Big Dreams

Being selected for the exchange student program has been my dream since I entered university. Who wouldn't want to leave their country and see the outside world? I have spent my whole 23 years of age in Nigeria. Just moving from state to state but never outside, and when I finally got in I was overjoyed.

They say "you do not appreciate what you have until you lose it".

well I didn't lose it, I will forever remain Nigerian and after my time away I am very proud of that.

I won't sugarcoat living in Nigeria, we had the good and the bad. Everyone has their different experiences but I'm here to talk about mine.

My name is Ifeanyichukwu Adeduni Agu, I am an Igbo girl from Ngwa, a local government area in Abia State. My mother is Yoruba hence my middle name...

"Okay, go on" my friend Chinaemerem urged

"Give me a minute, I'm really trying to decide on which particular experience I want to talk about. There are a lot of stories swirling around in my head"

"Then pick one" she said, "it doesn't have to be the best but don't pick the worst, we're trying to sell the good part of being Nigerian"

"Easy for you to say" I muttered

Chinaemerem rolled her eyes, "okay let's do this, what is the best thing that has ever happened to you?"

"Well right now I am getting to study my dream course"

"You're such a nerd, think Ify, think. Something that has happened to you, it doesn't have to be recent but it has to be happy".

"Does it really have to be happy? Not every experience in life is a happy experience"

"That's very true Ify" Chinaemerem nodded "but right now let's just try to highlight the positive okay. We can go a little dark later"

"Okay fine. A happy memory.... Let's see ..".

When I was little, I wanted to be everything. I took interest in anything and everything I ever did, music, reading, writing, teaching... You name it. My dream job kept changing every year because there were just so many exciting options to choose from. I once read a book by Ben Carson and decided to become a surgeon, My opinion changed after watching a live surgery on television; I gained immense respect for surgeons, yet I recognized that the surgical field was not where I belonged.

I was 10 and in my 5th primary school year when I finally decided to study aeronautics and astronautics. It was different, not a profession you'll hear about in Nigeria especially the part I grew up in. To Nigerians, if you're not a Doctor, lawyer or an engineer you wasted your time in school doing absolutely nothing.

That is why I loved it so much, it was different but it was really fascinating. It was something that was not completely explored, so there were many other things to discover and what's more exciting than making discoveries?

Of course nobody paid much attention to me, it was seen as a little girl's dream and when I grew up I'd be more realistic. It was my dream, yes, but it wasn't an unattainable dream for me or so I thought.

My parents came into the realization that I was serious when I was 14 in my 1st senior Secondary school year, or tenth grade as it's called here. It was in this class that the division into arts and science specialties took place. We were told to fill out a form talking about our career choices, as you can already guess, it was all "doctors, nurses, lawyers, engineers". Then I filled my aeronautics and astronautics, this brought concern to my teachers because they thought I was being delusional and that I was still wrapped up in my "cartoon movies" as they called it.

They called for a meeting with my parents to talk about switching to another career path, that memory is still very vivid. My parents sat me down that night and spoke to me about the environment I found myself in.

They explained to me that the career path I chose was left unexplored not because of the lack of people or unwillingness of the people to do it but because we were still a developing country and we were lacking the appropriate technology needed for learning. They went further to explain that even if I was successful in learning it, there wouldn't be a place for me to practice what I studied. And If I didn’t practice, I couldn’t work — and without work, there was no money.

They tried to make me understand that at the end of the day what mattered the most in our society was money and money was needed to survive, but at that age, I lacked an understanding of money’s value; it didn’t register as something that required real effort to obtain, so I felt like they just wanted me to fit into every Nigerian parents dream of their child being a doctor or a lawyer.

"So what happened next?" Chinaemerem asked eagerly

"You know I can't concentrate if you keep distracting me" I said

"Oh. so sorry, it's just that I want to know what happens next. It's finally getting interesting "

"Really?" I asked completely in doubt, "you don't think it's getting too long?"

"As long as it is captivating, it does not matter how long it is. Just keep going" Chinaemerem reassured.

"That's really encouraging to hear, can I go on now?

"Sure, sure you can"

"And please try not to interrupt me, it messes up my flow"

"Alright, go on"

Senior Secondary school was a breeze, We had a lot of career counselors come in to talk to us about the best path to earn money. My resolve started wavering when I got to my final year in senior Secondary school. At this level of education, there are 3 professional exams in Nigeria that have to be written before entering a university.

The first is the West African Senior School Certificate Examination popularly called WAEC and it is written by all the schools in West Africa.

The second one is Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) conducted by the National Examinations Council but it is written only in Nigeria.

The third one is the computer based test conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation board. This exam was different because Passing this exam was the mandatory first step in my university application, as my chosen program was already specified.

In some schools, the second exam was optional but the first and last were necessary if you wanted to go to a university in Nigeria.

"Now I'm making it boring by mentioning all these aren't I?" I asked

"Meh, you're building up to something so just keep going" Chinaemerem answered.

After my secondary school graduation I was faced with the river I said I was going to cross when I came to it, what I was going to study in university.

The first problem came when I noticed that no school in Nigeria offered Aeronautics yet, the ones that did just offered it in name but the faculty wasn't fully functional. I was really heartbroken when I found out, this was a golden opportunity for my parents, finally I was going to give up my pipe dream and face reality.

I wasn't ready to do that, not yet. I did some major research and found schools outside the country that offered it, that's when the second problem came. My family was not wealthy, we had enough to survive within our means. I would need to pay for tuition, accommodation, feeding and the most important thing was the visa application, leaving the country was going to cost a lot of money, money that my family did not have. I was just one child out of four so my parents could not spend their whole money on me because of my selfish desire.

