The subject of this week’s Abroad Life moved to the UK eight years ago. She talks about choosing the wrong school, racism, leaving religion, and going the extra mile to make sure her sister wasn’t stranded.

How long have you been in the UK?
I’ve been in the UK for almost eight years. I was 17 when I got here. I was lucky to go to a secondary school in Nigeria where IGCSE was a compulsory final year exam, so I was already automatically qualified to apply for college in the UK. When it was time to choose, I had two options: the school where my best friend was, or a school in a different city. I chose the latter. Big mistake.

How was it a mistake?
Settling in was difficult. First of all, it was a very white school. I met two other Nigerian girls there and thought we would be friends, but then I soon realised that even they were different. They’d lived in Lagos all their lives, I’d lived in Port Harcourt. I thought since we were all Nigerians, we’d be able to relate to the same things and laugh at the same jokes. I was wrong. It was hard settling in.

Why did you choose to go to a different school from your best friend?
I wanted my own experiences. I didn’t want to rely on another person to cultivate the types of experiences I had.

Did that turn out well?
I don’t think it turned out badly, although If I could turn back the hands of time and make that decision again, I probably would have chosen to go where my best friend was. It would have saved me a lot of stress. One time, I even had to fight my roommate for being an absolute bitch.

I’d love to hear that story.
My sister came here after me, and we were recently talking about how there was a lot of underlying racism even we didn’t notice. It was bad. But as for my roommate, the racism wasn’t underlying. She was Asian and very openly racist. She would constantly talk about how, where she comes from, people that looked like me were constantly bullied and beaten. She told me about how she used to bully one mixed-race guy in her former school. And then one day, I was in the room watching a movie on my laptop when she came in with her other friends, turned on the TV and made it very loud. When I asked her to reduce the volume, she started saying all her usual trash and then took my laptop and flung it on the wall. I beat her ehn.

Damn. Did you get in trouble?
No, I didn’t. Whenever my mother was in the UK and visiting my school, she used to bring gifts for the hostel workers. You know how Nigerian mothers are. So they already liked me and just overlooked it. When the issue died down, the girl requested a change of rooms. She said she was scared that I would beat her again.

A queen. Did anything major happen in college?
It was in college I realised that religion is a scam. We were doing a course on antibiotic resistance in evolution and I thought to myself, “If microorganisms can evolve, why can’t we?” The concept of creation started becoming fuzzy to me. I talked to my friends about it and they all thought I was crazy. After college, I went to university and joined the Christian union. I was trying to give it one last shot.

One day a lady came to give a testimony. She said someone she knew was diagnosed with cancer, and that after they prayed and went for a new test, the doctor said she didn’t have cancer. She had been given the wrong person’s test result. It was just a mix-up. I thought to myself, “How is that a testimony?”

My parents are pastors. My mum has been disabled since before I was born and she still believes that one day, she’ll miraculously get healed. If she did, then that would be a miracle. I couldn’t see any proof that there was a God, or heaven, or hell so I just left it all behind me.

Continue: https://www.zikoko.com/citizen/i-had-to-strip-to-pay-my-sisters-rent-abroad-life/

Wonders

Richdee1:
Wonders

Shall never end.

Joro to joro

I regret reading this to the end