Return to Mighty Oak home.

Return to the Yénu bwãndo page.

Easy was an Igbo merchant I knew while I lived in Arbonga and, along with his cousin Mike, he ran an electronics shop in Banikoara. The Igbo are well-known throughout West Africa for being good businessmen, and it is not uncommon for shops in small towns thousands of miles away from their homeland in Nigeria to be operated by Igbo merchants (and yes, I'm sure many of those e-mails you've received are from some enterprising Igbo college student in Lagos). The Igbo community in Banikoara is a few dozen strong, and Easy was by unaminous consent the leader of this community. He was an exceedingly friendly and magnaminous person, and since he was also one of the few English speakers around, I naturally became good friends with him.

As part of his business duties, every few weeks, he would travel to Lagos, Nigeria by bush taxi and return with cheap radios, CD's and the like. In 2004, he was killed in a taxi accident while on one of these business trips. In 2003, Easy told me the story of How He Met his Wife. Here it is, in memory of Easy.

"How Easy Met his Wife"

"Some years ago [in 1999], my father called me back to my home village and said to me, 'It is time for you to marry.' I was sent to be married in another village 500 km from my village. I did not know the girl. When I saw her, I knew in my heart I did not want to marry her. She was very beautiful, but I did not want her for my wife. I went to my brother's house [by brother, he is referring to an old friend], and he had some photos. In one photo, there was a beautiful girl. I said to my brother, 'This girl will be my wife!' My brother said that this girl was his junior sister. She was in a different village 500 km distant."

"I went to that village with my brother. He told me to wait, and he would bring his sister. I met some of my brothers. We had gone to university together. We had taken some beers and were asleep on the floor. There were seven of us. Just that moment, my brother came back with his sister. He took her to the room where we were sleeping and said, 'One of these will be your husband. Choose which one.' And she pointed to me! My brother took her to the other room and told her, 'No, that's not him.' Then he came back to the room where we were sleeping and woke me. He told me to go talk to his sister."

"I went to her, and for the first time in my life, I could not talk. I went back to my brother, and he said, 'Why did you not talk to her?' I went back to her and said, 'I want you to be my wife.' We were very happy. We went to her home village to see her father. He is a very rich man. I said to him, 'I have asked your daughter to marry me, and she has accepted.' He called his daughter to that room and said, 'Do you know this man?' She said, 'He has asked me to marry him, and I have accepted.' He asked her three times, and three times, she said it was true."

"I went to my home village to get my father. We went together to meet her father. By our tradition, the fathers must finish all the food that is brought to them, then they will discuss the date for the wedding. They chose a date in 2000, but her father had an accident. We were married in 2001. We have been married for two years, and we are very happy."