The Man from Africa: The Cultural Differences Experienced by an African Immigrant Living in the United States

By Christopher Osagie

In his memoir, The Man from Africa, author Christopher Osagie describes the cultural differences that he experienced when he moved from Africa to the United States. In spite of these differences, he adjusts to his new life and learns to appreciate the higher moral standards in his new country. From being a pest control technician to becoming a poultry specialist, he demonstrates the abundance of opportunities available to anyone who is ready and willing to work very hard.

In Nigeria, as in many other African countries, immigrating to the United States is a common dream. The United States is usually referred to as Gods own country because of the perceived limitless opportunities available to all those willing to work hard in order to achieve their individual ambitions. Consequently, Nigerians with successful careerseven established professionals, such as medical doctors, lawyers, and engineershave chosen to leave behind all that they have achieved in order to immigrate to the United States, where they believe they will have the opportunity to attain even more.

The Man from Africa was written to enlighten new immigrants from other countries in Africa and from all over the world about what to expect if they choose to immigrate to the United States.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Dec 6, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462067657

Christopher Osagie

Christopher Osagie is an African immigrant from Nigeria, West Africa. Upon arriving in the United States, he worked as a pest control technician. He is now working as a poultry specialist and is involved in agricultural development in other countries. He currently lives in Maryland.

Book preview

1

What’s in a Name?

African names reveal much about the person. I would quickly learn that American names do not.

For example, Joan Thatcher is a doctor of veterinary medicine at Penn State, where I was in the graduate program, pursuing my doctorate. While pursuing my degree, I worked as a poultry specialist for a livestock feed company. I had gone to meet with Dr. Thatcher because one of my client’s chicken flocks had high mortality rates, and we needed a qualified doctor of veterinary medicine to diagnose the cause of these deaths. I found it quite frustrating that all the veterinarians in the clinics near my client’s farm only focused on cats, dogs, horses, and cattle. I just could not understand why none of these veterinarians specialized in poultry diseases. I knew of John Foster, a seventy-year-old man who spent most of his time reminiscing about his days as a famous doctor of veterinary medicine who did, in fact, specialize in poultry, but his name does not indicate much about him; neither does Dr. Thatcher’s.

Consider George H. W. Bush, the father, and George W. Bush, the son are both former Presidents of the United States, and yet their names do not reveal much about them. The names of other famous people—broadcasters and journalists, such as Andrea Mitchell, Chuck Todd, Diane Rehm, Melissa Bloke, Mitchell Norris, John King, and others—do not indicate anything about them. I grew more and more curious about this. In graduate school I encountered American students with names like Jennifer, Thomas, Andrew, and Judy. As I got to know my fellow students I began to ask them about the meaning of their names; however, as much as I have inquired, no one has been able to tell me the meaning of these names or what they stand for. So, my question remains, What do these American names mean? Foster, Thatcher, Bush, Bloke, Norris, George, Melissa, Mitchell, Jennifer, Thomas, Andrew and Judy must signify something, but no one could tell me exactly what their names meant.

Let me explain more about African names. In Africa, your name reveals the region where you are from, the circumstances of your birth, and even the beliefs of your people. So, the name Mbeki indicates that you are South African, and if your name is Afrifa you cannot deny that you are Ghanian. Mr. Abiola is most certainly from Nigeria, as is Mr. Ikechukwu. Mr. Adebola is a Yoruba man from western Nigeria, while Mr. Okonkwo would be an Ibo from eastern Nigeria. If your friend’s name happens to be Alhaji Buhari, know that you would have to go to the Sokoto Caliphate in northern Nigeria to look for him. In terms of religious beliefs, Mr. Igbinosun worships a deity called Osun, and you would most likely find him near the river, making sacrificial offerings to the goddess of that river. You would definitely find Mr. Igbinosa at church on any given Sunday morning. If Mr. Ikpiha is your neighbor, be careful about how you talk about childless couples, because he was born after his mother spent a minimum of three years of marriage praying to the good Lord to give her a child. In Africa, three years of marriage without a pregnancy is a tragedy for the woman, whereas this is commonplace in the United States, as are childless marriages.

My full given name is Osagiemwangbon (Osagie for short), which means that the good Lord sent me into this world for a purpose. Upon learning the meaning of my name, you might wonder why my parents chose it, which means that you must not know that I was born during the Nigerian Civil War.

