February 14th 2020

After reading Under the Udala Trees, it opened up my eyes about seeing a problem in our country, but through the eyes of someone else who experiences the same issue but different consequences because of their geography. This was the first book I read written by an African American women. Under the Udala Trees expressed a story about a black gay woman in Nigeria, a country who had strict laws against the LGTBQ community. The readings helped enlighten my knowledge about universal concepts and ideas by showing the homosexual portrayal in a different country. The reading helps expand the knowledge of the readers and grow from a single view to a multi-facited viewpoint. Personally, before reading I believed the LGTBQ community suffered from a lot of hate and judgement, but after reading, I learned in other countries it is far worse, and in some instances can be punished by death. Under the Udala Trees exposed the sad realities many pepole had to face with hiding their true identity to avoid criticism and death.