Sometimes we forget that even those to whom we look up to for inspiration and courage will, in another situation need somebody else to give them the same to also move on with their lives.
Such is the paradox of Masolo Terry, that while so many schoolmates and peers looked up to her to be fired up and go for what they wanted, she also needed somebody to give her courage for her to write poems!
“…I found them (poems) intimidating, so I stopped until when one of my teachers pushed us out of our comfort zones to write and he was a source of great encouragement and I’ve been supporting writers and writing ever since.”
Masolo wrote her first poem in senior one simply because it was a class assignment. With it, then the seeds of interest in poetry were sown. She took creative writing more seriously when some of her school mates (like Palvy, Sabeena and Abdinur whose poems also feature in this same anthology project) wrote a story book. It challenged her to rise to the occasion of writing: “I always thought writing was for geniuses and I couldn’t ever be one of them but if my classmates could then, so could I,”.
Her journey in poetry has been one of striving to overcome her fears to stamp her mark as well. “So, for me, writing required courage because deep down I was afraid of criticism but now that I have overcome it, I write how I feel, I write when I am happy, when I’m sad, excited, confused, and now it has become a part of me,” she explained.
The once timid girl can now rise to pick wisdom from her bag of experience and share it with the world: “A lot that we may fail to say can be communicated through poetry, so let us write some more, let the world express itself through poetry.”
As a student, she was a favorite, admired, and commanded respect for her high sense of self-discipline, hard work, and good communication. She became actively involved in literary creativity and played a leading role in publication of PMM Girls’ School’s magazine.
She is spending her vacation doing the things she loves doing: – reading novels, watching TV, swimming, cooking something new, debating and writing.
At the young age of 19 years, she already has her eyes set on one day publishing her own poetry anthology.
Wish her luck!
