• Friday, March 29, 2024
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The Treasured Writers turns 13

Writers

In 2007, I could not find a summer school which spoke to my spirit for my children. We seemed to always be doing tie and dye and run round parks and come home empty. My nest was filling up fast and the kids did not want any more of those. I also found that my children did not want more of what they had learnt in school like more math or more social studies. Children wanted to learn other things that were not offered in school, wanted to play and let out steam and just wanted to be themselves.

I understood it but no one seemed to be offering those things my children wanted and those things I dreamt about. So I set up the The Treasured Writers (TTW), Abuja’s longest running and only week-long summer writing workshop. I was as excited as the 17 other parents who came along with me.

We have loved the summer workshop and continued to grow every year. From about 24 children we now receive about 40 -50 children every year. We give this opportunity to kids between the ages of 7 and 14 years of age. Our TTW participants when they turn 15 years become junior facilitators who help us look after the other children while benefitting the same course and becoming responsible.

It has been an incredible journey as I look back and see our children graduating from universities. One year, a Chicago-based Nigerian architect who had done some work putting up a movie house and galleria in Abuja joined us as a resource person. The young participant who followed him around is now an architect.

Another year we flew in Kate Henshaw to teach acting and a shy participant was so fired up by Kate that she was given the role of angry wife which she did, with so much aplomb. Today she is in Canada about to graduate in the field of Theatre and Media and leads her school’s dance troupe.

We have been amazed by the impact this has made and are proud of our over 500 participants; particularly of our repeat parents. Mrs Odah and Mrs Aku brought their children every year and when they turned 15 brought them to learn how to manage other children.

We have been blessed over the years with amazing resource persons and excellent volunteer facilitators. The resource persons have included Head of Mccarthur Foundation for Africa Dr Kole Shettima who never refuses whenever we ask him to come and teach our children the seven qualities of a good leader. Ditto, Dr Otive Igbuzor, Chief of Staff to the current Deputy Senate President, and President of the Africa Centre for Leadership and Strategy who has come in many times to teach the children leadership.

We have been blessed by Chinyere Obi Obasi, NLNG-shortlisted children’s writer and Tricia Adaobi Nwaubani, Commonwealth literature prize winner, who have both come to teach the children what it takes to be a writer. Most kids think writers of books are ghosts so we bring real writers to teach, engage and lunch with them. The questions from the children are always thought provoking and in some instances quite hilarious. Denja Abdullahi President of the Association of Nigeria Authors (ANA) has joined us for poetry in the bottle and we have written essays on what my little eyes see to teach a keen sense of observation.

We have made our own cocktails (non-alcoholic of course), made our own salad and learnt how to make five different types of sandwiches. We have cried and laughed after the elections for TTW Ambassador and learnt to be gracious winners and gallant losers. We need to start to tell young Nigerians that winning an election is not everything and one should be kind to one’s opponent and losing is not the end of the world. The Independent National Electoral Commission has conducted two of our elections and we have had several artistes, musicians and singers as resource persons and learnt about harmony and choreography.

We have had a phenomenal cartoonist from The Guardian newspaper teach facial expressions in art. Last year we had Bilkisu Jungo, of The Upcycle Architect, who taught to turn waste to wealth. We have even had our own wealth management class and we found so many potential entrepreneurs and future millionaires.

We are still on this incredible journey which I facilitated every year for the last 13 years, except for the Ebola year. This year, Mrs Kokab Faroukh the award winning Pakistani artist, will to come and teach us how to make amazing decorations and art in our 2019 edition “Art is Life”. Children never cease to amaze. Bright-eyed, we continue to give children joy in Abuja for the last decade and some. Every year is different and fun-filled.

I am looking forward to this year’s edition at The Eugenia Abu Media Centre at Maitama amusement park starting on Monday, 26 August 2019, as well as the TTW party which always makes us misty-eyed when we have to all go our separate ways until the following year.

Yes, we are considering Easter and yes we are considering other cities in Nigeria. We hold our breath. We are thankful to all parents who trusted us with their children and for every child who came through the door. Let’s do it again this year with glints in our eyes. Selah!

 

EUGENIA ABU