When Migration Is a Gesture of Love
In Nigeria, I grew up to see what difference a generous family member abroad could do for their loved ones back home.
It is not a difficult decision to leave a country that never runs out of hard things to throw at you—hard things that blunt the edges of your patriotism. Because to live in Nigeria is to suffer many things, to endure a heartbreak that may never heal in this lifetime.
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Ucheoma Onwutuebe is a Nigerian writer. She is the recipient of the 2022 Waasnode Fiction Prize and has received residencies from Yaddo, Art Omi, and the Anderson Center. Her works have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Off Assignment, Bakwa Magazine, and elsewhere. She is currently an MFA student at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
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When I packed my one suitcase to come to America, I put everything I thought I needed inside and romance wasn’t in it.
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