bringing dinner back

“We were all told stories as kids in Nigeria. We had to tell stories that would keep one another interested, and you weren’t allowed to tell stories that everybody else knew. You had to dream up new ones.” — Ben Okri (Nigerian poet and novelist)

Like most Americans, I didn’t think much about Nigeria until Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit — an event that will forever be known as the attempted Christmas Day underwear bombing.

My brother(ish)-in-law was stationed in Nigeria. A new musical on Broadway, Fela, tells the story of Fela Anikkulapo Kuti, a legandary musician and political activist from Nigeria. My husband also has a friend whose husband is Nigerian. I asked if he thought they would think it weird if we invited them over for dinner as part of this project. He said the weird thing it is that we’ve never had them over before. Which is true. That’s part of the fun of a blog project. It makes you just do things.

Traditional Nigerian dancers

Interesting facts about Nigeria:

1. It is the most populated country in Africa — the 8th most populated in the world — 149.2 million people living within its borders. Only 3.1 percent of the population is over the age of 65.

2. Nigeria, which is slightly larger than twice the size of California, produces more oil than any other country on the continent — yet often has a shortage of gasoline. During the oil boom of the 1970s, Nigeria was one of the wealthiest countries in the world; now it is among the poorest.

3. Half of Nigerians are Muslim, 40 percent are Christian, and 10 percent participate in indigenous religions.

4. Twenty percent of Nigerian children die before the age of 5 from treatable diseases.

5. The most popular sport in Nigeria is football (soccer). The team representing Nigeria in the 1996 summer Olympics won the gold.

6. A 2003 report in New Scientist magazine said Nigerians were the happiest people in the world.

Nigerians protesting their president's absence from the country (The New York Times)

7. Nigeria gained its independence from the UK in 1960 and became a democracy in 1999, yet it hasn’t felt very democratic. The first democratic elections handing power from one civilian to another in 2007 didn’t go so well, and the government is considered one of Africa’s most corrupt (which is saying something). President Umaru Yar’Adua has been in Saudi Arabia for two months getting medical treatment, a situation that isn’t going over so well with his people.

8. There are more than 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria.

9. The average boy goes to school for 9 years; the average girl, 7 years.

10. Nigerian cuisine is incredibly varied — but it’s mostly all spicy. One okra soup popular in the country is a lot like New Orleans gumbo. Chili peppers are a favorite seasoning.

11. Nigeria has been called “the heart of African music.” The country also has a booming film industry, called … wait for it … Nollywood.

12. Women have very few rights here: 60 percent have endured genital cutting, 10 out of the country’s 36 states have laws that allow husbands to use physical force against their wives, and marital rape is legal.

Students at the Dr. William Kupiec Academy for Girls

How you can help:

• The Dr. William Kupiec Academy for Girls opened last September in Nigeria, the first Christian-Muslim school in this country of so much religious conflict. The school accepted its first class of 35 7th-graders in the fall and hopes to grow to 400 students. Right now, though, water is in immediate need for these future leaders of Nigeria. Your donation will keep these girls in school, changing their lives and their country.

• For $27 a month, support a woman through Women to Women International, which works in war-torn countries like Nigeria. Your letter of support to these women is as important as the money that helps them start their lives over with education and a trade.

• For $30 a month, you can help a child or family in need through SOS Children’s Villages, which is working in three Nigerian communities. The organization also works with local children with HIV/AIDS.