I vividly recall the day that Uncle Jerome became my English teacher. It came as a shock to me. One day I was working through a long comprehension essay in my English Project textbook with Mrs E, my former English teacher, and the next day, Mr Jerome was teaching us the different types of Figures of Speech. At first glance, he seemed like any other English teacher I have had at that time. I think he started the class by introducing himself “My name is Mr Jerome and I ….” 

 

I had always been the smart kid in the class, but sometime in  201… (nosy, nosy why do you want to know the exact year? 😂), I had an teenage life crisis (lol) and my grades plummeted. I went from being the top student in my class to struggling in multiple subjects. I felt like I had lost my sense of identity and was merely a shadow of my former self. Looking back, there were numerous culprits for this — Melissa, my best friend, relocating to Abuja, the onset of puberty, and my yearning to be seen as a “big gurl.”

 

And then there was Mr. Jerome. One day, during a typical English class, he threw a challenging question to the class that left everyone perplexed. I can’t remember at the moment, but I think I decided to give the question a shot or rather he asked me to. Either ways, to my surprise, I answered it flawlessly, and he responded with the words that would transform my life: “Oli, you have always been smart…” Those words resonated with me profoundly. “Me? Smart?” No one had used that term to describe me in a long time. All I had been hearing was “She USED to be smart.” Imagine the disheartening feeling of people discussing you in the past tense. I wrongly accepted their verdict and believed them. I thought to myself “Chidinma, there was a time when you were smart, but not anymore.“

 

Unknown to Mr Jerome, those words lit a flame in me. I returned home that day, determined to change the course of my academic journey. I scoured my home for every English textbook I could find and studied diligently that night. I walked into the next class fully prepared and brimming with confidence. Fast forward a few months, my grades had began improving gradually, and I was writing a mock physics exam for my WAEC exams. Mr. Jerome approached my desk and said something along the lines of, “You’re doing a fantastic job; keep it up!” Those words ignited a fire within me. I ended up scoring a perfect 40/40 on my physics exams that year 😊.

 

With every word of encouragement and acknowledgment, Mr. Jerome fanned the flames of inspiration within me, eventually turning it into an unquenchable source of motivation. He, along with many others, is the reason I chose the path to become an inspiration. Why? because some where deep in my heart, I strongly believe that maybe, just maybe, I can be an “Uncle Jerome” to an African woman or even an entire generation of African women. This is why I co-founded Inspire Her Afrika, and I am thrilled that I’ve embarked on this journey.

 

Written by Chidinma Oli