Nana Momoh Odarteifo & Erin Owusu (Grade 11)
Damilola-Tolulope is an African literature blog by Damilola Johnson; a 16 year old writer in her first year of university and a former student of Tema International School. This blog primarily features African themed prose and emotion-filled poetry pieces and is rapidly catching fire with other bloggers and literature lovers. The question to ask is why?
Losing Foluke for example, is a short story series by Lola about a Nigerian teenager trying to cope with the alienation of her brother from the family. This particular story hashes on a critical problem in most African families which is the lack of parental regard for creative art disciplines. Most African parents pressure their children into studying courses like medicine, law, and engineering, often disregarding the actual interests of their children especially when these interests are in the creative arts. Freedom of choice is a right however the iron grip African parents have on their children’s lives and their insistent desire to plan out their futures restricts this.
With Damilola’s authentic African voice and youthful perspective of regular West African occurrences, she easily attracts numerous African teenagers facing similar struggles and eager to connect with others alike
Her simplistic style of writing excludes the many flowery words and abstract ideas often found in contemporary literature and this enables her intended message to be effectively translated to the readers.
This disregard, I believe, is due to the stereotypical image of artists and musicians. Artists are seen as crazy radicals, and musicians unschooled rejects however, what Africans fail to realize is these musicians we don’t want our children to become are the same ones producing the music we dance to. These artists we don’t want our children to become are the same ones creating those beautiful artworks we buy, and those gorgeous Wax print dresses, or the bona fide African jewelry. Who do we expect to move these industries forward if we all dissuade our children from venturing into these fields?
Damilola capitalizes on these issues and hits home with this piece. She does so with straightforward language and meticulous diction that induces a reader- to -character connection with Foluke, and a deep yearning for subsequent posts. To visit this blog, kindly follow the link below and be transfixed by the magic of literature. https://damilolatolulope.wordpress.com
Losing Foluke for example, is a short story series by Lola about a Nigerian teenager trying to cope with the alienation of her brother from the family. This particular story hashes on a critical problem in most African families which is the lack of parental regard for creative art disciplines. Most African parents pressure their children into studying courses like medicine, law, and engineering, often disregarding the actual interests of their children especially when these interests are in the creative arts. Freedom of choice is a right however the iron grip African parents have on their children’s lives and their insistent desire to plan out their futures restricts this.
