Personal Narrative: My Interview As A Social Worker

This paper informs an individual of how I engaged in an interview with a young lady name Angela Bright. She told me a little about the culture, the food, describing the culture’s respect for one another etc. Interviewing with Angela made me open my eyes more about other cultures. I also explain the language that is used by the culture and what they value in life. I described what setting the interview was conducted in and how was they environment. I also engaged with different members of Angela’s family to see how they would interact with me. Angela even gave me great advice on how to become a great social worker. She explained to me that becoming a social worker is very rewarding and sometime can get a little overwhelming because of the case
load and me being the social worker can get very emotional at times. She also informed me to keep my head high and stay focused. I will use this information with me to continue my journey and better myself while experiencing and going into the field.

Angela Wright is a thirty-five-year-old woman. She was lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but she was originally born on the coast of Nigeria. She moved to Louisiana when she was eighteen because she had family down here and she wanted to find a better living expense for herself and her daughter. I choose to interview Angela because I wanted to know more about the Nigerian Culture and different aspects of the culture. Angela said she only goes to visit her family every now and again because the cost of traveling to Nigeria is very expensive. She said she’d rather save up a lot of money for a long period of time and go and visit them. I met Angela through my mother.
While learning about the Nigerian culture, it made me want to write a book about them because their lives are so different and unique. Even though my race is closely related to Nigeria, I still wanted to learn about what types of foods they eat? Their religion? Their way of living etc. What even impressed me more, was that Angela is a social worker so that grew me closer to her. The main person I interviewed was Angela, but luckily I met with her whole family because it was game day. When I first stepped into the home, everyone told me “Koyo” which meant hello in Nigeria. Angela also spoke Antigua Official language which is English, but it is combined with local slang and phrases which is called broken English. For example: I’m going to work would be (Me a go ah work). A spoke with her little girl that was fourteen years old and she was very cute and talkative with curly brown long hair. I also met with her baby son who was one years old and he could barely talk. We ate different type of Island food such as Goat, Curray rice, Suya, Banga etc. These foods were very delightful and we also ate different types of desserts such as Nigerian Puff Puff, Nigerian Coconut Candy, Shuku Shuku etc. Angela was used to speaking English because she had some family that spoke English in
Nigeria. I selected this scene because I spoke with her a few times and I loved her accent. I have always wanted to learn the Nigerian Accent. While interview Mrs. Angela, we sat in her living room and spoke a little bit of why she wanted to do social work. She informed me that social work has always been a passion for her because when she was growing up, she did not have a father figure. She also informed me of how she wanted to help children find homes and take the kids away from their parents who have been neglected. Inside of Angela’s house on her table was two gris- gris amulet on her table to keep away the bad luck and bring good luck into the house. She then had A Bob Marley flag on her wall which was red, yellow, and green colors. She also had two big comfortable brown couches that made a dent into the couch for about one minute whenever a person sat down. Angela’s Family sat in the Den so that we could conduct the interview. After that we had a lot of fun! The major theme of this culture would be a lot of Bob Marley crafting and Bob Marley colors such as red- Blood of all Living things in the World, Yellow-Symbolizes the Treasures in the World that People Cherish, and green- represents the Earth and Hope. Some characteristics that I Identified was that Angela was very smart, sensitive, and she can adapt to any situation.
Nigerian language is very much so like English, but Nigerians add their own spice to the language. One example would be Good morning would be Ekuojumo. Another example would be How are you? And in Nigeria this is Se daadaa ni? Nigerians uses this language to get from place to place on a daily basis. If they did not use these words, they probably would not know how to get around nor greet people to see how their day is going. My interpretations of this culture would bet that they are very sweet and caring. While talking to Mrs. Angela she was very delightful and she offered me a lot of food. Knowing that I could not eat that much, I took them anyway out of the kindness of my heart. When we began talking, she gave me compliments on my outfit and my hair style. She stated that she always wanted hair like mine and that it was hard to get her hair my way because she was use to her dread
hair. Angela’s Culture was different from culture in many different ways. The first way her culture is different from mine is that they eat different types of foods. Their food has great taste, but it is different texture. People from Louisiana has great taste in food. When we season our food, we make sure that the taste is just right so that the taste buds make your mouth very watery. Angela also mentioned that there are a variety of foods that we can choose from rather than being in Nigeria. Another way that Angela stated that our culture is different from her culture is that Nigerian’s have more respect than the individuals in the United states. For example, in the US, a young little child will pass by with saying hello. In Nigeria, that is not a form of respect. Interviewing with Mrs. Angela made me want get to know her even more. Ever since I have interview her, we have been talking almost every other day to get to know each other a bit more. Her information has helped me in so many ways that I can use them on an everyday basis while farthing my education and becoming a professional social worker in the near future. Mrs. Angela is a great role model and hope to see her help other kids and families out with their problems. She has made me not only want to help kids and families, but love them as if they were my own.