So Far So Foza

Name: So Far So Foza
SKU: 74873
Availability: InStock

₦7,500.00

Every year since 2020, thousands of young Nigerians keep moving out of the country to seek greener pastures in more stable economies. The ones who are yet to move are currently trying to do so, a phenomenon known as “Japa”. A Nairametrics report in 2022 claimed that education is seen as the easiest way to get visas abroad as some countries offer scholarships for master’s and undergraduate programs, some of which come with an option for permanent residency.

As the subject of emigration and brain drain becomes more mainstream in Nigeria, there is no doubt that personal stories about displacement, starting all over and settling in a new country will strike as more poignant. However, most of the stories about young people and migration often focus on the “skilled” who uprooted themselves to seek better opportunities elsewhere. Not enough about the skilled ones who decided to wait and create opportunities where there appear to be none.

Enter So Far So Foza, a rousing memoir that explores the author’s coming of age and emotional experience of seeking to wait back in Africa and her rollercoaster ride from being born into privilege and losing that privilege while starting all over again.

2 in stock

In Africa, particularly Nigeria, where multidimensional poverty is rife, the majority of households spend over 60% of their earnings on food. The author’s upbringing as a privileged child siloed her from the realities of the teeming school-aged population like her until the loss of her father at age 11 turned things around. So Far So Foza offers a gripping narrative on the significant difference between living a life of abundance to an excruciating life in poverty.

From a private kindergarten to a Nigerian Ivy League-grade university, the author is deeply immersed in privilege, born to accomplish a great purpose and seize the opportunities elite education affords. But somewhere in the journey, she becomes enmeshed in a life of lack, compelling her to choose between seeing herself within the lens of familial constraints and charting her own course to greatness, one move at a time.

Despite the free-flowing nature of her narrative, the author’s story is commonplace: People born in privilege fall out of it and hustle their way back up with minimal external assistance. But her feelings about her own coming of age are unique. She has gone through a process of love to hate, insufficiency to abundance and acrimony to clemency. The author sheds countless burdens at different points during her journey towards fulfilling her life’s purpose, probing into hers and our perceptions of others — even those we choose to ignore — and how we present ourselves to the outside world.