Writing with Juliet Iwelunmor

Something reminded me, something, that there is time for everything, and at the right time, even if time seemed like never ending dips, or whether once upon a time you stood at the edge of a cliff, and tipped over, everything will seem like ripples on a pond, and your eyes will see, your mind and spirit too, that everything, every single thing, was for this moment, this time, when all you see is the banquet, and you are the guest, and your cup overflows. Only that the moment is now. And the plan was always that Nkolika (remembering everything that happened is supreme), Nkemjika (everything you have now is supreme) maka Nkiruka (and what’s ahead will be supreme).

I presented today at the 17th annual dissemination and implementation science conference why time is like ripples on a pond that matters for sustaining evidence based cervical cancer prevention interventions. I talked about decolonizing time, stripping it away from its chronological use and moving it into its karotic space, using for example, the ways Igbo people view time. This perhaps maybe one of the highlights of my career in academia as on this day, I knew my purpose. What many may not know was that the presentation was put together today from 3am-8am. I spent the last 2 weeks reading and researching about time and couldn’t put anything down until this morning at 3. It wasn’t my best presentation. I had not slept in 24 hours while I presented, but in the end, I know my purpose and perhaps time made its presence known in my life at this conference in ways I will forever be grateful for. This also marked the end of a very long year of travels and presentations that began from Nigeria, to Sweden, Nigeria again, then Kenya, only to return back to Nigeria again, then Kenya and Scotland and finally DC for this conference. There were other local and cross country conferences too, but I want to end with this one in DC, because there I was, in a banquet hall quite literally as an honored guest with a cup that overflows to the brim. It has always been for this moment, one where he reminds me again of his grace and mercy and I will forever be grateful and thankful that I am God’s child, his divine gift, and I intend to praise his name forever, even in the sight of my enemies. So keep, keep knowing that for me and my house, it will always begin with God.