The Ngwa People: Beyond All The Misconceptions!

Hello Naijans. Hope you all are in one piece. We all know how the economy has been biting hard on everybody, but we need to make conscious efforts not to allow these hard times lead us into depression. We must "kwechiri" 💪.

Having said that let me dive into the topic of the day,. E go shock you, hehehe.

I presume some of you know Abia State as part of the Igbo tribe. Abịa is made up of Ṅgwà, Abiriba, Ohafia, Umuahia, Asa, Item, Arochukwu etc. All these groups have misconceptions which have been trailing them for decades, but I will talk about that of just one group which is "Ṅgwà people". Before that let me tell you a little about them.

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The Ngwa are an Igbo group habiting in the southern part of Igboland. Like I said before, they are part of the people who make up Abia State and they are said to be the largest subgroup of Igbo people covering 1,328 square kilometres (513 sq mi). They are blessed with a rich and fertile soil that's why their main occupation right from the olden days is Agriculture.

They grow vegetables, cassava, yam, cocoyam, three leaf yam, pepper, garden egg etc and are into palm oil production too. All these they sell in the various markets within and outside the state. Little wonder when you get to the market you will hear people always asking to buy things like Garri Ṅgwà, Ose Ngwá (Ngwá pepper), Ugu Ngwá (ngwa pumpkin vegetable)" and other produce from Ṅgwà land. This is because these produce are the best of its kind - take that to the bank, hehehe.

An Ṅgwà woman frying garri

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Getting the palm fruits ready for production of palm oil

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The Ngwa people are industrious, generous, peace loving, hospitable and very very accommodating. They treat strangers as one of their own, little wonder they allow people from all walks of life to come dwell with them, build houses and establish businesses as seen in Aba Ṅgwà and environs. Despite all these they have been labeled thus;

• Ṅgwà people are wicked.
• Ṅgwà people are generally short.
• They practice cannibalism, that is flesh eating, lol.

Some of you might have heard these rumors before and that made you become afraid of Ṅgwà people and wouldn't want to associate with any of them. That's fine, maybe telling you that Luchyl is proudly an Ṅgwà native woman will help increase the fear, hehehe.

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You see all these they say about Ṅgwà people are balderdash, non-factual and void. I'm quite sure that they were built out of hatred for the simple lifestyle and nature of the Ṅgwà man. You know when people can't be like you, or make you change your lifestyle, they peddle rumors against you. I'm not saying that we are saints, not at all. We may have our peculiar shortcomings, just like every other tribe, but they're nothing close to these misconceptions.

Sometimes when I hear people talk bad about us, I'll just ask;

How can you turn around to say that a man who accommodated you, sold part of his lands to you and even gave some portions free so that you can build houses and business areas is now wicked and a flesh eater? Some of you even married from his land, eats the produce from the land and rarely travel to your home town because village people are on your matter, lol. It is from his land that you made all the money you have now. If he was actually whom you said he is, would you have been alive to achieve all these?.

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If Nde Ṅgwà were flesh eaters, then all the people trooping into the commercial city of Aba Ṅgwà to buy goods from within and across the city even across the borders on a daily would have been eaten, leaving only the indigenes.

Also all the market women from the neighboring towns and villages surrounding Ṅgwà who visit the various markets on each market day to buy farm produce would have been eaten. Some even enter into the villages, going from house to house to get these produce and still go home to return the next day.

Again, all the men and their relatives who came to marry our daughters would have gone in the same line. Yet they all left happily after receiving a world class hospitality, hehehe. You can't beat an Ṅgwà man with being hospitable. If you want a wife or husband material, come to Ṅgwà land, lol.

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I ask again,

when has wickedness turned out to be a yardstick for describing a people, tribe or community? Is it no longer a personal trait?.
How can one person's wicked act be used to term and judge other people of that tribe?.

We should stop all these already. Wicked people can be found everywhere, in every culture and tribe. Since I'm Ṅgwà, and supposedly wicked, would I have been able to display these acts of kindness that I shared in my posts here? Again, my parents wouldn't have let in a total stranger who was stranded on a rainy night into our house to pass the night, well fed and warmed up.
Also we wouldn't have had philanthropists scattered everywhere in my land and beyond.

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Let me ask again;

When has physical traits like height become inherent to a specific tribe or culture? Are there no short people in every village, city and countries all around the world?

That Ngwá people are short is like saying that the Creator just singled out Ṅgwà tribe and said

Let them be short, and they were short, lol.

This may sound funny, but that's exactly what it means. They forgot that biologically, traits can vary within any given group of people. It might be right to say that there are some Ngwa people who are short, as can be seen in other tribes, but using it to define the entire group is prepesterous. Just same way some people assume that all Irish people have red hair, when in reality there's a lot of variation within that population.

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I am above average height, and no member of my immediate or extended families including other relatives are short. My kindred is called "Umugologo meaning tall people" In fact I'm even the shorter one in my family.

The way I have friends, colleagues, acquaintances who are from Ṅgwà who are either tall or short is the same way those of them in other tribes are either on the short side or tall. Even on Hive here, there are equally frens who are tall, average, or short, hehehe.

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I grew up having to deal with all these misconceptions especially that of us being flesh eaters. Infact it was like a stigma. Each time I tell someone that I'm from Ṅgwà, I get this disdain look. Some will even tell it to my face how my people are this and that.
Each time I travelled to the village, I'll be looking out to see where the flesh eating takes place but never saw any. I asked lots of questions from my dad and other elderly people and none confirmed it to be true.

Did I try to defend myself and make them disabuse their mind from what they've been told about us? Yes I did. Some saw reasons with me, while some other still stuck to their ignoramus mentality. Well it got to a point that I stopped bothering myself with the stereotype. Rather if I hear such, I'll just tell the person that

you are not different from what you call me and my people

If it's about the flesh eating, I'll tell the person,

It will be a waste trying to eat you because you're all bones and no flesh and won't even be sweet. 🤣. Or that I'm just imagining how yummy your laps, or any part of your body will taste 🤣🤣.

Since they want to be madt, let me patronize them the more 🤣

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So far I've known that all these were misguided information right from the times of our ancestors, which might have been in other places and have nothing to do with the present, I'm done trying to correct the impression. They can go ahead and believe whatever they want to, it's their headache not mine. But it will benefit them more if they change their mentality.

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Thank you for being here....

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Still the #threadsaddict 😂

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Images Are Mine

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Written for #juneinleo day 14

Posted Using InLeo Alpha