Why a Booktrail?
1960s: Nigeria is on the brink of civil war and this is the story of the human cost of war
Half of a Yellow Sun
What you need to know before your trail
Life in Nigeria with war looming over everyone is a very difficult time. No matter if you are rich, middle class or poor, war affect affects everyone and everything in its path.
This is the story of Nigeria’s Biafra war in the 1960s and told through the eyes of three main characters – Ugwu, the poor boy who goes to work for a university professor called Odenigbo; Olanna, Odenigbo’s partner; and Richard, an English journalist who lives with Olanna’s twin sister. Very different people from very different backgrounds who are all caught up in one tragic war and all the events which follow from that.
Travel Guide
Nigeria
Life in Nigeria is interesting, particularly the conflicts between the members of the middle-class and the tribal villagers in rural areas. We meet the characters going about their daily lives before the war and after. Each of them face hardship and changes in their lives. War is a tragedy on so many levels but it’s the personal and individual ones which really hit home. There are many dark realities of war. People react in different ways, loyalties and faith are severely tested. This is a war of identity, of the Igbo people of the principal native language of the Igbo people( an ethnic group of southeastern Nigeria).
“I was Igbo before the white man came”
The Biafra War
War divides, war separates and injures, war kills and changes things for ever. The Nigerian Civil War was also known as the Biafran War and lasted from 6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970. The goal was to achieve the secession of Biafra from Nigeria. The Igbo people felt they could no longer coexist with the Northern-dominated federal government.
“The Pan-Igbo idea itself came only in the face of white domination. You must see that tribe s it is today is as colonial a product as nation and race”
People in Nigeria have lost material possessions but their loss in other areas is greater still. As the war comes to an end, the true face of depravity and loss can be seen.
Where Next?
