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Fafunwa Interview
This is part of a series of interviews with a New England-born woman who married a man from Nigeria. They have lived in Nigeria for many years now, though come back to New England often to visit with friends and family.
KITTY: What's the name of the church?
DORIS: North Bennington Congregational Church, and then they have UCC, United Church of Christ.
KITTY: Ok.
DORIS: Which is actually part of the United Church of Christ, there isn't really, I don't think a separate Congregational denomination anymore. Unless somehow —
KITTY: And did Bab's family come here for the wedding?
DORIS: Oh no. No, at that time you didn't go, I mean he was 8 years here before going back. Was it 8 years, I guess, yeah. No but he had written, he had written them. And his mother died when he was 10 and his Dad was like a mother/father to him. And his Dad said, you know if this is, you know if this is the woman you want in life, that's fine. So he got that go ahead, it was ok with him. Yeah.
KITTY: And his brothers and sisters, it was —
DORIS: No, he had 2 sisters. The last sister was just about my age, so there's an older sister and a younger sister. And, the older one died some years ago and the younger one just died this past year. Breast cancer. And they were both, well, you know, neither of them went to school or anything, so, you know, they saved the celebrations until we got to Nigeria. Yeah.
KITTY: But they were ok with it?
DORIS: Yeah.
KITTY: Was it a rich family?
DORIS: No. Not at all. Not at all. His father, he was a fisherman at one time and he did do some trading, some trading in the North I know because they, they moved North and Babs was the one who learned the Nupian [or Nupe] language. And he was only 2 or 3 years old.
KITTY: What language, Nupian?
DORIS: Yeah. He learned a whole new language and so he was kind of translating for them. But he was a very, his Dad was a very strong family man. He didn't have, in fact he didn't, it was the, it was his uncle who helped send him to school when he got into the oldest secondary school in Lagos. And he was very lucky —
KITTY: So he moved back to Lagos while the family was —
DORIS: Oh yeah, oh yeah. That was —
KITTY: And it was a boarding, a boarding school that he went to?
DORIS: No, it wasn't actually. No, he went back and forth, because it was right there in Lagos.
KITTY: Oh.
DORIS: But it was —
KITTY: Is Lagos in the North?
DORIS: No, Lagos is the Port.
KITTY: Ok.
DORIS: Sea Port.
KITTY: Ok, when you said that the family went up North—
DORIS: Yeah, they went north for that, near Jibu [sp] Northern Nigeria.
KITTY: But he went to school in Lagos?
DORIS: Yeah, this was later. This was much later.
KITTY: Ok.
DORIS: He was only about 2 or 3 years old. He was very young when they went north. Yeah, and then they came back.
KITTY: So they went just for a short period of time and then they came back.
DORIS: Yeah, yeah.
KITTY: To Lagos—
DORIS: Right.
KITTY: And his father continued to be a fisherman?
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