According to Dodge City resident James Chukwuma, "If you want to see a mirror image of Nigeria, look at Mexico."

A native of Nigeria, which is located in the heart of Africa, James came to the United States in 1999. He said that the two cultures share similarities in their "devotion to Christianity."

"Our society is close to what Mexican society is, and the way we embrace Catholicism stands as example," he said.

The people of Mexico and Nigeria also share a devotion to family, he said, including extended family. It’s not uncommon to find 10 to 15 people living in one Nigerian household. Although there are financial benefits, the arrangement denotes a long history of strong family ties.

With a population of nearly 500,000, his native diocese of Ahiara Mbaise is 89 percent Catholic. It is, he said, "where the teaching of the Catholic Church on ‘the family as the domestic Church’ is clearly demonstrated in practice.

"The elderly never go to nursing homes," he explained. "They stay with their kids. There, they won’t ever be lonely.

"Basically, the elderly take up catechism instructions sessions for their grandchildren and those of neighbors," James added.

"As a norm, adults openly try to enforce good moral values such as modesty in dressing and good public behavior to the younger generation."

Children stay in the home much longer than in typical American households.

"Here," he said, "a girl may have a boyfriend at 16, a baby at 20, might decide to get a divorce at 23, and by 25 her eyes are only beginning to open. In Nigeria, children stay in the home until age 25, and are still taking orders from parents who don’t want them to make mistakes."

Southwest Kansas houses three of the top five counties in Kansas for instances of teen pregnancy.

Some differences are a bit more extreme. Until recently, marriages were arranged by the parents. Although that practice has changed, today in Nigeria families still can approve or disapprove of a son or daughter’s marriage or divorce, with the son or daughter expected to capitulate. Women, meanwhile, are still considered subservient to men. The nation, James is quick to add, also boasts a very low divorce rate.

Also living in Dodge City is James’s sister-in-law, Christy, and her son, Chukwudi, 7, both of whom were able to come to the United States after winning an immigration lottery. Visiting the family was James’s cousin, Nnamdi Uzor, a "professional Information Technology Auditor."

Nigeria has another similarity with Mexico, the desire of many citizens to come to the United States.

"In Nigeria you stagnate because of the poverty rate," James said. "Here you can work while you still advance your studies. I wanted to have an opportunity to move ahead in life."

He decided to switch from teaching to nursing after seeing so many of his countrymen unable to afford health care. His ultimate goal, he said, is to be able to go back to Nigeria three months per year and run a volunteer clinic.

"I want to see one ambulance in every community," he said. "In Nigeria, you may be having a seizure and have to ride a bike to the hospital, where you find 2,500 people waiting. The poverty is overwhelming and the government is not helping."

At press time, the G8 summit on Africa was just getting underway in Scotland. Both James and his cousin are concerned that misinformation regarding the financial status of the African nation will once again leave Nigeria’s citizens in the lurch.

"Poverty is caused by mismanagement," Nnamdi said. "The problems stem from the top. We need people to realize that Nigeria is a very poor country."

"Here," he said, motioning to a CNN report airing on TV, "a story about a missing girl may be reported for days. In Nigerian cities, there had been cases where dead bodies lay in the street for two or three days and nothing is done by the government agencies in charge, either due to non-payment of workers salaries or general lack of good working conditions."

The current life expectancy for men and women in Nigeria is 47, and more than 60 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

"Each day, hundreds of people storm the capitol demanding change" Nnamdi commented.

"America has spent billions to bring peace to the Middle East," James said. "If they spent half that much in all of Africa, poverty would be eliminated.

"Africa is not as armed as other countries," he added. "If even 50 soldiers had been sent into Rwanda, it would have stopped the massacre of thousands. America is a joint effort of all the people of the world. Blacks from Africa helped make America what it is. A more pro-active and realistic effort should be made to help the people of Africa, mostly in areas of good governance and rule of law. African people frown when seeing American leaders romancing with bad leaders from Africa"

Despite the problems in his homeland, James misses the sense of community the region holds dear.

"American culture is individualistic," said James matter-of-factly. "You don’t know who your neighbors are. I don’t know my neighbor. People have to call before coming for a visit. In Nigeria, any family or friend can come over for lunch without calling."

In traditional Nigerian society, he added, "everybody is everybody’s keeper. If my son is misbehaving outside, anyone in the community can give him a whooping, and come to me and tell me what he did."

Even the simple act of going to the market is a community event, with people bringing produce direct from their farms to trade. Though there are supermarkets in Nigeria, only the wealthiest people utilize them, he said.

During the interview with the SKR, James was visited by his sister-in-law, Christy and her son. Her husband — James’s brother — died of cancer in Nigeria. When the Register asked the man’s name, the seven-year-old piped in, "He was my dad, and then the devil killed him." And raising his fist into the air, he shouted, "Curse you, devil!"

James smiled and explained that in his culture, "all bad things are blamed on the devil. It is a way of expressing grief, instead of blaming God. It’s a coping mechanism. You don’t give in to the devil by grieving unnecessarily. The devil is looking for your downfall, and God is looking for your well-being."