When I was asked to be a speaker for Journeys of Growth and Belonging, I said yes without hesitation. Journeys of Growth and Belonging is a monthly gathering in which storytellers gather to share their experiences of working to shift narratives in their communities and organizations. It is a space to teach storytellers and listeners how to be relational activists and reclaim control of their collective well-being. I joined as a storyteller, after having similarly been invited to share my personal and leadership stories at the WE Talks with Women for the Environment Africa in the summer.
In both spaces, I had the opportunity to reflect on fundamental questions such as:
- Why did you choose to be on this journey?
- What have been the pivotal moments that brought you here?
- What has your story taught you?
I found myself sharing again the stories of my movement around the world, including pivotal migration and border-crossing experiences, that have indelibly marked who I am, the work and communities I have chosen and the choices I continually make. And again, in the way that it will always teach and transform, my storytelling reminded me of the core questions that drive me. It reminded me of why I do what I do, whether it is writing about Transformation after Trauma, or encouraging African leaders to keep telling their stories or reminding Black/African diaspora communities that their stories matter, no matter what the dominant discourse around them is. The exercise of being a storyteller again brought home to me how much it is our internal Resonance stories—our personal life narratives that deeply connect us to identity and purpose—that influence transformational possibilities in ourselves and others. As I reflected on the pivotal moments that brought me to the issues of social change and justice that matter to me today, I was surprised to unpack not the narrative of my own war experiences, but my experience at the time of the ones that pre-dated mine.
In sharing my stories, I spoke about how I have always, in my memory, experienced a deep need to contribute to changes in the narratives and realities of displaced and marginalized communities facing adverse social impacts. That sense of calling lives as an embodied response that first manifested as a heavy pit in my stomach when I was a child in Sierra Leone, watching Namibian refugees arrive at my school. I was deeply troubled as I tried to make sense of a myriad of questions. Why were these children homeless? Why couldn’t the adults have solved whatever conflict it was to prevent families and communities from being displaced? Why would humans be okay with other humans suffering at this scale? Little did I know that these inner inquiries would be the beginning of an ongoing journey for me. Not long after the Namibian refugees, came the Liberian ones. In a few short years after that, I would join the statistic of conventional refugees as a result of war and armed conflict in Sierra Leone.
Exploring ways to address these questions has followed me across continents, through war, displacement, and bureaucratic borders that tried to define who I was. I’ve been detained, interrogated, and questioned about my right to belong. I’ve seen the scars of conflict etched into buildings, bodies, and communities. I’ve felt the weight of systems that dehumanize, and I’ve witnessed the resilience and transformation of people and communities who refuse to be broken. And in order to be a contribution to transformation of our human challenges, in whatever sphere of influence we each have, I have found that we must each operate from the groundedness of asking and responding to each of these questions for ourselves:
- Who am I?
- Where do I belong?
- What is mine to do?
Among many other identities as the kaleidoscope of life turns, I am a Sierra Leonean and Canadian woman, who was born in Germany. I am a scholar and practitioner of Human and Organization Development, driven by my need to better understand human systems and contribute to spaces where humanity flourishes. I am someone who chooses my spaces of belonging. No one else gets to tell me who I am or where I belong. I’ve learned to walk away from places that won’t hold me, and to build spaces where I—and others—can be fully seen.
I belong in communities that honor humanity. I belong in rooms where transformation is possible. I belong in conversations that center justice, equity, and dignity for all. I belong in the work of rehumanizing our systems, whether in healthcare, education, or organizational and social change. I belong in the stories we tell, the rituals we uphold, and the positive futures we dare to imagine for a world where everyone thrives.
In my work, I’ve come to understand that transformation is not linear. It’s messy, cyclical, and often contested. But I’ve seen it happen. I’ve seen narratives shift. I’ve seen classrooms open up to hard conversations. I’ve seen young people embrace their identities with pride. I’ve seen organizations begin to reckon with their histories and reimagine their futures. My purpose continues to be to hold hope, even when the world feels heavy, that transformation is possible at scale. My call is to support communities to open the doorway to their own transformation by shifting narratives and never giving up on the possibility of a better world.
As I accepted the invitation to turn inward and share my own stories once again, what I accepted was in fact the invitation to further transformation possibilities. It was the invitation to examine again why I do what I do, as my We Will Lead Africa co-founders and I recently did.
I hope you also ask yourself where you have come from and from that personal grounding, reexamine who you are, where you belong and what your call is in these times.
Let your stories guide you.
Sit with the discomfort of the messy parts.
And step into your call and do it relentlessly.
Because the world needs you.
Now more than ever.
See also:
Tedx Talk: How to get past disconnection to social change
Open Access Article: Your story, our story: the transformative power of life narratives