Every where you turn today, there is a stereotype. People are being judged without a fair hearing. Just this Saturday, I took a journey to the east, Anambra State to be specific. Already my host who had never been there before wanted me to stand as a family member while he goes to pay his wife's dowry.
Though I try not to have any stereotype myself, he has his own stereotype. Mine was that Ibo's loved money so much that, I think they will reap him off. Aside from that, there was nothing. My host on his part thinks the place was insecure.
We journeyed from Port Harcourt and somewhere around Owerri, my host got stopped over by VIO who reaped him off of his last cash. I saw how disillusioned he became. He was like;how can I embark on this journey without a dime? But I heard God say, so you would learn to depend on me. And that was it. We continued the journey and had no need for money until we arrived. When we arrived, God was going to deal with my first stereotype; how were we going to pay a dowry without any money in our hands. Though my host had sent the contents of the list ahead, I had no idea what would be demanded again, its good for someone to have a backup.
I couldn't understand the language, but I noticed my in-laws bringing stuffs. It started with the kolanuts and garden eggs, followed by drinks and water. Then we were invited into the house for the dowry. While I will not disclose how much they paid, they took the smallest denomination and returned the rest. Then they presented a live chicken, a live goat and another live chicken again. These people in Ozubulu gave and gave and gave. This destroyed my stereotype. The Ibo's don't reap off people with brideprice, for my host, the place was not insecure.
In conclusion, it didn't go the way we planned, it went according to God's plan. So let's learn how to give people the benefit of doubts before judging them.
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