by Chukwuemeka Mba-Kalu

Humans love stories. It’s not only a source of entertainment, but it gives context to whatever we encounter. Stories are used by advertisers to lure customers, by politicians when campaigning for elections, and most importantly, historical stories are the foundation of every country. 

A month ago, I was invited by a prominent financial firm in New York to attend an undergraduate conference comprising of 100 students from universities all around the United States. The entire trip was paid for by the company, which meant that most of the attendees were lodged in the same hotel for two nights. It was a rigorous two day event, with activities starting as early as 8:00am and ending nine hours later, at 5pm.

On the night after the first event, I was walking back from dinner when I spotted a few attendees I had met earlier in the day. Three of them formed a semi-circle in the hotel lobby and were discussing silently. Upon seeing them, I mustered the courage to walk up to the group and introduce myself. They were telling stories of themselves and invited me to join them.

A particular Hispanic boy began to speak. He told us about how he grew up in Korea but left when he was eighteen, for the United States with a visitor’s visa and a limited amount of money. He was also unable to speak English. He spoke of his struggle to live hand-to-mouth for more than three years and recounted the nights when his tears didn’t let him sleep. The days when taunts from his classmates cut like daggers through his heart, spirit, and determination, and the enormous amount of work he had to do to keep up with schoolwork. He learned English within a year while working numerous jobs to feed himself, and today, at twenty-three, he attends university on a full scholarship. He’s going to graduate soon, and is already receiving many job offers from big companies! Throughout his thirty-minute narrative, I was dumbstruck and mesmerized. And as I listened intently to every word, I couldn’t help but wonder what amazing opportunities life had in store for him and his future. It was unbelievably inspiring, and it felt like a story from a movie. As I took the elevator back to my room, I remembered that I actually shook hands with him earlier in the day, but the impression I had of him when we first met was significantly different from the impression I took with me back to my room. The difference? I had heard his story.

Humans love stories. It’s not only a source of entertainment, but it gives context to whatever we encounter. Stories are used by advertisers to lure customers, by politicians when campaigning for elections, and most importantly, historical stories are the foundation of every country. The narratives of the various civil-rights movements have shaped America to become the land of freedom, the French revolution laid the foundation for the principles used by France today, and the Nigerian story of independence reflects the struggle of its early icons. This is why I’m bothered by the idea that I did not know details about the Nigerian civil war until I read Chinua Achebe’s “There Was a Country,” a book which was highly criticized by the Yorubas and embraced by the Igbos.

Despite growing up in a Nigerian home and attending a traditional Nigerian school in Lagos, Nigeria’s history – the colonization, slave trade, and civil war – was rarely discussed. I was shielded from these topics at the slightest opportunity. I wasn’t given books on these topics, I didn’t take classes on these topics, and my parents didn’t bring up these topics on the dining table during dinner. Nigerians do not discuss these topics because we are either ashamed or scared of them; hence, we’d rather run away rather than have open-minded discussions about them. I, along with many other Nigerians of my generation, grew up in a country whose story we didn’t know and therefore, couldn’t tell. What, then, is the significance of Nigeria’s history if many of its citizens do not have an accurate and undebated account of its past?

As I listened to my Hispanic friend in the lobby that night, I could find the cause-effect relationship between what his story conveyed and where he is today. His suffering led him to understand the true essence of his life. He focused more and was determined to get excellent grades. He eventually became the valedictorian of his community college and was able to buy a ticket for his mother to travel from Korea for his graduation. When we look at Nigeria, we will never know the cause for the corruption or the terrorism that plagues the country, if we do not first analyze the history. We cannot find the links between its past and its present. It is only when we find the root cause that we can start proffering significant solutions.

What is the solution to this problem, I thought, as I turned the doorknob to my room? It hit me – we need to start telling our stories!

This month, I have worked with a close friend to build a website which will focus solely on telling Nigerian stories. We are trying to tell the stories of different individuals. We want to gather experiences of many different Nigerians, and bring them together in one place. Coming from the same country, we have the similar traits and thoughts that unite us. We all need to share those experiences that are typically Nigerian and can be identified with by many fellow Nigerians.

The idea behind Torinu is simple; you send us your Nigerian story and we publish it. Torinu.com is about painting an accurate picture of Nigeria and its people. We have the intent of telling the numerous stories of Nigerians, and creating an image of what the average Nigerian faces daily. By doing so, we hope we can start a conversation of how Nigerian stories should be told and expressed. And these stories can act as a springboard for a better tomorrow, when we will be able to speak freely as a country with a unified voice, and tackle problems rationally.

We implore everyone to submit their stories to Torinu because, according to Philip Pullman, “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”

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Chukwuemeka Mba-Kalu is an undergraduate business student at New York University and Cofounder at Torinu.com.(www.torinu.com) which aims to tell the numerous stories of Nigerians, and creating an image of what the average Nigerian faces daily.

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.