Lagos, Nigeria

Lagos is the second largest city in the world, after Mexico city. Nigeria is Africa's most populated country and rich in oil. Unfortunately, the latter fact has not changed the quality of life for many in Nigeria even though the country has been a democracy since 1999. There are highways, road signs and traffic lights in Lagos. There are also open sewers, dirt roads and absolute gridlock traffic.

Oyibo means white person in the Yoruba language, which is the national language spoken in Lagos along side of English. Being identified as such is not uncommon. From the street children that happily chant the word in melodic tunes while begging for money to the receptionist announcing my visit to a state official it is hard to tell if the reference to race is meant to be a statement or a judgement. Either way it is impossible to forget here that my skin color affords me a certain status. I recently told a woman I liked her dress, she told me she liked my skin. Unsure of how to answer I thanked her and told her my parents gave it to me.