And So I Roar: A Novel

ON WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU Life is not too much about what happened to you, but about how you answer the question of what happened to you. There is a simple English word for this thing: re-action. How do you re-action to what happened to you?

ON CHOICE God gives all of us the freedom to choose our choice. You can choose to be happy. Or choose to be kind, or to smile, or to give, or to be at peace, or to dance. I say, always choose a good choice. But first choose common sense.

didn’t born childrens, but that don’t mean I am not a mother. A mother gives a wise word and food and love. A mother is takes care of people. I been doing all that since I been around twenty-three years of old.”

She’s right. But also wrong. We, the city-born-and-raised Nigerian women from middle-class and wealthy families, might be free of some harmful traditions and customs, but we still get the short end of the stick. Deola, my former boss, who is successful and well traveled, was raped by her ex. She got examined forensically after subjecting herself to

ON HUMBLENESS A tiny mosquito can bite a whole adult human being man and cause him to catch malaria. Meaning what? Stay humble; a pinch of thing can bring the whole of all of you down.

“My mothers and sisters—” She turns toward the women, her voice rising, a roar thundering through the gathering. “Are you not tired of carrying the heavy load of suffering? Don’t you want to be free? For your girls to grow up and become somebody important? Don’t you want them to go to school or learn a work and buy you cars and wig and makeup paint

ON LEARNING As long as you are alive, there will always be things to learn because learning is like food. Once of it is never enough for the rest of your life. So, keep feeding your hunger for learning and keep humble your heart to learn the wisdom of those who learned before you. Even if you are more old than they are.

ON BEING A MAMA A mama is always there even if she cannot be there. A mama is more than just the science of body. It is the true deepness of heart, the beginning and end of love, the true meaning of sacrifice.

Don’t block your ears. Please listen…so that you can be full of thank-you that you are born in a part of the Nigeria where a girl-child is not a curse. Be full of thank-you that your papa can pay money to send you to school.” Her voice takes a dip, like she’s plunged her head into something hollow, buried. “Please listen, Ms. Tia—so that you can co