Gilbert Alasa, a Media and Communications professional based in Lagos writes on how his writing content for mediacareerng.org paid off with participation in two global fellowships. He also writes on the need to consciously foster an ecosystem that connects us with the right people and platforms despite the various challenges that abound.
It was a Thursday in June 2019. After the light rain that ushered in the day, the sun soon began to force its way out of the sky’s grey shrouds. Hours into the evening, I joined my wife for a meeting at Our Lady of Perpetual Help – an upscale catholic church tucked away in Victoria Island, Lagos. The meeting went pretty well. As we headed out of Musa Yar’dua Street, where the church is located, to connect Adeola Odeku, my wife and I were in high spirits, bursting with boundless optimism of what the future holds for us.
But that excitement was short-lived. A few hours later, right at the new light rail in Marina on Lagos Island, we were standing as two unfortunate victims of a botched robbery or kidnap or both. Botched because I am still not sure what was the original intent of our assailants – because even after collecting our phones, ATM cards and cash, they insisted they would take me away. To where exactly? I still don’t have the answer even as I write this.
Now, I won’t bore you with how I managed to jump off the vehicle as they zoomed off – barely a minute after dropping off my wife. In the process, I sustained multiple fractures in my fibula and had to spend the next seven days in the hospital. It was a dark moment of mixed hope and despair; of the perpetual struggle between human resolve and fate.
That is not even the point.
With a cast on the entire leg, I would go on to spend months condemned to the solitary confinement of a couch at home.
But one of the things I did during the period was to find a way to make the most of those dark hours – despite the discomfort and pains. That is the core of this piece.
So, I reached out to Uncle Lekan and informed him how I wanted to volunteer to support the Media Career and Development Network through content creation. For me, this was one of the little ways to show some appreciation to a mentor who has been of immense support to my career long before I graduated from university.
In no time, he gave me the login credentials to the site and I started curating relevant content for the platform – from my couch.
One day, while scouting for opportunities online to share on the platform, I stumbled on a fellowship by Climate Tracker – an Australian-based organisation with a network of over 10,000 communicators and writers at the forefront of climate reporting around the world. The fellowship would see top eight writers enjoy an all-expenses-paid trip to cover the UNSG 2019 climate negotiations in New York.
To avoid becoming the bus conductor who ushers passengers into a bus while he hangs at the door, I also applied for the fellowship. Unfortunately, I did not make the final 8. Instead, I was named among the best 15 writers in the competition. Even though it hurt that I would not make it to New York for the fellowship, I took solace in the understanding that the application process opened my eyes to what fellowship organizers are interested in – essential tips that would become helpful much later and even now.
However, a month after that unsuccessful attempt, a new opportunity opened up, courtesy of the same organisation. I applied again and went through the rigorous stages of the application. In November, I received a mail from the organisation to announce that I made it to the fellowship – the only Nigerian on the list. The feeling was incredible – being my first international media fellowship.
A few weeks after completing the nearly two-month-long paid program, I was given a wild card by the organisation to join another fellowship that had just opened up.
READ ALSO: ‘Five International, local fellowships: What worked for me’
To cut a long story short…
We live in unprecedented times defined by varying degrees of complexities and the shrinking of opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a further blow to an industry plagued by multifarious challenges. Despite the growth in technology and the democratization of information, opportunities are not like some mango fruit hanging loosely on a tree and waiting to be plucked. We have to create them.
And one way we can make that happen is by consciously fostering an ecosystem that connects us with the right people and platforms. I know that sounds like a lot of work to do. But truly, it is!
I spent some time on the phone with a colleague over the weekend. I knew he is far better than what his career achievement would have us believe. People who were arguably not as gifted as him were getting opportunities and reaching the ends of the earth while he remains a local champion.
His excuse was that he had applied in the past and since he didn’t get his foot in the door, he felt the whole process was a waste of time. It would be disingenuous of me not to admit that sentiment. But what most people don’t realise is that life never guarantees us anything – no matter how much we work for it. “Even the life that you have is borrowed,” wrote American singer, Akon.
But what is always certain, even till the coming of the Lord, is that diligence and persistence always pay off at some point. Rejection is never a valid excuse to embrace resignation and lose out in the thrill of new experiences and richer dimensions of personal expression.
Perhaps, our mentors, preachers and coaches need to start speaking to us more on their failure diaries – something unscripted and real enough to show us the messy puzzles behind the present glamour and clout. Unfortunately, I am not sure that day will come any soon. I am also not sure opportunities will come screaming at our faces any soon. But I am confident that we can create our own miracles; our own vortex of opportunities when we look beyond our fractured fibulae, our confined couches, our past failures and rejections – when we step out of ‘ourselves’ and ask for the plough.
“Opportunity,” wrote American inventor, “is missed by most people because it dresses overall and looks like work.”
And truly, it is work!