I began to write “When the Games Froze” in January 2003. I ended the work on the manuscript in early September 2013. I took a hiatus from the manuscript due to a series of incidents. As I reflected on the past ten years, I could not help but reminisce on my accomplishments, losses and celebrations. A year prior to the inception of “When the Games Froze”, I had a life changing experience; I became a grandmother for the first time when I held Sidney in my arms. The joy of being a grandmother made me regard life in a different light. Four months after we welcomed Sidney to the world, we lost my dear brother-in-law to lung cancer. A year later, I had the pleasure of welcoming my second grandson, Jalin and my first granddaughter, Amani. However 2003 was not isolated to only happy moments. That same year, I was tasked with the responsibility of telling my sister that she was diagnosed with stomach cancer. By the following July, we lost her to the dreadful disease. As though I did not have enough going on in my personal life, I was contracted to ghost write a book. The story had a special intrigue to it that compelled me to accept the contract. I then took a hiatus from “When the Games Froze” in order to fulfill my contract. In September 2004, “Welfare to Millionaire – Heart of a Winner” was released. September 2005 brought the joy of my second granddaughter, Nadia. With the “Welfare to Millionaire” project ended, I decided to pick up the manuscript of When the Games Froze to resume work on it. I looked forward to the completion of this book and the work of subsequent books. The year 2006 was a year of accomplishments; I became a grandmother for the fifth time that September when my third granddaughter, Victoria entered the world. In 2007, the government of Egypt outlawed the practice of FGM, the first African country to ban the practice. It was a victory for women in Egypt; women took to the streets and demonstrated prior to the law being passed in that country. I was inspired and resume work on this book. I began to make great progress with the story.
Then later that year, serious illness again struck my family; another dear sister of mine suffered a heart attack. That incident was followed by a series of hospitalizations. All attention was on her; therefore when my younger son phoned on March 31, 2008, with bad news, I assumed we had lost my sister who had been in intensive care for a number of weeks. Instead, he told me that his father, my husband had died suddenly from a heart attack in Liberia. I was devastated. My sister still hung on to life in the intensive care unit after we put my husband to rest in Liberia. Then on Mother’s Day in May 2008, she departed this world, as I tried to make sense of what had befallen my family. I struggled to tear myself away from the writers’ block that took control of me. I found it difficult to concentrate, yet I began to write additional chapters. I pitched the book proposal to a publisher, and they expressed interest; but they wanted to see the manuscript. My friends began to ask when I thought the book would be finished. I ran out of explanations; they began to joke and tell me that the book had frozen and not the games. On November 29, 2009, my own brother died from heart failure. I wondered if my book had an impact on real life. I had created a story that contained a series of tragedies; had my real life turned into the story I had created? I was afraid to continue this book; yet I wanted to finish it. I reminded myself of the reason I had decided to write the book. My best friend never ceased to urge me to write the book. She continued to tell me each time she called, “Peabody, pick up your pen and write; you must finish that book.” Though she had lost both of her legs the year before from diabetes, she was my main motivator. When 2010 came in, I vowed to complete the book; for a change, my family experienced a new life instead of losing one. I was blessed yet again with another grandchild, Terrence, on January 7, 2010. He became my sixth grandchild and third grandson. My celebration was short lived when my best friend left this world only two weeks after my grandson was born. Unlike the previous deaths, her death gave me the nudge that I needed to finish this book. I knew that she had prodded me to finish it; I knew I must pick up my pen, as she had so often told me. The most recent dramatic loss was when we suddenly lost my dear sister-in-law. She was an ardent reader and a caring generous person. Most of the proceeds from this book will be donated to the Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation to further educate the world on this inhumane act. Though we have come a long way in creating awareness of FGM, we still have a long way to go in educating women in the western world on this heinous practice.
To learn more about FGM visit:
https://www.gwpfnd.org – Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation
https://fgmtoolkit.gwu.edu – George Washington University Educational Toolkit
https://endfgmnetwork.org – US End FGM/C Network
https://www.sahiyo.org – Sahiyo (United against female genital cutting)
www.who.int – World Health Organization
www.care.org – CARE
https://equalitynow.org – Equality Now
www.unicef.org – UNICEF (United Nations Children Education Fund)
https://girlshoperescuemission.org – Girls Hope Rescue Mission
Nana Nkuku, a travel agent from Accra, Ghana, Jean-Claude Girard, a flight attendant from Nice, France and Shirley Marshall, a cosmetologist from Atlanta, Georgia are three roommates who share a townhouse in a Washington, D.C. suburb. They all have one thing in common. Each has a future goal they hope will retire them from their conventional jobs.
Signup our newsletter to get update information, promotions and insight.
