I cannot express how excited and proud I feel to be writing
this blog. And of course, it’s all because of a small African girl who strived
to touch the moon—and succeeded. Little Imani: the girl with the big dreams.
It’s such an interesting thing when you set out to write a
story, and it takes on a life of its own. Imani started off male, Elijah first
then Ayubu. All either boy did was jump and jump and jump and succeed. Not much
of a story arc, right? But I knew there was something more to this story. As I
dug deeper and fine-tuned the story, the voice that called resoundingly from
the page was not a boy’s, but was that of a girl, a small girl, with a big
story to share. I think this is something I am most proud of regarding how
Imani came to be. Hearing her voice and realizing how her story is one so many
can relate to, a story of setting “impossible” goals and working hard to reach
them in the face of opposition. Most of us have been in situations like that,
when something seemed insurmountable, but we persevered anyway.
