Page 59 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 4

WALKING LOVE WALKING LOVE

ourselves off, “

Until we cut

disconnecting from
Comfort Onyaga is on a journey of Walking Love, to
change the narrative of Africa and lift her out of a place that mindset of
of dependency to one of victory. From her experience foreign aid,
in working with locals in fishing communities in the riv- we will not go
erine areas of the Niger Delta in Nigeria, she gives anywhere.
important tips on how Africa can be self-sustaining,
rather than depending on aid.
Interview by Msingi Afrika Magazine team

Please tell Africa a little and said, “Ok, God, I would like the platform to launch CLICE
bit about who you are and to go into the field, understand Foundation.
your background the system, the environment, The church was against both
My name is Comfort Onyaga. the context of our people and politics and pageantry and
Onyaga means the supreme see how I can come up with Af- did all they could to make me
woman. It speaks of the su- rican based solutions.” So that return the crown . At the end of
premacy of the female expres- is how I found myself here. it, I walked away; it was a turn-
sion. I studied Political Science After my final exam I made ing point I made up my mind I
partly because I didn’t want to up my mind that I would take wasn’t going to be committed to
join the bandwagon of Law that a gap year, I didn’t even write them. I walked away from the
everybody else was on, partly my project, I wanted to pursue church and walked further into
because it wasn’t popular for this dream. I wanted work for God.
women to do it and mostly be- myself so I can determine the
cause I wanted to be responsi- outcome, to do things for my CLICE Foundation
ble for whatever decision I take, country, for my continent and to I started off with Embrace the
so that I can be responsible for fulfill what God has put inside of Girl Child project because of
my success or failure. me. In this one year, what I did my own background. I was
During that course, in my 200 was figure out how I would get born out of wedlock, my grand-
level, I realized that most of the started. mother raised me and there
theories of development were In 2014, I decided to participate were issues with my birth par-
propounded by Europeans and in a pageant in Cross River ents going to court. That made
this gave me much concern be- State, though I knew the repu- me a certain way when I was in
cause these guys are not here tational risks involved around school. I became an extreme
per se, so how come they are how they say participants win introvert and certain things I
coming to tell us how we should pageants. I spoke to God about wanted to do, certain ways to
be developing? Most of the the- it and God showed me that I got express myself, certain privileg-
ories that were propounded by it. Despite the attempts by the es I never had access to. The
Africans were like criticisms of organizers to reduce my chanc- girl child became a burden be-
what the Europeans had said, es of winning, God got me cause I said to myself that there
but they were not coming up through. I was deprived of the are several girls who have been
with homegrown theories or Af- prize of a car, a monthly stipend through the same thing as I
rican based solutions. So I took and money for my PET project, have… and that’s how I started.
it as a challenge upon myself but He gave me what I needed; In 2015 God began to move

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