Cultural
Experiences Worldwide!
When you think of America, the first think that comes to
your mind is the saying, “Land of the Free and the home of the Brave!” We are
considered the country that everyone wants to come too and make a better life.
America is now consisted of people from countries, cultures, and ethical
backgrounds. Everyone’s journey in life hasn’t all taken the same path. The
life journey of Ego Ndukwe has taken a lot of twists and turns. Through it all
she has found away to adapt from one culture to another and blend them
together.
Mrs. Ego Ndukwe is the
person I chose to interview because she comes from a very different background
that I’m accustomed too. She is the owner of the company I work for and she
also incorporates her culture’s traditions in our everyday work place Mrs.
Ndukwe is a native of Nigeria, and has been in America for the past 30 years.
Mrs. Ego, on a daily basis expresses the difference between the African and
American cultures. Though she states that there are some similarities, most are
differences. She states that the Nigerian culture has multiple ethnic groups
which speak over 50 languages and 250 dialects. Her culture also reflects
African, Islamic, and European influences. The term subculture is defined as a group of people with distinct cultural traits within
a culture or society. (Ashford Library, Wordbook Dictionary Advanced,
2010) She is from the Edo people, who are
dominant in the region between Yorubaland
and Igboland. Mrs. Ego is also a wife, mother, daughter,
grandmother, business owner, counselor, and friend.
In a life that has taken Mrs. Ego down many roads, some
good and some bad. Her earliest childhood memory is of her father and brothers
coming home from hunting in their village. Ego, who is the middle child of
nine, recalls her father and siblings returning home with three warthogs. She
then described the role of both the men and women after a successful hunt has
taken place. The men, after killing the animal, return the kill home to the
women. The women, at this time, prepare the water for them, so they can skin
the animal. After the skinning and the gutting, the women begin to cook the
meat. She also explains the different rituals that took place while the meal
was being prepared. She said that they sang numerous songs and her father and
uncles continue to show their sons different ways to hunt for someday, they
would have to provide for their own families. Ego goes on to explain that
Africa is nothing like how it is portrayed on television. She says that
everyone has the perception that they run around with no clothes on like
untamed animals. She elaborates that most of the time when you see that, there
is some kind of celebration going on.
When Mrs. Ego entered who teenage years she was married
at the age of 14. Her marriage was arranged by her father, although she was
playmates with her future husband. Ego continued to live in Nigeria for the
next six years. Two of those years she was without her husband, because he had
left for the United States and would send for her when he could. At the age of
20, she migrated to Dayton, Ohio. Mrs. Ego then discussed how she felt as an
immigrant in a new country. Being an immigrant, African, and a woman, she said
she felt like a total outcast, not only from whites but from fellow African
Americans. She explained that she knew it was going to be challenging, but
certain things she endured from different cultures were unbearable. She
described a situation where people treated her like she was unintelligent just
because of where she was from. She stated how thankful she was it was only she
and her husband. If she had kids at the time, she would've considered going
home at certain times.
In
migrating, she had to get adjusted to several things to get accommodated to her
new country. The first was the geographic and climate change. She went from the
average of 90 degree weather, to a cold city of Dayton, Ohio. She recalls the
first time she had ever seen snow. She expressed how cold and amazed she was by
it. Another was the use of public transportation. In Nigeria, everywhere she
needed to go, she walked, so having this was considered a luxury to her. Ego
then reveals her first couple of times riding the bus, she got lost. In riding
the bus, she noticed the different other cultures that were here. She knew to
expect whites and other blacks but what about Hispanics, native Americans,
Asians, etc? In discovering the numerous other cultures that were here, she
realized the difficulty she was having when it came to communication. She recalls
that in her country people from different tribes and villages came together all
the time to socialize. She noticed that here in America mostly everyone stuck
to their own kind. By people acting this way, it made it hard for her to reach
out at times.
As she began to get adjusted to her new culture, she
realized that getting a better education would only help her. She began
attending a nearby technical college, where she took special education classes.
She explained education between the two countries is treated differently. You
become educated in Africa, so you can have a better chance to succeed when you
migrate here in America. This is considered an ultimate goal. Compared to the
American culture you have more of a choice if you want to further you education.
Mrs. Ego also realized by getting a better education, it would help her
economic status. By making more money, she would be able to send money back
home to her family. Although she says that her family wasn’t considered poor,
her economic status was a little better here. She was surprised to learn how people
here took education for granted. In Africa, they had to jump over many hurdles
just to get the basics of a decent education.
