First time author Grace Ibrahima of Kitchener shared the experiences she encountered writing her first book titled, Mercy: One Life, Many Stories, at the Nov. 4 meeting of Writer’s Unite in Drayton,
Coming from a large family of seven sisters and five brothers and life in an isolated Trinidadian community, Ibrahima knew changes were needed in her life for her to be successful. At age 71, Ibrahima has written her first book about the challenges she faced throughout her life, in what she calls the journey of all journeys.
“At age eight or nine, I knew I wanted to be a writer or a singer and was not going to have a lot of children. Living a life of abuse, violence and poverty with little education in Trinidad, I knew there had to be more for me,” Ibrahima said.
“My sister had moved to England and she sent me money for passage there, by boat. I was accepted into nursing school as a mature student and met my late husband in England.”
While on a family vacation in Canada, Ibrahima’s husband applied for employment on the advice of his children. Back home in England, he received inquiries from potential Canadian employers. The family immigrated to Canada with Ibrahima accepting a position in nursing as there was a shortage of nurses in Canada.
With a story to tell about her life’s journey, Ibrahima struggled as she had no experience in the writing field.
“I wanted to write my story but I didn’t know how. I hoped when I put a piece of paper on the table that the words would magically appear. It was overwhelming but I had to face my fears, anxiety and defeated feelings. On my birthday I started chipping away at all those obstacles,” Ibrahima said.
Carrying a basket containing a bottle of water, a healthy snack, dictionary, paper and pen and with a lot of determination, Ibrahima went out to her garden to begin the writing process. Each time she wrote, the basket was by her side. With the book complete, Ibrahima hired editor Carolyn Wilker of Kitchener.
“I thought I had written a best seller. When my work came back from Carolyn it was all marked up and scribbled on and I didn’t like her much. I was paying her to be mean to me. But, I grit my teeth and after three years of working together, I liked her and the book came together,” Ibrahima said.
Wilker passed the book onto publisher Glynis Belec of Drayton. Ibrahima and Belec were scheduled to meet at Tim Hortons in Elmira.
“I almost cancelled the meeting as I got the impression from Glynis’s phone calls that she was too nicey, nicey and it probably wasn’t going to work out,” Ibrahima said. “We met and it did work out.”
Ibrahima shared that she learned a lot from Wilker and Belec, but there were a lot of growing pains.
“They (Wilker and Belec) took two or three of my sentences, cut out words and put the words that were left into half a sentence. That took getting used to. As my book was to be self published, I had to quickly learn how to promote it. My children have taken over the technological side of marketing,” Ibrahima said
Ibrahima closed her presentation with these words about her book.
“I feel that readers will want to read the book and everyone will see a little bit of themselves in it. I have received some great reviews and everyone has been so supportive of me. I learned that I had to stop blaming God for all the negative experiences in my life. It was nothing to do with God. It was just people. Writing this book has been very therapeutic. My soul feels light and clean,” Ibrahima said.
Copies available
For more information on or to purchase a copy of Mercy: One Life, Many Stories contact Belec at Angel Hope Publishing at 519-638-3215.
