Celebrated Nigeria writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says the death of her 21-month-old son Nkanu in January while on visit to Nigeria has fractured her relationship with the county.
Adichie made the disclosure in an interview with New York Times.
“My feelings toward Nigeria have changed. I do not want to go back to Nigeria. I have not been back to the country in 6 months.
Our daughter said, ‘Mama, Nigeria is We were in Nigeria every Christmas, every Easter, every summer. Our daughter said to me recently, ‘Mama, Nigeria is my happy place.’ She’s the one who wants to go,’’ she said while sharing the heartbreaking story of the passing of her toddler son, Nkanu, in Lagos, and how the death has fractured her relationship with Nigeria.
In the candid interview with Veronica Chambers of The New York Times, conducted at the family’s home in Maryland, USA, Adichie and her husband, physician Ivara Esege, recounted how their 21-month-old son Nkanu died in January, shortly after going for a brain MRI.
The little boy had been ill over the Christmas holidays with what initially appeared to be a cold, but his condition failed to improve by New Year’s Day.
Adichie and her husband still struggle to understand how their child could have died so suddenly. They have urged a coroner’s court to conduct an inquest in hopes that they can help other Nigerians who have been harmed by the country’s troubled health care system.
The pain of losing her son, Nkanu, has, however, complicated Adichie’s relationship.
Adichie had not been back to the country in six months. When asked what her second son, Nkanu’s twin brother, understood about all that had happened. Adichie shook her head and said, “He always says his brother is in Lagos.”