As she worked on bettering herself, she then began to
encourage her husband to start doing the same. He was working two jobs to
maintain his family and also to send money back to Nigeria. She had a
conversation with him about how they were considered the minority and they needed
to do everything they could to succeed. This was important to her because she
knew they wanted to start a family soon. She didn’t want to start one, if they
were considered to be struggling. It was at this time, she started examining
the differences of success between the two cultures. You’re considered a
success in Africa, if you grow up get married and have a large family. She
noticed that was the equivalent of poverty here. When you’re considered poor
here, people look at and treat you differently.
One of the things, Ego enjoyed most about the move to the
states was the different aspects of religion. She feared that her religion
(Christian) wouldn’t be accepted here. She discovered that there were followers
from various types of religions. In her country, you really didn’t have a
choice of what you were going to be. Here in America, there are many places
that you can go and worship, you just have to find whatever suits your needs.
It was amazing to her, that people of different religions was able to still
live together as one society. In having a conversation with her mother at one
time she informed her about the different religions she was surrounded by. Her
mother, told her not to communicate or become involved with these people in any
shape or form. In Africa, people of different religious background don’t
associate and some are even at war.
Family
customs was also something that she found intriguing in the American culture.
In both the American and African culture the male is still considered the head
of the household. Ego embellishes on the roles of women in the households. In
Africa, women basically do what they are told and they basically play a minimal
role in decisions of the household. The husband finds a suitor for the daughter
and makes all major other decisions. Compared to America, there is a little bit
more equality for women here. A woman has a chance to pave her own way here.
She expressed how she adopted the theory. That didn’t go over well with people
from her native land. They felt as if she was forgetting where she was coming
from and evolving into someone else. To her, she was adapting to her new
culture and society. This hurt communications on many levels for her, family,
and friends.
In making the transition between countries, her biggest
problem was catching on to the English language. Though she had learned the
language over in Nigeria, she had problems grasping meanings of certain words
once she arrived here. She comes from a place where they are so many different
languages and dialects. The English language is considered a minority there.
Once arriving, she explained how nervous she was to talk. One of the reasons,
once they heard her accent they would know that she was a foreigner. Also, she
still had problems pronouncing certain words. At one point, she became so
insecure when trying to communicate with others; she chose to write down most
of her comments. Ego then came across another problem! That was she also
couldn’t spell the language that well. What eventually helped her was she began
helping new American friends for help of words she found to be difficult.
English is a West Germanic
language that comes from the Anglo-Frisian dialects
brought to Britain by Germanic invaders from various parts of what is now northwest Germany
and the Netherlands.
Initially, Old English was a diverse group of dialects,
reflecting the varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms of England. Ego, mostly spoke
the Niger-Congo language. The language consists of in central and southern
Nigeria; the main branches represented in Nigeria are Mande, Atlantic, Gur,
Kwa, Benue–Congo and Adamawa–Ubangian. Mande is represented by the Busa cluster
and Kyenga in the northwest.
Lastly, Mrs. Ego shared
with me the differences of everyday life between the two cultures. One
difference is marriage between a man and a woman. She stated that Americans
will not hesitate to get a divorce. It almost considered a sin and a curse to
do such a thing in the African culture. She feels that people don’t actually
mean the words that they say when they get married. This plays a big role in
communication between the two cultures because an African might not marry
American feeling they may leave at any time. She feels that in the past
marriages stuck together unlike today.
Another is Africans didn’t
really care much for African Americans. She stated in the past Africans had the
perceptions that African Americans thought they were better than them. She
stated that was ignorance on her part. She thought that they didn’t know where
they came from. She didn’t realize African Americans are American and they
shouldn’t have to act any different. Today she realizes if you’ve never lived
in Africa how are you going to act African.
Her last difference was
how the two cultures treat their body. She states that the African does things
on a regular basis to purify their bodies. She feels that American cultures
just got on board in becoming healthier. For years, they have been doing things
to tear down their bodies. The body has always been considered a temple to the
African culture and the Americans are just starting to realize the importance
of that.
Final thought, no matter
what you may think of your life, someone else’s also has many ups and downs.
Adapting to a different culture isn’t always easy; it’s whether you have the
heart and strength to do it. Mrs. Ego’s life is very intriguing and it just goes
to show the limits one will go through to become a success in life. Life is
going to deal you many hurdles in order for you to obtain your dreams. It’s up
to you to decide how bad you want it!
