By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
What's in a name?
Marie Effa has four names—Marie Ejama Emmanuel Effa. Emmanuel is her father's name and Ejama is a traditional name and term of endearment meaning "my own."
Marie, 12, recently moved to Hays from Nigeria in June, and she is trying to make Kansas her own. Marie's mother, Norah, is working locally as a nurse.
Marie, an eighth-grader at Thomas More Prep-Marian, recently gave a presentation to her fellow students about life in Nigeria.
Marie described some of the differences between her school in Nigeria and TMP. In Nigeria, students study more subjects — 16 to 17 subjects compared to eight at TMP.
Although the Nigerian students use computers, they primarily copy notes by hand in most of their classes.
Students in Nigeria can be subject to corporal punishment, but Marie said she was a good student and didn't experience that.
Students learn their lessons in English, but there more than 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria with more than 500 languages.
Marie is learning both her mother's ethnic group's language, Igbo, and her father's ethnic language, which is Ejagham.
The introduction of Western-style education and English has allowed the oral literature of Nigeria to be written down and spread across the globe, Marie said.
Marie's mother makes her and her siblings jollof rice, a stew-like dish that contains tomatoes, peppers and spices
"It's a pretty good dish if you ask me," she said. "I love the way my mom cooks her rice."
She said she misses many of the Nigerian dishes. Her mom also prepares a pepper soup that would be traditionally made with goat meat, ginger and red chili flakes.
Marie said she's still looking for a favorite food in America.
"I really like pizza and burgers and all that kind of stuff," she said, "but my mom says eating that all day isn't going to be healthy for me."
Nigeria is Africa's most populous country.
"We are very warm, nice people," Marie said. "We have an amazing culture and tourism events."
The many religious and ethnic groups have many festivals and celebrations. Marie said she attended the Calabar Carnival, which is celebrated at the end of the year and involves tens of thousands of brightly costumed participants and a couple of million spectators.
Nigeria is on the South Atlantic Coast of Africa just north of the equator. Marie explained Nigeria has two seasons—a rainy season and a dry season.
This is her first winter experience with snow. She said it's been difficult to get used to the cold, but she liked the snow.
However, she said she would like Hays to get enough snow so that she and her siblings could try fun snow activities like building a snowman or sledding.
Marie and her siblings — brothers 10 and 9 — are soccer fans.
"I'm seeing way more opportunities for me and my siblings to play soccer. Nigerians love soccer," she said. "My siblings and I practice a lot for it. My brother is really good. He just needs to develop more skills."
When Marie and her brothers aren't playing soccer, they enjoy playing video games.
Although Marie said she sees many opportunities for her and her siblings in Hays, she said she misses her friends back home.
At TMP, she is the only black student in junior high, but she has embraced her own uniqueness.
"It's kind of cool if you ask me," she said.
Her favorite subjects in school are science and math.
"In math, I get to test my ability and learn new things at the same time," she said. "I'm trying to work on doing calculations without a calculator."
TMP Junior High Principal Melissa Schoepf said she is seeing Marie grow.
"When Marie came here in August, she was very quiet and shy with good reason because it was a whole new environment, moving here and making new friends," Schoepf said.
"Since then, we have really seen her blossom and really come out of her shell.
"It's been great for her and all of our kids to get to know each other and see cultural differences and learn about each other," she said.
Marie has dreams of being a doctor like her father, who is working in Gambia, Africa. She said it's tough being so far away from her dad, but he comes back for the holidays.
"He makes sure that he calls us in the morning and before we go to bed every single day," Marie said.