More about me...
- 'Demi Fauziyyah Adebo-Adelaja
- Dec 8, 2018
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 17, 2019
I’m a mom to three beautifully melanin-dipped sons. I’m a wife to the love of my life. I am African, Nigerian to be exact. And I am a second generation American…or 1.5, depending on how you define it. I am a student, now a doctoral candidate, completing a degree in management. And most importantly, I am unapologetically Muslim.
To many, I am known by my middle name, Fauziyyah, Arabic for “woman of excellence. In the professional world, I am known as ‘Demi, a shortening of Abidemi; Yoruba for “born in anticipation of my return” as my dad was away on travel when I was born.
I am a Public Health Researcher by training and love to trot the globe. I’ve visited / lived in / or worked in the following countries: Botswana, Canada, Egypt, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Suriname, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad, and the UK. I currently live in Egypt (been here since May 2018), where my sons are learning the Arabic language and memorizing the Qur’an. And the DMV metro area is where we call home.
What more would you like to know about me?
DMV: Washington DC, Maryland, & Virginia metropolitan area
I have always wanted my sons to experience Africa. In my mind, I envisioned it to be “black Africa.” Some place south of the continent, maybe. For some reason, I had been drawn to Botswana. I fell in love with the country and the idea of raising my future children on its countryside when I first visited in 2003 as a young, naïve student researcher. I’ve since visited the country at least two more times, and Botswana still holds a special place in my heart, but there just isn’t a strong enough pull to the country that would convince my husband to let any such plan unfold.
Early 2018 is when the idea of Egypt started floating around. I had been homeschooling our sons for almost a year. We had begun looking for possible study-abroad type programs or ideas. We learned about a number of family friends whose kids had visited and studied Qur’an in Egypt and the idea began to gain traction. The fact that it is a relatively stable country also appealed to the Hubs. And the appeal to me came by way of rationalizing that Egypt is, after all, in the continent of Africa. It’s not quite the “black Africa” I envisioned raising my kids in, but it is in Africa. So, in June 2018, we packed up and headed to Egypt with plans to stay for a year…per the Hubs. Again, in my mind, I think I can talk my way into staying up to 2 years.
I love to escape into another world, a different century, or momentarily transform myself into an interesting character from time to time. Reading books, and especially listening to audiobooks has delivered this escape for me. I had read books here and there in my teenage years…on train rides when I visited the UK and also while interning as a student in various Washington DC organizations, just to pass time on the long rides. But I didn’t get into it as serious hobby until my late 20s. What can I say? I’m a late bloomer! The genres that got me hooked are biographies / memoirs and historical fictions.
I remember reading “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” on the Kindle app I downloaded on my itty-bitty iPhone 3. The story drew me into many more American history-inspired readings, specifically those set in the Antebellum South. A couple of years later, I got more curious about the African continent, various countries’ struggle for independence and was drawn to South African and Nigerian history. Nelson Mandela’s “Long Walk to Freedom” must have been my first use of audiobooks. I would listen to the book on my long commute to work and the listening experience forever changed my life. Along came Chinua Achebe’s “There Was a Country,” and Chimamanda Adichi’s “Half of a Yellow Sun.” With audiobooks, I realized that I could both experience and enjoy the escape, even though I now had very little time as a busy mom who worked full time.
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