From Me to You: Nigeria - Vol. 2
Written: 06/12/2018
Well. This was intended to be my second reflection journal about my time in Nigeria as I leave it, filled with musings about what I learned, how I felt, etc. I'll add some of that soon, but first I must say that if nothing else, this trip is teaching me - and forcing me - to relinquish one of the things I cherish most; control.
As I write this, I am sitting in a lounge at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos at 12:30 PM local time. According to my travel plans, I am supposed to be on my flight to Accra currently. I was informed upon checking in for my flight around 10 AM, however, that they pushed the flight back to FIVE TWENTY PM and that I won't be allowed to board until 4. This is after a good portion of my necessary items were physically stuck in a dryer and I had to leave them where they were in order to avoid Lagos' notoriously thick traffic and get to the airport - at what should have been - "on time".
In short, these last five hours have been very out of my control and have triggered the worst modes of my irritation and travelers' anxiety, at one point threatening to damper my entire mood about my trip. However, a good friend told me around my birthday a few weeks ago that she believes this year of my life will be about relinquishing control and learning to make lemonade out of my lemons. So, I'm going to give that a try.
Well. This was intended to be my second reflection journal about my time in Nigeria as I leave it, filled with musings about what I learned, how I felt, etc. I'll add some of that soon, but first I must say that if nothing else, this trip is teaching me - and forcing me - to relinquish one of the things I cherish most; control.
As I write this, I am sitting in a lounge at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos at 12:30 PM local time. According to my travel plans, I am supposed to be on my flight to Accra currently. I was informed upon checking in for my flight around 10 AM, however, that they pushed the flight back to FIVE TWENTY PM and that I won't be allowed to board until 4. This is after a good portion of my necessary items were physically stuck in a dryer and I had to leave them where they were in order to avoid Lagos' notoriously thick traffic and get to the airport - at what should have been - "on time".
In short, these last five hours have been very out of my control and have triggered the worst modes of my irritation and travelers' anxiety, at one point threatening to damper my entire mood about my trip. However, a good friend told me around my birthday a few weeks ago that she believes this year of my life will be about relinquishing control and learning to make lemonade out of my lemons. So, I'm going to give that a try.
- Lemon 1: I am safe! My biggest fear on this trip was the time I would spend traveling between Lagos and Accra alone. Due to my seemingly West African appearance, I am often stopped while out or especially in airports on the continent upon my arrivals or departures and asked about my family origins because I appear to be native to the area. I'm generally fine, but the idea of navigating these interactions alone initially frightened me. Luckily, I've gone generally unbothered today, and I've found a nice place to sit and write.
- Lemon 2: Overall, I had a very privileged experience of Lagos. Though I wished at times to have seen more of the city, I was blessed to be given access to a plethora of resources and amenities that made my my stay more than comfortable. The family was extremely generous and hospitable and played a huge role in my enjoyment of the city
- Lemon 3: (Disclaimer: this lemon is a project lemon and not a life lemon). An extension of the last lemon...Though I didn't visit as many places as I wanted to in Lagos, observationally I learned so much. In Volume 1 of the Nigeria journals, I talked about the clear discrepancies in the dispersion of wealth that I noticed from the windows of the many cars I traveled in. As I paid more attention, I began to especially notice the numbers of children who weren't in school and were instead hawking on the road, working in shops, or simply walking alone in the middle of the day. This was the most striking as we rode on the dirt roads to visit Debiruss Schools; even surrounded by educational facilities, these children still did not have access to education. This affected my perception of my visit to Debiruss itself [click here for the link to the school blog! https://fttu2018.blogspot.com/2018/06/from-debiruss-college-location-1.html#more], and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit there, it was also clear to me that the educational experiences of my interviewees and the general student body at Debiruss was privileged. I think this observation and understanding was key and probably would have come anyway, but I believe that the visualization of it heightened my awareness and served as an experienced example for me.
- Lemon 4: Last lemon for now... the last full day I spent in Lagos was the busiest of the seven, with both my friend and I working on our respective projects and visiting sites, as well as having a splendidly made dinner with some of her family members, My last 24 (official) hours were some of my favorite of the trip, and were intellectually and appetizingly filled.
From Me to You,
Sydney
Comments
Post a Comment