Compassion!

I enjoyed listening to Chimamanda's speech on humanitarianism. She spoke of her parent's experience during the Nigerian civil war in the late 70s. She told the story of how her parents fled to Enugu from Nsuka to seek refuge in the house of someone they knew. There was no room in this friend's house as the house was already filled with people fleeing the shelling. This man seeing the desperation on her parent's faces, said to them "we will make room".

The words 'we will make room' resonates with my own experience growing up in one of the most volatile regions in Nigeria - Northern Nigeria.

Many Africans are not strangers to conflicts or wars. Many of us have experienced some kind of conflict and know all too well the devastation it brings. I can vividly remember one of the ethno-religious conflicts that I experienced as a young girl. It was frightening. I could remember that day so well.

I was out playing in the compound and all of a sudden, I could smell smoke. I looked up and saw a dark plume of smoke and I wondered what it was. Not long after, someone ran to our compound and told my mom something around the lines of,  "It has started. They are killing everyone".

Our house was located in a very quiet and reserved area. So quiet was the area that one could hardly hear any noise.

Hence, hearing the sounds of gunshots and the bomb-like sounds were so frightening. I cannot describe how frightening the experience was. We were told to lie down and for the next few days did not leave the house. Each bang from the gun shot made me whimper. And soon, people who were lucky to have fled the terrors happening in their areas started trooping to our house with tales of how their shops and houses were burnt down.

The words from Chimamanda's humanitarian talk "we will make room" reminded me of how people opened their gates to those seeking refuge during those times. My parents did not turn anyone away. They made room. We all survived on the small foodstuff we had. Thankfully, there were trees with fruits such as mangoes and guavas and that helped quite a lot. One by one, as people trooped in, we heard tales of close friends and workers that had been killed. I would never forget hearing that one of the workers I grew up knowing was killed. I prayed it was not true but it was true!

That was not the only ethno- religious conflict that I experienced. Another one that I can vividly remember was during my University days. That conflict was one of the worst in that state. In fact so bad was it that there has never been any as bad as that. I was one hour away from my parents. There were no mobile phones then.

It was bad! My parent's house was again filled with people running away from areas that were heavily affected. My parents opened their gates again. It was only a matter of time and even my parents would have had to leave their house and sought for refuge. They too, would have needed the help of someone kind enough to open their gates.

Many times, refugees are forced to flee from horrible situations. They lose everything in search of safety. As Chimamanda puts it, sometimes there are no rooms but we must never fail at being compassionate human beings.



You can watch Chimamanda's talk here: https://youtu.be/oj5F5XaLj2E