Homebound

By Angel Okwuosa

The book is about how a family relocated from the US to Nigeria. The announcement, the preparations, the trip back and experiences living in Nigeria within the first year.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Jun 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499085877

Angel Okwuosa

Anaecheri Angel Okwuosa was born December 18 1996 in St. Mary’s Hospital, London, England. She is currently a student at the University of Birmingham, UK where she studies Law. Her main goal is to inspire and change, starting from within by the grace of God. She has a blog (angelokwuosa.net) where she posts stories and poems and she has a Facebook page named Diary of a Misfit. She enjoys writing, singing, dancing, hanging out with family and friends and listening to music.

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Copyright © 2014 by Angel Okwuosa.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 05/30/2014

Xlibris LLC

0-800-056-3182

www.xlibrispublishing.co.uk

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgement

Prologue

Chapter One—A Rude Awakening

Chapter Two—Welcome to Nigeria!

Chapter Three—Starting School and Domestics

Chapter Four—Church

Chapter Five—Friends and Family

Chapter Six—Common Entrance Exams

Chapter Seven—Party Time

Chapter Eight—Holidays

Chapter Nine—First Year of Secondary School and the Flight

Chapter Ten—Back to America

Chapter Eleven—The Comparisons

Chapter Twelve—The End of the Beginning

I

dedicate this book to my mum, Idu Okwuosa, Grandma Josephine and Grandma Ndembueze, and all the Nigerians who are either planning on coming back, want to come back, are already back and those who haven’t truly seen the beauty of our country yet. Hail Nigeria!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I find it amazing how God has allowed me to share just a snippet of my story with others. Although not completely autobiographical, this is just an outline of what I’ve experienced with my family. I am grateful to God for giving me these experiences and loved ones. I am thankful for my parents: for their unwavering support and love. My mother has been the best manager ever. My father has truly loved me.

My siblings must be acknowledged as well. Ogana and Odoba, I am privileged to be your sister. You make me laugh and you inspire me daily.

I also want to acknowledge my extended family and my friends who are a second family to me. Aunty Ifeoma, Aunty Uzo, Aunty Tyk, Aunty Kayk, Aunty Uju, Aunty Ify, Aunty Vivian, Uncle Ekene, Uncle Uche and Uncle Emeka, and the Malizes. I acknowledge you all because you were very instrumental to our transitioning stage. God put you in our lives for a reason, and I will be forever grateful for that. I acknowledge everyone else who was instrumental to my family’s transition from America to Nigeria.

I must acknowledge my friends who always encouraged me and filled my days with joy. I want to thank Xlibris for making this journey as smooth as possible. And last but not least, I want to acknowledge my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for giving me hope, my Heavenly Father for loving me unconditionally and the Holy Spirit for guiding me through life so far.

PROLOGUE

L ife, as I knew it, was over.

Yes! Officially over!

It was swiftly changing into something that looked almost intolerable for me. It was the beginning of the end of my relatively normal life.

My perfectly ordinary world was breaking into cookie crumbs.

I have every right to think this way.

My name is Ona. Ona Chukwuma. I am the eldest of 3 siblings. I am nine years old. I have a seven-year-old brother named Omari and a two-year-old sister, Onyeoma.

We lived in Quincy, Massachusetts. At least for the meantime. Guess what?

My parents wanted the entire family to move to Nigeria!

Yeah, that’s right.

Nigeria!

Not to Texas, not to Wisconsin, definitely not near Las Vegas, but Nigeria!

Nigeria—in the west coast of Africa and the supposed giant of Africa. For your information, Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa, with over 100 million people.

Let me get one fact straight with you before I continue to rant; I love Nigeria. I am, after all, from Nigeria.

I have dual citizenship (Nigerian and American). The green passport (Nigerian) isn’t as convenient as the blue one, but it still is important, after all.

I might as well fill you in on my origins, since I am complaining to you.

You don’t want to hear?

Well, I’ll tell you anyways. I am just that awesome.

I am from the east of the Niger (I know, I know, you don’t have a map with you, but I gotta get a bit geographical here) to be precise.

My parents are indigenes of Imo State, and from the same town. The Blue Lake City, where we eat nsala soup and properly pounded yam, with the arm aching, straight from the mortar and pestle. You might find these details unnecessary, but I don’t. Food is very dear to me; thus the reason why I’m not the slimmest person in the world. But hey! I’m only nine!

Anyhow… even though I do like my country, does that make the idea of leaving my close friends and US family members any easier? Or does it make me look forward to leaving my teachers and awesome St Matthew’s or the loving church family at GTC? Not really.

Why is life so complicated?

You know, I still remember the night my mom told us the news. There are just some things you don’t forget…

So we were all in the living room, doing different things (as usual). My two-year-old sister, Onyeoma, was in a trance, watching Hannah Montana. My brother, Omari, was shoveling Foundation Road into his already sticky mouth, making slurping noises. I was multitasking (as usual), reading Little House in the Woods by Laura Ingalls and also watching Miley Cyrus arguing with Emily Osment.

My mom came in, her apron stained with palm oil from the egusi soup she was making for dinner. Daddy hadn’t come back yet; sometimes he worked late but usually made it home in time for dinner. ‘Ona, Omari, and Onyeoma,’ she called out, ‘I have some great news to share with you all.’

Great news! I wondered, my thoughts running wild. My mom is full of surprises.

‘Yes, Mommy,’ we answered in unison. I nudged Onyeoma and seven-year-old Omari to pay attention. As