Dreaming Out Loud.

      

   I once was asked,

  'If you have the opportunity to be any where in the world right now, where would it be?', without thinking about it I blurted out a delightful 'Nigeria of course!'.

     At that time I didn't really pay much mind to the sincerity of my answer or the puzzled look on my friends face who obviously thought I was crazy for taking an imaginary blank check and cashing it on Nigeria and in such a good mood for that matter. ‎As I walked away I knew that beyond the surface struggles that the country had dealt me, there was always something tangible enough for me to keep holding on to. A nation of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. I have seen potential, cooking in the enthusiastic eyes of children as they march to school on cool mornings with slighty big bagpacks hanging on their backs, in my country there is growth. I have seen men and women bend their backs in the mid day sun to earn a living, collectively raising the next generation, in my country there is strength. 

     The ability to fall a thousand times and rise a thousand times more, I have seen resilience, even in insurgence, where people are not afraid or ashamed to build from scratch, unlearn to learn... Nigeria. Home of my mothers, land of my fathers, birthing place of my brothers and sisters, the hammers that beat this hot iron into fine steel. 

 This is one place where I can breathe... no matter what happens I know that a neighbour can become family and that no matter where I find myself be it Oyo or kaduna, Niger or Enugu, Lagos or Plateau state I will always be at home... in my country there is unity. So yes I would take my chances with Nigeria because even now I understand that  although life has been tough in my home country, I still have dreams here, afterall this was where each one was made...