2 Weeks Until Nigeria – The Best and the Worst

 

Back in March I briefly mentioned a little bit about planning a trip to Nigeria and since then my plans have come very far. I am leaving for Nigeria at the end of this month and I will be there until the middle of July, which is about (let me calculate) a good (long) six weeks!

 

Right now, I’m in the kitchen, with the windows wide open, typing on my laptop and listening to Lauren Hill on Pandora…I should probably be bringing out my suitcases so I can begin packing, but this week I just completed the last of my AP exams and I just feel like doing nothing but reveling in the beautiful spring weather.

 

So yaaaaas, Nigeria! It feels very surreal. I haven’t been to Nigeria since I was three - an experience of which I have no memory of! So basically, I’m going to Nigeria blindly and without any expectations, but I’m very excited because I have finally been given the opportunity to go – something I’ve dreamt of for as long as I can remember.

Even greater than just an opportunity to travel, this trip will serve as my high school senior project for which I will be creating a film. I plan to document all the things I see, do and lean as well as all the people I meet.

 

As this is my senior project, all the effort to make this trip happen rests solely on me (yes they work us hard in school!), including raising the funds to make it happen (part of the senior learning experience).
If you feel inclined to help make this film as great as possible, I have set up a funding raising account where you can sponsor my project by donating as much or as little as you want. If you do, I will be eternally grateful :) and your name will appear in the credits of my film under sponsors! The link bellow will take you to the page where you can support me and learn more.

http://www.gofundme.com/takeme2-Africa

 

 

For those of you that have been listening to the news, you may have noticed that my trip correspond with a time of great difficulty in Nigeria; on April 14th , over 200 school girls were kidnapped by the Boko Haram - an Islamist extremist group, and have still not been returned. My mind can’t even conceive what this  really means because it’s so foreign from anything in have ever experienced, but because these girls are around my age and are from a place I am about to go to,  I feel a bit of the pain that their kidnapping has caused. People have questioned if it’s wise for me to continue my trip to Nigeria at a time like this, but I could think of no better time; when a nation is faced with the worst, people tend come together at their best. If you look around you can already see how this is happening one a global scale as people have started movements such as the #bringbackourgirls campaign. Going to Nigeria  I’m going to have a firsthand look at what people are coming together to do.

 

Nigeria is a place of depth and culture and I am soooo ready to experience it for myself. The countdown has begun, TWO WEEKS… AGHHHH, maybe I should start packing…

 

Love and Light