“My family rejected me cos I married a Nigeria”

A brave Malaysian-Chinese woman, Mrs Annie Odediran, who is married to a Nigerian man tell her story of racial prejudice.

“I wrote my dad and asked, ‘Is it okay or alright if I marry a non-Chinese and non- white?’ I intentionally didn’t say African or Nigerian. He replied ‘Please consider very well.’ He later sent my aunties to me in Brisbane to discourage me.

“My father was very authoritative. He later came, asked me to resign and come back to our town, Penang in Malaysia. Back home, my family members and relatives kept on trying to persuade me to let go of the relationship.

“They made jest of African black skin and said their lips were thick and they were hungry. They referred to my white skin as milk and my husband as coffee. They also taunted me that no children of mine would look like me.

“We were then living in Ketu in Lagos and the way people run after molue, sell by the roadside, irregular power supply and having to carry buckets to fetch water due to lack of water supply, the sandy paths and untarred roads were somehow strange to me.

“But then, with the kind of upbringing I had, I could adapt to any situation. Another is the family member issue. Being the first child, he had to bear the responsibility of training his siblings and attend to some other needs or demands of his family.