Sunday, June 12, 2005

Oyimbo

A word for non-indigenous in Nigeria seems to be 'oyimbo', the source of complaint about the hardship faced by Nigeria migrants in the west: "Every day our doctors go there and end up washing plates for oyimbo because oyimbo does not think we study medicine right. Our lawyers go and drive taxis because oyimbo does not trust how we train them in law." Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Purple Hibiscus London: Harper, 2005

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Johannesburg

Michael is a recent arrival from Mozambique. He has perched on the edge of a craft market in Newtown with his hand-built architecture. His buildings are made out of grass that has been varnished and his housing block is made out of black cardboard. Michael is very particular about the way the rooms are planned within the house. He doesn't seem to have a definite plan of what he is going to do in Johannesburg. For the time being, he is eking a living making models of the architecture that he doesn't yet enjoy himself.