By Eberechi Obinagwam
Award-winning Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Adichie, on Friday, stressed the need for African women to try more and harder in pursuit of their dreams.
Adichie who stated this in an interview with newsmen at the 21st WIMBIZ Annual Conference themed ‘Firing Forward: The Future in Focus’, acknowledged that African women are very strong, but there is a need for them to try more.
According to her, the reason why women do not try more in their pursuit in life is that African women think that there is no point in trying and they believe they may not succeed.
“I think African women are very strong, so many women inspire me. I think we should try more. We should try harder. But, I think very often we think that there is no point in trying because we may not succeed. But, you will never know. I think trying is very important because you may never know if you will succeed or not,” she said.
The Nigerian writer while narrating the story of her success as a keynote speaker of the event said she never stopped trying even when she was getting no. Instead, she used the opportunity to do her homework, went through her work and saw some corrections that she needed to correct and kept trying till she got what she wanted.
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“I traveled to America after quitting Medicine at the Nigerian University, because I found out that it was not what I wanted. Yes, I was passing my papers, but, it was not flowing..so I had to take a bold step to tell my parents that I do not want to study medicine again but wanted to try traveling to America. Because you can not just go and meet your parents and tell them you want to go to America, I used the word, ‘try’ I kept trying till I got a full scholarship to America.
“I started writing and sending my stories with confidence, but, I kept getting rejections. Some will cross it with, No. Some that were fair said, oh, your stories are quite good but you are African and you have African languages in some of your words. There is no name for you from Africa. We only know of Chinua Achebe and it’s old. But, I kept trying till I got published in 2003 with my book, Purple Hibiscus by Algonquin-Books, in New York, USA, and to my surprise, people were looking for the young Nigerian writer.
“I never stopped trying. While I got rejections I used the opportunity to do my homework. Sometimes, when I read through I found out there were places I was in a hurry so I made corrections. Trying does not have to be a success. It has to be extended. Do your homework,” she narrated.
“African women should not stop trying. They should try more. Always believe you can do it and make room for self-doubt. You can still surprise yourself. It’s never too late. Life is short. You just can never know. Make room for self-doubt.
“When you doubt yourself don’t give up because there are times in your life you will doubt. Just know that everyone around you is dealing with self-doubts as well. I feel self-doubt as well but I put it in my pocket and move on,” she advises.
Also, at the event, the Lagos State Commissioner of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Bolaji Dada who spoke as a panelist said her ministry has so far touched sixty-five thousand (65,000) women in the state.
The Commissioner who was speaking alongside four other women in the fourth plenary session, President, NECA Network of Entrepreneurial Women, Funmilayo Arowoogun; UN Women’s representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Beatrice Eyong; Meridian Maskara and Executive Secretary of MTN Nigeria Foundation, Oludayo Sanya, who moderated the session said the Lagos State Government will launch a shelter for abused women before the end of the year.
She disclosed that the shelter would be located in Agidingbi with also a skill acquisition centre to help the women learn different skills.
According to her, “We have noticed that when women who suffer abuse decide to leave their abusers, many of them do not know where to go and are afraid to leave because the men are most times the breadwinners, so with a skill acquisition centre, they will be able to learn something to fend for themselves going forward,”
The Commissioner, also said the ministry in the state has an active help desk for women suffering abuse. Adding that the desk is saddled with the responsibility of attending to the Domestic Violence Response Agency. The toll line is 767. And it can be reached any day and at any time.