Sunday morning. A mother is busy getting her children ready for church. She walks into the living room and sees her eldest son watching TV. He’s dressed in a traditional isiagu shirt with matching pants and classic church shoes. The mother rushes upstairs to see her daughters struggling to get dressed. She quickly helps her oldest daughter into her kitenge dress and then tells her to meet her brother. She gets to her youngest daughter, who is sad because she thinks she looks foolish in her weird shirt-skirt and headpiece set. What she didn’t know was that she was wearing a beautiful traditional dashiki shirt and skirt combination. The ankara headpiece was just as important to the outfit, not just because of the Nigerian tradition but also because of the religion. What made the outfit even more special is that her mother brought all of these traditional clothes with her on her journey from Nigeria to America. She left when she was very little, and her mother feared that she would forget some parts of her culture so she sent her daughter away with multiple clothes that reminded her of her family, her church and Nigeria. She took every chance to dress her children up in traditional clothing, as it reminded her of home. She grabs her george hair wrapper while walking out the door, smiling at her three beautiful Nigerian children.

– Chi-Chi Ezekwenna

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant