Hikmah Abodunrin Oral History

In this interview, Hikmah Abodunrin discusses how she grew up in three different places: Nigeria as a young girl, Brooklyn with her immigrant family, and then South Jamaica, Queens; developing a sense of camaraderie with neighbors in Brooklyn and Queens as kids of immigrants; reminiscing about a school trip to a farmer’s market where she did not know the difference between organic and nonorganic foods, purchasing ingredients, and making a soup with friends; middle school at IS 238 in Queens, wearing a uniform, and studying drama; attending John Bowne High School and the Doshi program; choosing Queens College and her major of neuroscience; her dreams of helping underprivileged people and to build a hospital in Nigeria. She also talks about her family, including four siblings; having her bike stolen repeatedly in Brooklyn; Nigerian culture and continuing practicing it in the United States, including the dispersal of household chores and eating foods like pounded yams and jollof rice; speaking Yoruba with her family; celebrating Muslim holidays like Eid and the traditional celebrations at her mosque in Coney Island; her observations about that changing area of Brooklyn; the friendships she has made in the Queens College Muslim Students Association.