TWO WORLDS APART

Part 1; Nigeria 🇳🇬

It was the 1st term of SS1 (grade 10 in the USA). You see here in Nigeria, a child starts kindergarten as young as 2. Their belief is that a child needs to learn to be up and doing from a very young age. So by the time the child would have been 6, he or she would have gotten pretty used to the idea of schooling....

" Hey Tiwa, how are you? How was your holiday?" Tiwa is my best friend

Here in Nigeria we call summer breaks 'holidays'

" Damini. It wasn't fun at all... my holidays were filled with loads of house chores, I mean you can't stay one minute in that house without someone saying 'Tiwa wash those dishes , sweep that floor do this ,do that "

I laughed inwardly

"Yeah, I know that. Why do you think I don't like coming to your house? It's 'cos of your Ma of course "

"I know, no surprise there. I really can't wait to go to university... I'm fed up "

" But you'll miss her cooking. You and I know you can't cook"

"Shhh.. don't say it out loud" she warns me

You see here in Nigeria , it is a disgrace and a taboo for a woman to not know how to cook. Let's just say it's one of  the criteria for finding a good husband...
I mean I've seen lots of white guys who are totally cool with cooking for their wives.. whatever the hell happened to gender equity?

" Okay . Just know when you go to university.. you'll go hungry a lot of times due to your lack of kitchen finesse "

" There you go again with your big words, what in the world is 'kitchen finesse?'"

" Just a word I picked up during the holiday "

" Okay" she said teasingly

I want out of this country for a number of reasons, you see here in Nigeria, there are rules. Rules that you have to follow so you won't receive a good number of spankings ...
allow me to explain;

In Nigeria, you do not wear makeup to school . Especially when you're still in high school,it is forbidden . You cannot even wear makeup as little as mascara..

There was this funny instance when a girl applied a lot of lip gloss, we were having our assembly ( I don't know if you guys do it there. It's sort of like home room but with all the students in the school ) then this female biology teacher walks up to her and tells her to clean her mouth 'cos her lip gloss was too much, in front of the whole assembly...
the girl blushed so hard out of embarrassment, you just couldn't see the blush because of all the melanin.

So in any case, you don't want to get embarrassed, then you follow the rules .

There was also an instance when another girl was called to the staff room ( teacher's lounge) 'cos they thought she applied mascara, they wouldn't believe her, so a teacher tore a paper towel for her and asked her to clean it.. my guess is that that female teacher was jealous of the girl's long lashes... I know it is a thing of envy , 'cos long lashes totally rules.

Here in Nigeria, you don't not wear wigs to school you either wear your natural hair in cornrows or you tie it up with wool... then you can begin to dabble into wigs and attachments when you go to university.

It was as simple as that.... though a lot of girls broke those rules of course especially the makeup rules . Some people couldn't simply wait till university to explore makeup ... because they saw wearing makeup as a sign of maturity.

Not to mention, wearing a school uniform was a must... you don't wear your uniform you get called up on the assembly to hold the pillar and get beaten with a cane called 'pankere' by the principal or you get sent home.

You dare not talk back at a teacher in Nigeria. It's considered rude and means you lack home training...
The rule is to be a nice little child ,take all the insults from adults even though you're right while you grumble inwardly.

Oh lest I forget.... another issue is the 'boyfriend' issue..
You see parents here frown at the idea of having a boyfriend, especially at an early age. I see other nations especially uk and USA having boyfriends as early as 11, if I'm not exaggerating.
I learnt that you do not have a boyfriend at an early age and I learnt it hard.

Well, it happened when I was in Jss2( the 7th grade) not to brag, I'm beautiful. No dispute .My mum told me stories when my babyish cuteness has got people to be more nicer and generous to her.
Whenever she wants to meet a person that was proving difficult and dislikes her, my mum always took me along when I was a baby . And the moment that person sets eyes on me... then all anger towards my mother would be forgotten. I was her lucky charm, though she would never admit it to me

So back to my 'boyfriend' story. There was this guy who had a major crush on me, but I ignored him because I knew the moment my mother found out I was having 'boyfriends' then all hell would break loose.

This moron dropped a love letter in my bag pack, without my knowledge. I mean sorry to say this, but this guy would eat the head of his pen and stare at the roof during tests but he could right a love letter of about 3 pages, what a waste of talent.
That day was the day mama decided to check my bag pack.. I don't know I guess luck wasn't just on my side that day.

She got so furious. I tried explaining that I knew nothing about the letter. But guess what she would have nothing of it. Apparently she attributed the reason for guys having crush on me to my beauty and hair. And she did something about that beauty. She had my head shaven clean.
She thought that if I didn't have hair then boys wouldn't look at me not to talk of having the audacity to write a love letter to me...

She wasn't being wicked it was her way of protecting me from the harsh claws of hormone driven boys . But then, I thought she hated me .

I willed my hair to grow miraculously overnight 'cos I had school. I applied a butt load of hair cream and brushed my hair till my scalp hurt... but of course it didn't grow.
Let's just say I was the topic of discussion for 2 weeks..
I cried to my best friend Tiwa, when that moron (David. The letter guy) told me that I looked like a homeless person.
Tiwa told me that he was a douche bag and that if he really liked me like he claimed, then my appearance would mean nothing to him.

As we proceed, I'll chip in stories about my country..

Guys so this is my very first chapter on 'Two worlds Apart' I hope you like it..
Your comments will be highly appreciated ..

Busybee20💋💋