Like many other first and second generation Americans, I’ve always had a complicated relationship with the word “home”. Born and raised in Brooklyn, I feel a sense of belonging that I wouldn’t trade for the world when I’m in New York, but as a child of immigrants, Nigeria has always had a special place in my heart as the home I don’t know too well, but love all the same. This past December, I decided to take a trip back “home” to Nigeria, and fortunately, I made it there in time for the second Our Family Dinner in Lagos on December 12th.

I didn’t understand the true power of our Family before attending the December Dinner in Lagos.

Working with Our Family Dinner for the past couple of years, I’ve gotten to chat with hosts and staff from all over the country on an almost daily basis. As much as I’ve felt grateful for being in the presence of so many warm and caring people on a regular basis, I don’t think I really understood the true power of our Family before attending the December dinner in Lagos. As always, I sat down at a table with perfect strangers, and even 3000 miles from “home” I felt like I was among family.

In a city like Lagos, which is the economic and social capital of an incredibly diverse country, the question “where are you from” is quite common, because most Lagosians have a background in another part of Nigeria. As I was sitting and chatting with my new Brothers and Sisters, the question came up, and one of my table-mates sparked an amazing discussion when she responded: “I’m from Nigeria”. Referencing a TED talk by Taiye Selasi, Our Passports Don’t Define Us, she expressed her frustration with giving people a standard answer of where she’s “from” when in reality she feels at home in so many different places in Nigeria and abroad.

As we continued to go around the table asking each other “where are you a local”, I felt a new sense of gratitude for the role Our Family Dinner has played in my life in the past year. I know now that I’m a local anywhere that I have family, and in this last year I have gained family in more places than I can count. In Nigeria I was able to feel at home at a dinner table with people I had just met, and hang out with some of my new family during my time in Lagos. In New York I’ve been stopped on the street with a hug by someone I met at a Dinner, and I have Brothers and Sisters in cities all over the US who’ve offered me a couch to sleep on whenever I’m in their part of the world. Our Family Dinner has truly helped me redefine my own definition of family, and through that, my place in the world. With a goal of having a Dinner on every continent in the next few years, I can’t wait to become a local all over the world.

I can’t wait to become a local all over the world.