Years in Formation

Born in Warri, raised in Port Harcourt, I had lived in Nigeria until the ripe age of thriteen. A ripe age to begin my journey of confusion starting from a 4-6 hour one way ticket from Nigeria, land of my birth, to Lebanon, land of my ancestry (not counting the fact that like almost everyone else in this country we most probably immigrated from somewhere else to an area not even called "Lebanon" yet), to living in Beirut for 10 years, to living in the US for 5 years and back again....

As years flew by during my stay in Lebanon, I became more and more aware of my own "personal history," aware of myself as a Lebanese having lived in Nigeria and how that could possibly make me different from everyone else around me.

Of course, its well known that Lebanese communities have and still live in Nigeria..... from big city Lagos to small-big town Port Harcourt ... but eventually I came to understand that living in Port Harcourt, a town with a small Lebanese community may have made all the difference, in my character, my thoughts, my movements, my feelings.... the question always came to my mind as a young girl...if I grew up in Lebanon...what kind of person would I have grown up to be? At the time...my answer almost always ended up with.... Lebanese ...