Nigerian Chioma Ohiri helps earthquake victim in Haiti in January 2010
On Wednesday, January 12, Haitians around the world commemorate one year anniversary after the devastating earthquake that torn apart their country and left hundreds of thousands of people dead, injured and homeless.
On Tuesday, January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti capital and its environs. The natural disaster early in the new year
shocked the world and left the global community in mourning. To show love for Haitians, many world governments and organizations gave millions in emergency funds, materials and equipments to aid rescue mission and pledged even more to rebuild the Caribbean country.
To compliment donations, humanitarians from different countries of the world sacrificed their time, money and convenience to provide an on-the- ground help and voluntary services to victims of the earthquake. Among those heroes and heroines that defied the risk of getting caught up in Haiti earthquake and volunteer to help humanity is Nigerian Chioma Ohiri.
Three months after earthquake and upon Chioma’s returned to United States, her country of residence from Haiti, Nigerians Abroad news wire interviewed gets her reactions on the earthquake, her motivation for volunteering and being a Nigerian in diaspora.
Below is an excerpt from an interview with Chioma, conducted on April 12, 2010, 3 months after Haiti earthquake.
NA news wire: Briefly tell us about yourself
Chioma: I am Nigerian, but was born in Montreal, Canada. My father is Nigerian and my mother is Haitian. While I’ve been living in Texas for about ten years now, my parents moved back to Canada. I’ve been a nurse for 5 years now. I worked at Parkland Hospital in Dallas.
NA news wire: Where were you and how did you hear about the earthquake?Chioma: When the Haiti news broke, I was in Dallas. Actually, I was planning a holiday trip to Cancun, Mexico with my friends. That’s when i found out about the earth quake emergency. A friend of mine send out a mass email about a volunteer group that intend to go to Haiti to help the victims of the earthquake. The same day, I tried contacting the group. The main guy name is Segun. The group is based in Atlanta. The earthquake was on Tuesday and I find out about the group on Thursday. So, I told my manager about it…that I would like to go and help. He said to me: “Are you sure you want to go?” and I said yes. He then said yes, but added that I should be careful. By this time, my parents were in Nigeria and wasn’t sure if they would let me go if I had told them. I’ve never been to Nigerian nor Haiti before until last year (2009). I went to Nigeria in April and Haiti in October… just to know my self (laughter).
NA news wire: what motivates you to go to Haiti and help victims of the earthquake?
Chioma: Hmmm… the impact was so sudden. The country has been going through a lot of problems already, political and poverty, and for this to happened again, it just hurts me the way it happened, so sudden. Also, I was just there four months ago and saw how the people are happy and so humble. I just wanted to go even though I know that I might get into trouble at work and I did get into trouble, a little bit because it extended over my vacation period. In the news you could hear that there were lots of equipment bee sent but not enough people to help. A lot of people were donating money, which was really good, but they needed people to be on the ground and help. So that was what motivates me the most, the need to go and help people… hands on.
NA news wire: How would you describe what you saw in Haiti after the earthquake?
Chioma: There was big difference from what I saw when I went there the first time… when i went there it was a big shock, even though the airport was operating, it was shut down. Lots of walls were damage, flooded and leaking. When we got there, there was no one there to help us to offload. We had to enter into the belly of the plane to unpack our own luggage and other things. At this point the UN had taken over. When I was leaving United States to go to Haiti, in mind it I was going there to go help my people, but when I got there it was so painful, the kind of injury I saw was so awful. It was very sad that after about seven days that the earthquake struck, people were just sitting with their injuries wide open. It was so sad.
NA news wire: As a Nigerian given birth outside Nigeria, how easy or difficult was it for you to integrate with the Nigerian diaspora community?
Chioma: At first it was hard to be honest. This is because I couldn’t affiliate with one group… Its like I am Canadian, Nigerian or Haitian. However, since I‘ve been in Houston its been different. I thank my parents the way they raised me. My father was very disciplined through out my whole life, he doesn’t allowed me to do whatever. Many of my friends are sometime surprise that I wasn’t born here. They do asked me: “what do you mean that you were born here, so you are not Naija -Naija” (laughter). Because there are so many Nigerians making life, settling down here now, it is important for parent to still teach their children the Nigerian way. And that was what helped me. I eat lots of egusi soup and pounded yam. My dad still want all that kind of stuff. I really appreciate the way they brought me up. My mother too was so quick to convert. If you see her you wouldn’t know that she is not Nigerian. She dresses in Nigerian attire, knows how to tire wrapper. As a result of these things, I didn’t feel too much of an outcast compare to my friends [those given birth in North America]. My biggest problem was that I’ve never lived in Nigeria. I didn’t experience Nigeria.When my friends talked about things in Nigeria, I can’t really associate with it. I sometime wish that my parents had allowed me to live in Nigeria for some time.
NA news wire: What message do you have for Nigerians out there who are finding it difficult to integrate with the larger diaspora community because of offensive stereotype?
Chioma: We should not allow negative things about Nigeria to have an impact on our behaviour or the way we relate to other people. We should just be ourself and do what is right. That’s why I really appreciate what you guys are doing projecting Nigeria’s image out there in a good light.
NA news wire: Thank you Chioma for being our guest
Chioma: Thank you. You guys are doing amazing job
Courtesy: www.nigeriansabroadlive.com
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