Episode 8: Conversation with Zuleka Duada author of Ba-Ya Play Cook: An Anthology of Short Stories on Rape, Molestation, and Sexual Abuse of Children in Liberia

During my interview with Nyemade Biowu in my last episode, she introduced me to Dauda's book while discussing traumatic childhood experiences. I decided to invite Duada to the podcast for conversation. The stories in the book reflect Pánsá Pánsá mission on talking about uncomfortable conversation. The self-published book Ba-Ya Play Cook: An Anthology of Short Stories: The book is a collection of true-life stories from Liberia, West African. Dauda uses everyday situations to discuss the prevalence of rape, molestation, and sexual abuse of children in Liberia. Apart from the recently published book, Dauda is also a blogger, and we discussed one of her write up called Wakanda Is Not Real. Facts on Liberia and 10 Reasons To Travel. In this essay, she talked about how history said Liberia was formed by freed slaves from America in the early 1800s even though history shows that there were first inhabitants as early as the 12th century who initially occupied the land. The returnees, who were African Americans, mistreated the natives, established superiority over the natives, and emulated their prior oppressors' behavior in America. We further discussed Duada's traumatic childhood experience during the Liberian war and her family's migration to America. We discussed what the experience was like as a child exposed to the violence of the time relating to psychological effects and emotional trauma and how she and her family coped with the traumatic experience. We talked about her struggle after migration when Dauda and her family eventually settled, and we dived into the challenges/struggles of being a first-generation African immigrant child. She said, "most of my bullying in America was by African-Americans," who challenged her blackness and used demeaning phase towards her heritage. Dauda later gains confidence about who she is, and as she said, she is "unapologetically African", and she has grown to embrace her African heritage. In a quote from her essay, "What is ironic is that these same people who would make fun of me now ask me to bring them back African prints". Duada lives in the hyphen of Liberia and America. Along with her family, she relocated to the US during the Liberian civil unrest. She is a full-time international development Ph.D. student and a public health master's student specializing in health education. Dauda is passionate about storytelling as she firmly believes in changing Africa's narrative by giving Africans the opportunity to tell their own stories. In her spare time, she shares stories online to counter the narrative of Africa as a jungle. As Dauda said, I am a headwrap enthusiast and uses African print to bring awareness to my work and culture. She can be found online IG: @Zuleka and twitter: Zulekatweets