Cultural Immersion Project: Interview and Interview Reflection

1. 1
CIP interview
Student’s name
Institutional affiliation

2. 2
My interview was with a Nigerian lady by the name Abebi who came to the United States
to pursue her education. While she was in Nigeria, people identified her using her name but not
her skin color. However, her identity changed when she arrived in the US, where she was being
confronted using her skin color. She was then forced to navigate and learn about racism. When
she was the child, they used to attend various festivals where they would dance to their
traditional songs. Different kinds of food were also prepared for different festivals. The children
were taught to obey adults and were assigned various duties during those celebrations. There was
also a traditional that each ethnic group required to follow. Each Nigerian culture had its
tradition of dance and music, which made them celebrate their present and remember their past.
The dances and songs were played using trumpets, drums, flutes, xylophones, stringed
instruments, and pianos depending on the specific event and place.
The best and most challenges thing when growing up as a Nigerian woman include
adhering to particular traditions and being assigned a share of household duties. The children’s
responsibility increase as they grow up. As a young woman, Abebi was required to assist her
mother with fetching water, cooking and doing laundry. These tasks were designed to enable
children to become productivity member of the community and parents since everyone in
Nigeria is required to contribute to the society. All the young children were also required to
attend elementary school. After sending children to school, such families experience some stress
in paying for the supplies and uniform. Furthermore, such families lost the help of the child
around the house during the hour of schooling. Nigerian girls were also made to wear specific
clothing that symbolizes wealth, social standing and affiliation. For instance, the Muslims were
supposed to wear loose fitting and Long garments. Thus, it was a challenge for one to afford
particular kind of clothes associated with wealth class.

3. 3
Some of the challenges in Nigerian include corruption, unemployment, crime and
terrorism, infrastructure, gender, the environment as well as education and university system
issues. Corruption is the main cause of many problems of Nigeria. Corruption takes place in
many infiltrates and forms and in the majority of the economic sector and political institution.
Abebi experienced some of this challenges, where corruption had become common in the
education system, and children paid some money in exchange for clothes. All these challenges
can be solved by dealing with corruption first. Every person should report any case of bribery to
discourage this habit.
Abebi was proud of their national language, which unites so many people in Nigeria.
English is used as a national language where the majority of the citizen utilizes the language,
which has encouraged national unity. Most of the native languages have combined with English
that facilitates the interaction of many people using the common language. The interviewee
explained that she is currently holding religious beliefs of the Nigerian. She explained how she
believes that as Muslim lady, there are certain clothes she is not supposed to wear and there some
foods she should avoid. For instance, she believes that she should not apply makeups because it
is against their religion. The interview selected her father as a role model due to the effort he put
to educate her up to higher learning despite having little source of income.
Therefore, I have learned that various background groups have unique tradition. I have
also learned that children should be made responsible as they grow by assigning them some
duties. I was surprised to discover that even higher learning institution in Nigerian is affected by
corruption. I was attracted by the use of English as the national language to promote unity
Nigerian.