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Philomena Ngwodo Uwaifo
As a child, I always dreamt of telling stories through my writing. I have had the privilege of growing up in the eye of the world from my mind’s eye. I grew up as the fifth child and second daughte...ver maisAs a child, I always dreamt of telling stories through my writing. I have had the privilege of growing up in the eye of the world from my mind’s eye. I grew up as the fifth child and second daughter of a seasoned, disciplined police officer with a large family of ten children from my mother alone (we are made up of six boys and four girls). It was never a rosy childhood for me. Ours was a low-income African family with only a good name to our credit. I never had the opportunity of been pampered or loved as I would have wanted as a child. Rather, I was the tiny little child who was ignored, scorned, and rejected by those who should have taught me how to navigate through the difficult stages of my troubled, lonely life.
Even now, I am not fully accepted by those whose family tree I am descended from. Not allowing this to deter me or my dreams, I grew up living my life through the flow of pen, ink, and paper. I fell deeply in love with writing. I started writing what I felt, talking to myself in my own little world through the pen. It started when I was about 14 years of age, in the congested one-bedroom apartment that I shared with my parents and other siblings. I now found my voice in writing to express what I felt and what I was going through. It was an avenue for me to live the kind of life I wanted, from another world, through the mirror of life. Sometimes I stayed away from the family, refusing to eat my meals (when there were meals) or talk with anybody, because I felt I was being deprived of love and attention. But I was once again ignored and rejected by those who gave me life.
To this day, I still believe it could be because my parents had too many of us, so there was no time for poor me. Alas! This was the beginning of a journey that has brought me to keep this date with destiny, as I have always prayed to God to help me impact my generation positively. For once in my life I want my voice to be heard – and heard for positive change! I was nicknamed “the wall gecko” as a child. That was because I hardly ever went out of the house or kept many friends; instead, I spent most of my time writing poems in my notebook, expressing what I could not say freely to anyone.
Most of what you are reading now is a translation of my life as I felt through the stages from childhood to adulthood. Then I started having relationships involving betrayal, back-stabbing, heartbreak, and all other not-too-pleasant experiences with those I thought to be my own. That was before I found love in my husband, Yekinni Jinodu Uwaifo, my pillar of strength, love, and comfort. He is a husband in a million, who gave all for my love. For this I am eternally grateful to him forever.
I have the privilege of having my two wonderful sons, in whom I am well proud out of my heartbreaks of love. I did not allow those to stop me from realizing my dreams; the troubles of those periods of my life never deterred me from achieving my goals. I came out stronger – you can too! I learnt. I turned the troubles of my life to the glories of my life and the disgrace of my life to the grace in my life! So, too, can you. Today, I am truly blessed and happy to tell you about that life that was in shadows but that needed to see the light.
This is a compelling story for all to read, enjoy, interpret, relate, and learn from as you go through the ropes of life. After high school, I struggled to obtain a higher diploma degree in journalism and practiced same for over fifteen years in my country, Nigeria. I rose to the pinnacle of my profession, climaxing as the Editor in Chief and Publisher of the Niger Delta Mouthpiece Newspaper, a local tabloid I started on my own before relocating to join my husband in the United States of America. I have always loved to touch lives positively one way or another and help contribute constructively to my generation through my writings. I want to love and give joy to others – and this is the way to do it!ver menos