A Nigerian in Germany

​​I am 26 and I hail from the northern part of Nigeria. Haven been given the opportunity to participate in the Cross Culture Internship organized by German Institute for Foreign Relations, IFA, I worked with the Sector Advisory Project Gender, under the German Technical Cooperation's Gender Programme, where I have gained new and additional skills plus important experience within the context of my work, which will all be useful to me and to BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights, the organization that I work for, back in Nigeria.

For good understanding of one another, communication remains the most important aspect and the only means of communication is language regardless of its type, be it verbal or sign. I would only sound ironical if I say that the journey for me so far has been smooth, with regards to language; however, I took up the challenge of learning the language I’m very grateful to my colleague, Frau Ruth Bigalke, who facilitated my cross language classes with her cousin Malte of the Wisse family, with whom I was able to learn the basics for simple communication outside the office.

Malte alone has not remained my teacher, but also his mother, Mrs Wisse, who is very accommodating and friendly and also has turned out to be not only a co-teacher to me, but also a mentor on Gender issues. The challenge of language also had great effect on my work, as my participation in most tasks and or meetings was minimal due to the language barrier.

Apart from language that was a big challenge for me, the intercultural, as well as the interreligious experience which I had, has also modified my knowledge and understanding of the an European society.

Germany is a society where love, harmony, respect for individuals rights (regardless of age), and most especially hard work prevails and in addition, individuals peacefully co-exist with one another. This is not to say however, that there are no challenging circumstances, it is however normal among people living together, considering their individual idiosyncrasy.

In addition, the peaceful co-existence with people from other countries and culture is part of everyday life. It is a society where the violation of human or individual rights is highly despised, and where men and women enjoy equal rights in the areas of work, education and other aspects of life; basic laws of the society also encourage all these. There is the display of great affection for one another, which is expressed in different ways.

Also, men and women play different and important roles towards the development of the society. It would be interesting to mention how men and women share domestic roles, including child upbringing, and also combining all of these with their official life. This is a very progressive development when compared to most African societies where patriarchy is still deeply rooted, and certain roles are assigned to women. This is not to say, though, that gender disparity is completely absent in the cities of Germany – it only happens as a rare case.

It is a fact that optimism, open-mindedness and spirit of free communication and interaction are the manners of young Germans. Young people in Germany aim to make good use of opportunities that come their ways, they develop ideas in their own perspectives and they try to carefully study the possible risks in the process of implementing these ideas. Furthermore, young people here are very active in their zeal to help others and they motivate one another among themselves to do this. It is however worth mentioning that the older people seem to be more reserved and formal in their dealings with non-natives.

Coming from a society where Islam is well established and there exists free and friendly interaction among Muslim women and sisters, as Muslims constitute about 50 per cent of the Nigerian population, I would say that interaction among Muslim women in Frankfurt has been below my expectation.

This is not to say that Islam is poorly practiced or not practiced at all here, however, the relationship and interaction among Muslims here (especially women) seem sectionalised. Although, Muslims constitute only 3.7 per cent of the people in the whole of Germany, most of whom are Turks, Egyptians or Palestinians, and obviously, meaning that perhaps there are only 1.5 per cent Muslims in Frankfurt, none the less, this could be a good opportunity for women, for unity, familiarisation and sharing of knowledge or ideas towards their development and that of the society at large.

In addition, getting access to a mosque was a difficult task, as I was informed, after making several enquiries, that there are few mosques around and most of which only men attend, and the only one that could be of benefit to me is presently under police investigation, following some allegations put to it.

On the other hand, it would be interesting to mention the peaceful co-existence among Christians and Muslims. As Christianity is the predominant religion in Germany with a minority of Muslims, both religions are practiced with high liberation and respect for one another.

It is a different phenomenon in Nigeria, where Muslims make up about 50 per cent of the population and Christians roughly 40 per cent while ca. 10 per cent are people of other religions (indigenous or free thinkers), and many atrocities are committed to women and young girls, all under the guise of promoting culture and religion.

Aisha Lami Lawal

© Aisha Lami Lawal 2005

Qantara.de

Muslim Women in Northern Nigeria
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In Northern Nigeria, women often base their claims to education and employment on Islamic principles. For many, the practice of segregating the sexes is no insurmountable obstacle. Katja Werthmann takes a closer look.

"Shariacracy" in Nigeria
Difficult Balance between Sharia and Human Rights
A goat thief is punished more severely than a president who misappropriates government funds. The introduction of the Sharia has brought no improvements, Nigerian sociologist and economist Lamido Sanusi insists. By Lennart Lehmann

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