“My uncle was an engineer. He’s the one that exposed me to...

“My uncle was an engineer.  He’s the one that exposed me to reading.  He’d get a book, finish it, and give it to me.  By the time I was twenty I’d read over one thousand books.  I learned how to live from the characters I encountered.  The first book I ever read was The Passport of Malam Illia, and to this day it’s the reason I never take vengeance.  And there’s plenty to be angry about around here.  Most of my friends are poor.  When we were growing up, police would come to the slum in the evening, pick up my friends, and beat them for no reason.  It made me so angry.  But books also taught me that we have the power to change things.  We can fight for lower fuel prices.  We can fight for better medical facilities.  I’m actually heading to a protest right now.  We haven’t had electricity in this slum for ten days.  Why?  Because last month we protested and now they’re trying to punish us.  But we won’t sit down.  Too many poor people don’t realize their own power because they’ve been subjugated for too long.  They’re like the chickens I keep in my house.  Every time I whistle, the chickens come.  Even when I don’t have food in my hand.  And that’s how people think.  They believe that only government has the power to give.  But anything the government has power to give, we have the power to take for ourselves.”  
(Lagos, Nigeria)