Why So Misinformed?

That Northern Christian Girl😜[/caption]

 

"Oh, you are From the North? You are a Muslim then?"
Hian. How did she arrive at that conclusion?
Just because I'm from the North?
Okay now. So I shook my head, trying to tell her I'm not a Muslim, but a Christian, from the North. The next question took away my opportunity to clarify that.

"What's your name?"
"Maryam". That's my second name, by the way, everyone from my secondary school calls me Maryam. It's the home people that call me Kim.
If you call me Kim na yim be say na from "house" you sabi me.
After I told her my name, she went, "Ah ah, you are a Muslim. So why is your hair not covered?
Why?
Why??
Why???
Hian!

Aunty, my name is Maryam, I am from the North but, I am not a Muslim. I'm a Christian".
"No now. You can't be. Everyone from the North is a Muslim."
Kwot! How?
I was perplexed! Where did she get that information?
Na my name. Na my North, and here she is, telling me how I am a Muslim kuma?
Toh!

See wahala.
That was the first time I was going to witness such ignorance.
"You are Hausa", "you are a Muslim", all because you are from the North?

Gwong girl like me?
Whoik! (Exclamation of shock in Gyong)
Half cast sef. After all, my parents are both from two different ethnic groups. Jju and Gwong.
How am I Hausa? I speak Gyong (Kagoma) fluently and understand Bajju well, na the speaking dey hard me now.

I was just a J.S.S 1 student from the North, in a boarding school in the west. Anyway! I tried to educate her to the best of my ability then.

I later had more of such ignorant questions thrown at me. I never stop to correct that type of ignorance and misconception.
How?
It's just like me assuming that everyone from the East or West is a Christian.
Haba mana.

For the record, Kaduna state alone has over fifty ethnic groups. I mean people with languages not related to another.
So kindly note that not all people from the North are Hausa or Muslims.

The Western States generally speak Yoruba but have different dialects, so the East, South and North.
But the languages in the North are so many and independent of each other.

Very few are close enough for their neighbours to understand. For example, Gyong and Ham languages are similar. We hear and understand when they speak, they don't understand us when we speak.
Plus, we have Christians, Muslims, Pagans, Grail Messengers, Hari Krishnas, etc
Kun gane? (Do you understand)
Thank you.

That's how one time, while in transit in Lagos, I listened to a radio program where they were discussing a topic and people called in to share their views. Thank God I don't remember hearing the name of the station.

Topic?
Long-distance relationships.
Everyone had a preference. "I can't be in Lagos and date someone in Kano or Zamfara or Maiduguri..." but can date someone in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States of America or even Australia.
Hmmm.

At intervals, the presenters discussed amongst themselves, then one said, "I can't date someone in Maiduguri. Which kind person go even dey Maiduguri wey I go fit date?".
Huh? I thought I had heard the worse until the next person spoke.
"Na only cows and Fulani dey Maiduguri now, so..."
And they went on discussing, making fun and laughing.

Dear lord!
Maiduguri has Federal Government and International bodies present, yet it sounded like a jungle to the one with no idea. I mean, people are hustling for jobs in Maiduguri because they get paid in millions. I know of a driver who earns up to three hundred and fifty thousand naira a month because of the organisation he works in, in Maiduguri. Yet these ignorant and misinformed OAPs, sat down there, in that radio station to say only Fulani and cows lived in Maiduguri!

Nna, I was so disappointed.
I was disappointed at the level of ignorance displayed on air.
I was embarrassed and disappointed. The ones who are constantly educating and passing information to their listeners did not make out time to get accurately informed themselves before passing on "wrong information" to their listeners. Simple research before going on air would have saved them such embarrassing utterances, but no, they had to go on air to "fall my hand", no their hand.

Only God knows how many other people listened that day. I couldn't help wondering how many more got misinformed, again.
Then in years to come, the listeners of that day will boldly tell someone that only cattle and their rearers live in Maiduguri because the misinformed abi half baked On-Air Personalities wrongly informed them.
Haba mana!
How on earth😄😁🤪?

What type of education did they get?
Have they even left Lagos before? Some of these job providers should include "well-travelled and informed" as criteria for jobs like these because travelling is very educative and informative.
No wonder someone said, "the proof of your education is not the certificate but how you behave afterwards", and the person is so right!. Your communication says a lot about your education.

Someone else once asked if all the houses in the North are made of mud and thatched roofs. Haba mana!
Are the curriculums used for schools in the different regions different? Because the most illiterate person up North knows these things fa.
I think the syllabus in Nigerian schools needs overhauling. It's gone obsolete and not as needful in today's society as it was back then.
Kindly upgrade it.

Thank you.