After much consideration and family meetings, I decided to settle for electrical electronics engineering, my parents were still concerned because it was a male dominated field but they had to compromise because I was almost depressed about the way things turned out.

Getting admission into a university was not difficult for me because I was smart..

"That sounds a little braggy don't you think?" Chinaemerem interrupted me yet again

"I'm definitely one to toot my own horn. As I was saying..."

I made it into university, I went to the University of Ibadan in Oyo State, it is a public university and it is known to be the first university in Nigeria.

Going there really opened my eyes to a lot of things in my environment, I got to relate with people from different backgrounds, different states and ethnic groups. People spoke different languages and had different names that sounded strange to me who was stepping foot out of my state for the first time.

Creating relationships in university was a little difficult for me because these were people raised differently from how I was raised, people from different religions and values, but stepping out I got to see how diverse everyone was.

I had been quick to write off my country when I hadn't explored it to the fullest and experienced what life as a Nigerian really was. It was fascinating hearing peoples stories about where they are from and their cultures, there were a lot of things that made no sense to me but ware very important to some other people.

As someone that loved discovering new things I took to research and found out that they are up to 371 tribes in Nigeria and I just knew two, which was very lacking.

Relating with different people made me realize that each person has their dreams, for themselves and for their country. Dreams that at some point in their lives seem very unattainable but they held onto it, it was something for them to live by. It was something that kept pushing them even when it looked like there was absolutely nothing that could be done about it.

I learnt that sometimes things don't always work out the way you plan, so you devise a means to get comfortable enough to be able to go for whatever you want without being questioned by anybody.

With the little time I had spent in the university, my outlook on life changed drastically and so did my dream.

My dream was no longer to leave the country to study Aeronautics and astronautics, but to bring the courses down here so not only me could study but others interested could do so. The first time I said that out loud I got a lot of stares, I could see the confusion on people's faces, problem wondering how I planned to achieve such a feat as nothing but an undergraduate in a public university no less.

If I was going to make such a mark I needed to stand out, I decided to be, as My friend Chinaemerem would call me, a nerd. I am pretty much unstoppable when I put my mind into doing something.

I started my ground work by rounding up students that had careers paths they wanted to chase but changed their minds because of the accessibility in the country, and believe me when I say they weren't that hard to find.

The next step was reaching out to schools within the country, private schools first because they were more inclined to diversify than public universities, it wasn't easy because we were turned away multiple times and told to just study what our school offers and not try to make life more difficult for ourselves.

The subsequent phase involved reaching out to international universities offering the relevant courses, The private schools that listened to us started by bringing in teachers for those select courses. That was easier to do than flying the number of students outside the country. I had the opportunity to participate in the classes that were taught by the guest teachers.

It wasn't perfect but it was a very good start, and suddenly my dream wasn't unattainable anymore.

"What did your parents think about all these extracurricular activities?" Chinaemerem asked

"Well they didn't mind, as long as I wasn't struggling academically they were fine with it"

I graduated from the University of Ibadan in 2018 and I was offered a full scholarship to study Aeronautics and astronautics engineering at MIT, which is the Massachusetts institute of Technology. One of the best colleges in the United States for engineering.

I won't go into the long story of how it happened, the most important thing is that it did and my parents were so proud of me. because at the end of the day everyone got what they wanted. Starting at MIT wasn't easy because of the big difference between it and our Nigerian schools.

You can already guess where this is going, long story short, I finished in MIT, did my masters and PhD. I worked for a little bit before I decided to be a teacher, like those teachers that were brought in from outside the country to teach. But this time I was just returning home to give back to my country, this was my dream.

My dream was for a better education system in Nigeria and Africa as a whole but I dream too of Nigerians being seen as something a lot more than just a developing country.

Hunger, poverty, underdevelopment

Words that are always associated with Africa, have we ever wondered why that is the case?

Why are we associated with such words when there's a lot more to us; our history and heritage, our cultures and our languages.

We can't ignore the fact that we indeed have our own vices, but why should the vices be glorified when there are a plethora of beautiful things about us?

I mean, if we could solve hunger and poverty it would not exist but nobody knows how to, not even the greatest minds. So why spend the little time we have glorifying our impediments, when we can revere our cultures and experiences?

Why do we spend time moaning and complaining about how things are getting worse instead of standing up to try to make a change, Africa is my continent and it is very beautiful.

My dream is not about leaving my country to seek greener pastures, it's about bringing the greener pastures home, it's about bringing education to the deepest part of Africa. It's about making sure no one has to compromise on their dream because of where they find themselves, it's also about spotlighting the immense beauty in the diversification in my society.

"Thank you very much Chinaemerem, I wouldn't have made it this far without you pushing me forward"

"Oh come on, you're making it sound like I'm the reason you're here today. I'm just the reason you're telling this story" she took a deep breath and continued "This, all these Ify, it's all you. You just found your story and told it and it is very beautiful I admire that about you"

"Oh stop it, now you're making me shy" I smiled bashfully "I just hope I don't bore them with this long story, I tried to make it as brief as I could"

"Yes I noticed, you obviously need to tell me the full story later, I'm dying to know and I can promise you that I won't get bored at all"

"Okay I promise"

So to end it all, I still remain Ifeanyichukwu Adeduni Agu. And I hope I was able to get my story across and I also hope it was informative and educational.