Mud, sweat and peers

STAUNTON — Stomping away in a pit of watery clay over the weekend, Nnabuenyi Anigbogu, 23, an Igbo-American from Chicago, decided he wouldn’t need the gym for his typical workout.

Molding clay bricks to build a traditional Nigerian mud house was challenge enough.

“My grandfather had one back in Nigeria,” Anigbogu said, “but I never really knew how much work went into doing this.”

Starting Friday and ending today, almost 100 Igbo-Americans from Chicago, Nashville, Kentucky and nearby states will have taken part in the strenuous learning experience at the Frontier Culture Museum, where mud houses have been rising for months as part of an Igbo village exhibit that will be the first of its kind in the United States.

For many participating children and teens, the project was a rare hands-on connection to their heritage, Anigbogu said. For the adults, the gathering provides unity in an immigrant community sometimes divided by dialect and distance.

“I cannot think of any other event that has brought Igbo groups together like this has,” said J.A.K. Njoku, professor of folklore and anthropology at Western Kentucky University. “This is the kind of center ... that we hope holds.”

Njoku, a project consultant, keeps Igbos informed of progress through online communities.

“We can speak with different voices — different dialects — but when we cough it sounds the same,” said Kanayo K. Odeluga, who led the Chicago contingent to Staunton. “Unity is strength.”

Participants tried to accommodate different dialects throughout the weekend, sometimes using hand signals to keep brick building organized and house walls rising.

“This is a continuation of the journey that our ancestors began at the start of this country,” Odeluga said. “Many of us have bemoaned slavery ... but to learn their culture helped shape the Virginia frontier, that’s important. It gives us a sense of place; a sense of belonging.”

Anigbogu, who lived 10 years in Nigeria before moving to a near-suburb of Chicago, said teamwork involved in the mud house project reflects his culture’s emphasis on community.

“You don’t do much back in Nigeria without your neighbors,” he said, adding that Igbo-Americans born stateside don’t always get that sense.

“Most of the kids here, this is the chance for them to see this,” said Innocent Nwaogwugwu, who brought more than 20 volunteers from Nashville.

He too considered the project a first, for he had never taken part in mud house construction. And even those who had, such as Sister Miriam Therese Ezike, of Chicago, saw the weekend as a chance to be part of an historical exhibit.

“I want to come in touch with home,” said Ezike, who smoothed the mud walls to prevent cracking and keep bugs away with techniques she remembered from her childhood in Nigeria.

Maintenance like Ezike’s will be key to keeping the mud houses intact and attractive over time, especially in low humidity, said Osi Onyekwuluje, of Bowling Green, Ky.

“This place is going to be swarmed beyond belief,” Onyekwuluje said of future museum tourism. “There’s nothing else like it in the whole United States.”

The village will include four houses; a perimeter wall; livestock including pygmy goats, chickens and guinea fowl; and a traditional garden of yams.