Idi, Balpolam. Growing, Up North. — Nigeria, 2021. Print.
Dear Fellow,
Writing is the longest, most difficult commitment in my life.
I easily recall my first deliberate attempt to write consistently whenever this conversation comes up. The first was during my second year in junior secondary school. Out of the 17 notebooks we were given for the session, I dedicated one to writing about my experiences in school. I cannot recall how regularly I intended to write then. All I remember now is that I wrote only one entry in that notebook—the first entry and nothing more. That was in 2012. I found the book on the shelf in the house in 2019, while rearranging the house. Since 2019, this story has been a major marker when reminiscing my journey into writing.
From 2013 to 2017 (the year I graduated from secondary school), I hardly can point out any significant, deliberate writing practice in my life. Save for another failed commitment to write consistently before the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE). Then, I wrote a letter based on a practice question book for English Language and submitted it to my teacher for assessment. I told her I would write one and submit it every Friday. I wrote the first six weeks before the commencement of the WASSCE exams. She was kind to agree to the deal, but I didn’t turn in another after the first. She would remind me about the deal for the next two Fridays, and that was the end. (Today, she reads my newsletter and generously grants her remarks.)
The Backstory
Before writing the fourth chapter of my book The University Library, I had been in a series of conversations with Michael, the central character of that chapter. The theme of my conversations with Michael is on finding purpose and calling. Since the book was first released in August of last year, I had been in similar conversations with some of my contemporaries. This conversation seems to be foremost in the minds of folks under-thirty. I have observed my conclusion in such discussions often goes like this: “Explore your interests, no matter how numerous, while you can; leave as many dots as possible on the graph; look back once in a while; and you will eventually see a pattern or a trend that says a great deal about you.” Sounds like living by trial and error, but it is common knowledge that the majority of us do not have a definite, specific interest, passion or talent to pursue before adolescence. We figure out ourselves on the go, in our becoming. I often concluded with such certainty that moments later I’d wonder if I was the one speaking. I use to be quite unsure of that conclusion myself. So was the experience until Balpolam came into the scene.
The Reading
(Pardon me. You will not find direct quotations everywhere necessary from Balpolam Idi’s book in the following paragraphs. I have returned the copy I read—it’s a friend’s copy.)
I find that Growing, Up North is a means by which Balpolam has “look back once in a while” to trace the dots she’d left throughout her life. The book is a chronicle of her life growing up in northern Nigeria. What a remarkable way to seek out the pattern in one’s life—not to mention finding the outlier moments and beautiful interruptions! Further into the book, I found myself an ally in understanding. She wrote, “Questions often make me frazzled. . . . My favourite question ‘Who are you?’ leaves me in a dither. ‘Who are you?’ I don’t know . . . yet. I mean, I thought the entire point of our life’s journey is to discover who we are as we live out heavenly realities here on Earth. How then does anyone expect me to know who I am after a mere two decades?” (p. 138). Though she calls her journey so far “a mere two decades”, I think there’s a lot more to unravel from the excerpt. Elsewhere, Balpolam says she is still figuring it out—as if to say, “expect a second book after I ‘look back once in a while’ again.”
The Lessons
There you have it. At some point, we get to revisit the question “Who am I?” When you arrive at that junction again, here is a headway: “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created mankind in His image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:26-27, NIV). Solve the mystery from this point. If it gets too overwhelming, cool off with chapter two of Becoming Intentional by Truth Osumareton Egbe. And return to finding what it means to be created in the image and likeness of God; everything else you are, or will be, proceeds from there!
The Conclusion
I am also on the journey, leaving the dots—and tracing them. Perhaps, like Balpolam, it is what my debut book The University Library is about. In a way, teaching is synonymous with writing. Put another way, a teacher is synonymous with a writer. If you told me to stick with writing like a couple in 2012 or before, I’d refuse it. Though I collected quotes in a special notebook during secondary school, I still wouldn’t have agreed easily that I would write post-2012. The connection in the past to my passion for my libraries today goes back to being the library prefect at Command Secondary School, Jos in 2017. It goes further back to when I became aware of a shelf in the house as a child. Where it goes from here, I do not know. But one thing remains, I “look back once in a while” and I have decided to officially release my findings to the world in print.
When will you look back to trace the dots, good Fellow? Let’s see what pattern you find—and outliers too. Success!
Your LetterMan,
Tongjal, W. N.
My book The University Library will be launched on the Naraguta Campus, University of Jos on the 29th of July 2023. I will appreciate your support. Here is a way: make a donation using the button below:
Thank you, good Fellow!