Way back when I used to be a reporter for one of the daily newspapers in Namibia, we were often asked to contribute to a column called “I’m just saying”. This piece would feature in the editorial section of the newspaper where we also published letters from our readers and the cartoon of the day.
I would dread being asked to write something for this column. I was a 23-year old reporter — I didn’t have even an ounce of the life experience that the hardened reporters who worked with me had. The most exciting thing I had to contribute was the tandem parachute jump my now-husband got me for a Christmas present.
But now, more than thirteen years later, I would give my two front teeth to write something for “I’m just saying”.
My family immigrated to Canada more than three years ago. Most people immigrate to the big cities, but we made a home in a really small, almost forgotten town, in the interior of British Columbia and far too close to the US border for comfort. It is in this town that I’ve accumulated more than a lifetime’s worth of “I’m just saying” material — in fact, it is this town that made me realize that I have to start writing again.
I was used to living in big towns and cities, moreover, big towns and cities that were melting pots of different cultures and colours. Living in this town has been both very eye-opening and one of the biggest adjustments I’ve had to make in my life. And I do not mean that lightly! My mum and dad dropped me off at boarding school when I was thirteen, two thousand kilometers from my home. I’ve shared rooms with girls I hardly know. I have adapting covered.
And even now, I’ve come to realize that I don’t know anything about people, or not nearly as much as I thought I did, and that people will never fail to surprise you every day of your life. I love and hate living here, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. This town has forced me to grow, made me look at myself through a lens that I didn’t even know existed and made me a far more responsible person than I’ve ever been.
So this will be my space where I get to write “I’m just saying”. Some observations will be short, some might be longer. Some pieces might just be conversations I’ve had with people at the computer store where I work. But I feel compelled to write them down, because I am terrified of forgetting a single thing.
