I have been rehearsing this evening in my head for weeks, not because I’m shy, well…maybe a little. But mostly because I genuinely wanted this to mean something. I’ve been in America for a few months now. Long enough to know which supermarket has the cheapest eggs, long enough to stop converting every dollar to […]
At some point, I stop crying, not because I’ve accepted my fate. I think my body simply gets tired, there’s only so much panic one person can produce. I am still sitting on the floor beside the bed, the expensive carpet beneath me is wet from my tears. I don’t know how long I’ve been
There is a strange kind of silence that exists only after someone tells you they may have accidentally stolen eight hundred million naira. It is simply the silence that follows the realization that everyone in the room has begun calculating consequences…Mine included. I excused myself from the conference room before anyone could ask me what
If there is one thing adulthood has taught me, it’s that responsibilities don’t pause simply because your life has become impossible. My rent wasn’t going to pause because dead people had started following me. My electricity bill wasn’t going to become spiritually sponsored. My boss definitely wasn’t going to accept, “Sorry sir, I couldn’t finish
Lessons I Didn’t Expect to Learn from the World Cup. Now, before some of you roll your eyes and say, “Ria, please don’t start talking football,” relax….This is not really about football. Football simply volunteered to be today’s classroom. The lesson is about life. By the time the World Cup reached the third-place match between
I don’t know how I got here. One minute I was at the police station, the next minute I’m standing on a bridge. Cars are passing behind me, people are driving home, somebody is laughing somewhere, and life is still happening. How strange, the world didn’t stop. It should have. Mine did but everybody else’s
I have been thinking about houses lately, not because I suddenly have billions of naira to spend (unfortunately). No.I have been thinking about houses because of something I read about South Africa. In the middle of all the protests, the anti-immigrant sentiments, and the fear, there were reports of Nigerians and other African immigrants abandoning
I have been thinking about bride price, not because I am getting married tomorrow, Nigeria and I already have one complicated relationship; I am not looking for a second one immediately. But the subject keeps finding me.A conversation here.A marriage story there.A woman quietly saying, “He changed after the wedding.”A man loudly saying, “I paid
There are marches.There are threats.There are people being told to leave. There are reports of businesses shutting down, people fleeing, and fears that violence could erupt against foreign nationals. Human rights groups and aid organizations have warned that both documented and undocumented migrants have been caught in the anxiety and displacement surrounding the protests. Now,
I wake up smiling, the kind of smile that happens before you even open your eyes. For a few seconds, I don’t know where I am. The sheets feel too soft, the room smells expensive, the air-conditioning is so cold that I pull the duvet closer and then I remember. My smile grows wider.Oh, right.