Connecting the Dots

Hello, Precious Friends!

While I await feedback from my wonderful Editorial Midwife, I would appreciate your thoughts, comments, and suggestions on how to refine this draft.

Keep up the good work, everyone!

“I’ve had nothing to eat today,” the young woman says, averting her head to hide her shame. Bukky places a hand on her shoulder and together they walk to Kuti Hall, where there is a popular food joint. The young woman orders a Kuti-burger—an inexpensive bread-and-egg ensemble. Bukky gets one, too, and pays.

Later that day, stepping out of a classroom, Bukky hears a voice behind her. Turning around, she realizes she does not know the young man calling her name, but his face is familiar—it’s the face of a leader on the verge of catching a star. “I just wanted to share with you that I’m going to be running for student union president.” Bukky stops awhile and listens to him dream out loud, wondering why he had thought to share this with her.

Walking back to her dormitory in the evening, Bukky stops by the office for the F.A.I.T.H. Initiative to check her e-mails and prepare for her meeting with the principal of a local secondary school coming up the following day.

Just another day in the life of 20-year-old Bukky Shaba, a final-year Broadcasting student in the Department of Communication and Language Arts at the University of Ibadan in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Bukky knew from an early age what she wanted to do with her life. “I’ve always loved to talk,” she discloses with an embarrassed giggle. “Growing up, I was alone a lot of the time since my siblings were so much older, so I would talk to the tables and chairs, or even the mirror!”

The last of six children, with a six-year gap between her and the sibling just before her, Bukky grew up quickly and was always mature beyond her years. “I mothered everybody around me,” she says.

When she was old enough to attend secondary school Bukky’s parents sent her to a boarding school where she could have access to the best education they could afford. It was there that Bukky discovered another side to the world.

“My schoolmates made fun of me because I was fat,” Bukky reveals, able to smile wryly now at the recollection. “I never fought back because my parents had so ingrained in me that there was never a place for violence. But because I was so quiet, people enjoyed picking on me.”

It was a difficult period for Bukky. Behind her bedroom walls, her voice remained vibrant and loud, but in public, she would withdraw into a shell. Fortunately, with the support of her family and Christian youth organization at her school, Bukky was able to weather the storm. By her third year in secondary school, she had learned how to deal with her insecurities.

“Because of my experience, I developed interest in people like me… like who I used to be, who cannot voice out,” says Bukky.

As she reached out to her peers and gained insight into their struggles, Bukky also became interested in removing obstacles in the way of flourishing for young people. After she graduated from secondary school, Bukky moved to Ibadan to pursue a degree in Broadcasting at the University of Ibadan (U.I.). At U.I., Bukky continued to seek opportunities to better serve youth and to push beyond the social, economic, and geographical limitations of the day. Universities in Nigeria—particularly the public universities with strong student unions, political undertones, large and diverse populations, and an influx of talent from around the country—are usually incubators for upcoming leaders. Many social vanguards in Nigeria got their start as organization leaders on their University campuses.

Nearly two years ago, a new horizon opened up for Bukky when she was introduced to the world of social media. In early 2009 during a University strike that went on for many weeks, some friends encouraged Bukky to join Facebook, a social networking phenomenon that enables people to connect and communicate with friends around the world.
“A guy I’d met at a youth conference some years before found me on Facebook and suggested a few friends that I should add,” Bukky shares.

Soon, Bukky had developed a network of like-minded people who are making a difference in their communities in Nigeria and around the world. As she read their blogs and Facebook Notes, she was amazed to hear the positive, solutions-oriented tone of their voices. It was so different from the types of conversations she typically heard among her peers regarding the problems in Nigeria. The ideas they shared resonated with the vision she carries for Nigeria’s youth.

“I want young people to be more interested in what is going on around them. I just have a passion to see young people thinking about what can be, rather than dwelling on the challenges of our present situation,” Bukky articulates.

When Bukky returned to her campus after the strike, she was eager to start a movement for change. As she talked to people about possibly organizing a seminar on key issues pertaining to Nigerian youth, she met a young man by the name of Faith Abiodun. Faith had recently graduated from the University and had recently established a student-led, nonprofit organization, The F.A.I.T.H. Initiative (TFI). Faith invited Bukky to come onboard as a founding member and the “dean” of the Outreach Centre at TFI.

“One of the first projects the Outreach Centre carried out was the Adopt-A-School Initiative,” says Bukky. Previously, volunteering through a different organization, she had learned about Abadina College, a local public secondary school that was facing challenges. In her capacity as dean of the Outreach Centre, Bukky commandeered an effort to revamp Abadina.

“I met with the principal, vice principal, teachers and some of the students. We identified what the main needs were. We also took a tour of the school.”

The feedback and observations were disheartening. None of the classrooms had windows or sufficient chairs and desks. A broad stroke of black paint on a wall served as the blackboard in each of the classrooms. There were no usable toilets, so students have to go into the bushes to answer the call of nature.

Abadina students themselves were sprightly and eager to learn, but many of them walk long distances to come to school and some are distracted during their class sessions by the growling in their stomachs.

Bukky and her team decided to call attention to the problems at Abadina, which is only one of thousands of schools in Nigeria that are in a similar state of disrepair. The Outreach Centre at TFI has created a documentary on Abadina College, which has been circulated virally as well as distributed across Nigeria.

“What motivates me? The fact that so many people suffer when there is so much abundance.” By abundance, Bukky refers not only to financial wealth but to knowledge, training, and other resources that are presently inaccessible to the average Nigerian youth.

Bukky believes her career in journalism would give her access to a broader audience and also uniquely position her to facilitate interactions across social, political, or economic divides.

“I want to connect the dots. Yes, that’s it. I don’t want to be in front, but if I can link one person to another person and make things happen…”

Bukky is already making things happen as a talk show host for one of the programs at her university’s radio station. She regularly addresses issues of moral and social concern and receives call-ins from listeners who want to voice their opinions.

Amidst the discourse and the noble ideas, Bukky does not neglect to attend to the reality of the needs of many young Nigerians.

“We want to challenge young people to be leaders and to do great things. But someone who is hungry cannot listen to what you have to say. First, we must meet basic needs,” Bukky asserts.