Dr. Fatima Baram Alkali is a lecturer at the University of Abuja and daughter to Professor Zaynab Alkali famous for her novel ‘The Stillborn’. In this interview, she talks about the extra-ordinary side of her mum, growing up with her, what they have in common, and more. Excerpts:
What was growing up like with your mum?
The best way I can describe growing up with my mother is that it was safe. She created a safe space for her children to grow and we didn’t have to seek comfort or fun outside our home.
As children, we played a lot. My parents believed in the importance of play for a child. We had a lot of toys, crayons, coloring books, and building blocks to play with. Whenever my mother or my father traveled, they would always return with gifts of toys and beautiful clothes. They made sure we lived out our childhood fully. As a child I lived in a fantasy world.
What fun memories do you remember?
I have many fun memories. When I was growing up in the ‘80s, my father was the Vice Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri and my mother hosted end-of-year dinner parties for the Women Association of Maiduguri University. My siblings and I, and two of my cousin’s children of equivalent ages had a children’s acting group we called ‘Essential Acting Group,’ or EAG. My mother would let us perform our dramas and songs in front of her friends during those end-of-year dinners and they would be charmed.
It was so exciting for us. She believed and still believes in creative expression, especially for children. That was why she established a platform for creative children, or children who wanted to express themselves creatively in Maiduguri in those days. She also had the tradition of throwing closely-knit family barbecues to celebrate just about any happy event. She still does this. Our last barbecue at her house was a Sallah barbecue not long ago.
How would you describe your mum?
I cannot describe my mother with a few words because it would be limiting, but I will tell you something peculiar about her that people would not ordinarily know. My mother is highly intuitive and very spiritual. She sees deeply and that is one of the great influences she has had on me, to help me see beyond the superficial.
I know this is deeply personal but I think it is a beautiful thing to share. Throughout my childhood, my mother would have dreams and tell us about them and interpret them and these dreams would later manifest in reality. When I was sixteen, I had a very bad automobile accident and my mother was by my side throughout my recovery. I was bedridden for a couple of months and I secretly believed I was going to die eventually. One day she got that admission out of me and she was surprised because I was really putting up an act that all was well with me, psychologically. She started to counsel me and she read out verses of the Holy Qur’an to me to help me believe in the power of prayer. Then I started having positive dreams about my future, which she interpreted and said that the Almighty was communicating to me that everything would be okay in the end.
Since then, I too developed my intuitive abilities. Now my mother may be surprised to read this because I have not told her, sometimes I would see her in a dream telling me something and then I would drive down to go and see her and she would tell me what I already knew but in different words. Me and her, we connect that deeply, even in the dream state.
When did it dawn on you that your mum is a famous writer?
When I was in Secondary school her famous book, ‘The Stillborn’ was a recommended text for Literature, which I studied. My friends would encircle me and ask me to tell them about or ‘teach them’ the Stillborn. I became a teacher of sorts and I enjoyed doing it. I guess I knew pretty well then that she was a famous writer. And then again I would follow her to literary events and our version of the literary paparazzi would be all around her. This even happened a couple of weeks ago at a literary event here in Abuja and it took quite a while for me to get her back into my car.
How much influence did she have on your career choice?
I have published a novel, ‘Personal Angle’ which won the Abuja Writers Forum Award for new fiction, I think in 2010 and I am also a university lecturer, like her. She demonstrated to me how interesting it is to do these things. From the time I became aware of her as my mother, she has been working and she is still working. She loves to work. In those days in the ‘80s, I observed that she wrote a lot and used the typewriter a lot. Many times I would hear her typing into the night. Then when she accomplished something, she would stretch triumphantly and say “I have done what Napoleon has not done.” She is a Professor and God-willing one day I will be one, as well. She has influenced me in so many ways with her positive actions.
What do you miss doing together with her?
I miss everything about growing up. Wouldn’t it be great for me to be back home and be with my parents and siblings and live that life all over again? Okay seriously, she is still very much around. If I miss her, I will just drive down, it’s an hour’s journey, and we will talk and laugh like we used to do back then, and then I will go back home to my loving husband.
What easily upsets her?
She gets upset with people who try to make others feel small, unworthy or inferior. She also does not like to see any manifestation of weakness from her children, and when these two combine, that’s not good.
One time when I was in secondary school I told her that some older people made fun of me and because of that I cried openly. She was visibly upset, both at the fact that I was made fun of and that I cried openly instead of standing up to them. I believe I have developed a thick skin because of her expectation that we should be strong and not weak. She told me her mother was like that too. She also doesn’t like injustice.
How does she relax?
She loves reading and does it a lot. She reads real books, not internet material on a computer screen, but real, solid books, magazines, newspapers. She loves to relax on her couch or bed and just read.
Source: DAILY TRUST