Enitan Ibisanmi

Enitan Ibisanmi was raised by his grandparents in Nigeria while his four siblings and parents were living in America. Following high school graduation Eni moved to the US to study a double major in chemistry and biochemistry after receiving a scholarship from the University of Kansas.

When he arrived in the United States it was a real culture shock for Eni – certainly it wasn’t the country he recognised from Hollywood movies or television. For the first time in his life he was identified by others as being black, a label that carried with it strong social, racial, cultural and historical significance. It was an experience that not only politicised Eni, but also the way he saw himself in the world. In Trump’s America it drove an ever widening racial divide.

And while America is now home for Eni, he has spent most of his adult life as both a student and academic in the Commonwealth countries of New Zealand, Canada and now Australia, where he’s studying dentistry at Griffith University. With 3 more years of study remaining here Eni has already been won over by the charms of the Gold Coast and while his family is based in America it remains to be seen where the road will lead him, but for now Eni is one very content student in our city by the sea.