                    

Ebiere- Good woman.

Oyointarimobere- God’s lovely woman.

Pereowei-Rich man.

http://www.anngel.com/ACIJ/history-naming.htm

http://www.ijawdictionary.com/menu/ijawnames.php