With week 3 of quarantine in full force, I think I’m starting to forget that there is life beyond the walls of my home (read: bedroom). Looking back at this photo diary and even while editing the photos I can imagine the struggles I thought were trivial back then. Everything from having luggage go missing at Lagos airport to adjusting to village life during the Christmas season – we actually spent the ENTIRE 24-hours of Christmas day trying to drive out of Lagos state towards the east (a whole blog post is required to elaborate the trials of a Nigerian flying home).
Overall the two weeks spent in the village brought new meaning to “Detty December” – if it wasn’t having to wipe down and sanitize every inch of our home in the village which had not been inhabited in the four years since we were last back, it had to be the dust that swirled up at the slightest hint of wind.
The upcoming photos depict some very common scenes in a village setting in eastern Nigeria. I will follow this up with a village survival guide so please enjoy the pictures (I’m told I wrote too much in the last photo diary so we switching it up!).
Okay, okay I tried, at least let me get away with providing context to some photos. If you’ve been back to the village during Christmas time, you’ll know there are a ton of events going on. Interestingly, my village bans all funerals from December 15 – January 15 so that people coming home will have more joyous celebrations to attend.
So what do you do when you can’t plan a funeral? You plan a wedding… lots and lots of weddings. Y’all every weekend was someone’s traditional or white wedding, I won’t go into details on the difference between them but in summary: get dressed, come hungry and prepare to dance!
My favourite parts of being home were of course getting to see family, eat and MAKE different traditional dishes, and surprisingly building networks and meeting young adults like myself whose roots trace back to Oraukwu but have moved away to larger cities, states and out of Africa.
Another Christmas highlight, or should I say PTSD-trigger, were the numerous masquerades roaming the village. I’m not sure the exact history or meaning behind them but each masquerade is unique. As a child I remember the trauma of being chased by a masquerade right into my own home. Some of them are known to carry canes and will literally flog passersby until they are given money – take a look through my Instagram Oraukwu highlight for my up-close encounter with a masquerade!
Images are a combination of iPhone and DSLR photography, edited in Lightroom with my absolute favourite Travel Blogger Presets – as you can tell I have more than one favourite in the pack and could not stick to one haha!
In summary – a worthwhile village experience. I look forward to more trips home, perhaps solo next time around.
Thanks for stopping by!
ANTHONIAxo
Great images, looks like you came ready for Oraukwu because you’re serving looks. Can’t wait for the survival guide post!
Author
😂 you got it hands down! The excess luggage definitely gave me away.