THE SUITCASES!
We were hurrying to catch a flight home at the Lagos Airport one time, but the crowd was great and it was difficult to go through with our heavy suitcases, because they kept bumping into the pressing crowd. The only way I could make progress at any speed, was to put the heavy suitcase upon my head, and to carry it, African style through the crowd. When I did so, it caused a great deal of attention. Cries of exclamation erupted as people laughed and pointed. As we have said, the following people do not carry the load upon their head: the educated, the wealthy, the well dressed, the white people, the older people, people of position, etc. After I boarded the plane, a Nigerian passenger rebuked me for ridiculing the African way of carrying the load upon the head. "Oh no!" I exclaimed, "You do not understand! I was merely trying to catch the plane, and the only way I could make progress through the crowd, was to put the luggage upon my head! I was carrying the load, not to criticize, but to survive!"