Fasting in a Nigerian Catholic School

This article, written by Anike, appeared on Muslimah Media Watch on August 17,2012

I grew up in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, and when I was younger, my schooling had been a secular as Nigerian schooling can get (which is not really secular at all). When it was time for me to go to secondary school, my mother decided it was best to enrol me in a Catholic school that was run by Jesuits from the United States. At that time, my mother was not thinking about religion; she was not worried that I would become Catholic after spending six years in a Catholic boarding school. The first things on her mind were the quality of education and sending me to a secure environment. The Catholic school had strict regulations for when anyone from the outside could visit students; it was a time capsule of sorts because the students were so sheltered that we were out of touch with most of what was going on in the outside. The campus was in the middle of nowhere, not close to the city centre. Students used to jokingly refer to the school as a “jail” for children because of how restrictive the atmosphere could be.

There were four Muslims in my year, including me. I still remember their names even though I did not get along with most of them, and we may never have talked to each other if it wasn’t for the fact that we shared the same religion. The school was relatively new when I got in, and my set of students was just the fourth year. The number of Muslims in our year was an increase from the previous years; among the students who formed the first (and oldest) year, there were only two Muslim students.

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*Photo Credit: Robin Kanouse