Perhaps my parents had not realized that going to the doctor for prenatal checkups, or to the hospital for the delivery, would be a safety hazard in wartime. Had they realized this, they might have practiced birth-control measures or abstinence during this period. In any case, they forgot that they were in a war zone—or ignored the fact—and my mother became pregnant. Instead of the routine visits with the gynecologist, my mother had to make do with only my grandparents and my uncles. While doctors usually tell pregnant women to have sufficient bed rest and come to the clinic for regular prenatal checkups, my mother likely spent her pregnancy avoiding flying bullets and exploding mortar shells by staying under the bed and keeping away from the windows. This explains why I was born at home rather than in a hospital, as I’m sure you now can understand. As God would have it, I was born in our living room, hale and healthy, with my grandmother sweating profusely from having delivered me even though she had no midwife experience. Because only a few lucky babies in Nigeria at that time had access to prenatal and postnatal care, my people were only too glad that I even survived. My name is Osagiemwangbon (or Osagie) because my family believed that I would have died if God had not been with me. Thus you can see how African names reveal the circumstances of the person’s birth, while American names usually do not.

Here is another story about my family. One of my uncles was married for twenty years but had no children. This was not due to his lack of trying, as he is always so happy to be called upon to perform this task. His wife is a very beautiful woman, unlike his neighbor’s wife, who nevertheless has given her husband children. In Nigeria, a wife is supposed to be pregnant before the wedding day, or at least within the first year of marriage. If she has the misfortune of not being pregnant within this time frame, she is in a whole lot of trouble, especially with her mother-in-law who will complain to whomever would care to listen that her son married a man like himself instead of a woman like herself; that is, the mother-in-law as a real woman, while the daughter-in-law is not. It never ceases to amaze me how a mother would whine about her son’s wife as if she herself were a better daughter-in-law to her own mother-in-law (her son’s grandmother). I always have the impression that such women have forgotten that they, too, were once young brides however many years before. Rather than showing some understanding that might bring comfort, this woman’s actions would just make her son’s wife very miserable, and could even result in divorce, which would bring her son misery also. Moreover, no one ever considers that the husband could be impotent, because it is always a given that the fault lies with the woman, who must be barren.

In the case of my uncle, people would always gossip that perhaps his wife had too many abortions when she was single or that she probably slept with too many men in her youth and contracted sexually transmitted diseases which subsequently made her infertile. However, after twenty years of tests and visits to prominent gynecologists, my uncle’s wife finally became pregnant. They named their baby girl Osayenwenre, which means that the Lord has remembered her and saved her from disgrace.

So, you can imagine my surprise that in the United States married women take pride in not having children. My colleague at work assured me some time ago that she is not into having children because she does not have the knack for caring for children. Another told me that having children is a waste of time and money, as the children will probably give her unnecessary hassles not just when they are babies but also as they grow up and through their teen years. A third informed me that she would rather have cats and dogs than bear children; she said it is cheaper to have pets, and cats and dogs are never ungrateful. Well, I am very glad that I never fell in love with any of these women, much less married any of them. If I had taken one of them home to Africa to visit with my people, my grandmother would have died of heart failure or I would have been ostracized from the community. The behavior and views of my American female colleagues would not meet with approval in Nigeria.

For another family story, I turn to my cousin, Osarobo, who has had many misfortunes. She and her husband have tried many businesses, and all have failed. They have also tried, unsuccessfully, to seek employment opportunities. If financial security was out of their control, they reasoned that having children was a process that they could control; as such, they concentrated on having children, hoping that the process of raising their kids would ease their frustrations with life. Unfortunately, even the good Lord would not bless them with a child. Given what I have explained, you can imagine their misery. In spite of that, they remained optimistic and never thought of themselves as failures. Instead, they strongly believed that you never failed until you stopped trying, as the saying advises. After several more years of trying, good fortune smiled on them, and they were able to start a very successful business. Shortly afterward, my cousin gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Izoduwa, which means that she has chosen the path of prosperity. This name reflects the parents’ belief that the reason they could not have a child during their years of financial hardship was that the child did not wish to be born in a poverty-stricken household, and so she waited until her parents had financial security.

I have noticed many

Reviews for The Man from Africa

[christopherosagie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The book describes the cultural differences that the author experienced when he moved from Africa to the United States. From being a pest control technician to becoming a poultry specialist, the author demonstrates the abundance of opportunities available to anyone who is ready and willing to work hard. The book also enlightens new immigrants from other countries in Africa and from all over the world about what to expect if they choose to immigrate to the United States.