Early this year I made friends with Ber Anena on Facebook. She’s a well-known writer from Uganda and I had read some of her works online. Her profile showed she was at Columbia, but in a different faculty from mine. I was excited because I hoped she’d share useful information about how to access funding especially from within the institution. It was a Sunday morning when I eventually sent the message. We had had no communication since becoming friends online so I kept my fingers crossed. Many hours later her responses started to pour in. In them she recounted how she had faced similar funding challenges upon receiving admission, how she kept writing to different people within the department and faculty, and how her efforts finally yielded one. She encouraged me to do the same and gave me tips on how to go about it. I was disarmed by her openness and willingness to share information. A special thanks to you, Ber.
With lifted spirits, I drafted a scholarship request to the appropriate authorities in my faculty, citing how much I had raised and how much I wanted. On April 7, 2021, David Koren, who had been following up on the progress of my admission, offered to write me an endorsement for the scholarship application. I am grateful for his continued support and encouragement.
My application request was turned down. I truly don’t remember feeling anything as I read the contents of the email. My emotions had been on a sort of roller coaster before then, dancing between hope and anxiety, so I may have been relieved that I had one less thing to worry about.
The following day, as I mentally processed the previous day’s rejection, I received an email from the Oral History department with information about an upcoming fellowship with a $25,000 award. I was excited and forwarded the email to Darlington Chibueze. He is a brain box and has become my sounding board for academic and literary things. We discussed the details and, after a lot of drafting and re-writing, I sent off my application to the Assembling Voices Fellowship.
To be continued.
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