„I am fearless!” – Chinwe Ogbonna in Portrait
She is a whirlwind coming around the corner. Her core – like the eye of a storm – however, is grounded and calm; she is confident but gently reserved. She strides through the hallways of her institute, greets a colleague, and purposefully sits down at her seat in the office. She carefully prepares herself for the interview and waits patiently until everything technical is arranged. Chinwe is not a woman for half measures. She takes her time and pursues her goal. As soon as the recording is on, the room fills with her stormy energy and she takes you, word by word, under her spell.
Of all things fear could well have been a reason to discourage Chinwe Ogbonna from her plans. As an orphan and the youngest of seven children, Chinwe was raised by her four sisters and two brothers in the Igbo community in Anambra, Nigeria. When I ask her, if that is the reason for her strong will, she laughs out loud and says, „As the youngest girl of six siblings, you have to learn to assert yourself!“ Yet, her siblings always have her back. “My siblings played the role of our parents. They are all that I have!”
Chinwe is facing her obstacles, but she is not letting them get her down. Her way wasn’t always hurdle-free. With seventeen she wanted to study law and fight for women and human rights in front of the courts. However, she had issues scoring high in the entrance exams and her results continued to be lacking every year she applied for the law admission. After years of trial, she was frustrated, yet determined to go to university. “My older siblings never left my side during that period and up till date, they kept encouraging me, especially my brother Hilary. He told me that hard work no matter how little, yields a lot of fruit.” She seems to have taken this empowerment to heart.
As her plans changed she embarked on a new path. In 2015 she set the foundation for her future academic work and completed a Bachelor of Art in “History and International Relations” in Ebonyi. After her Bachelor, she worked as an interdisciplinary Women’s Advocate and focused on topics such as violence against women, gender equality, poverty, conflict and international relations. After working for a few years, she continued to pursue her academic career and completed her master’s degree in “Cultural Sustainability” in 2022 and examined the psychosocial well-being and coping strategies adopted by females in Bakassi internally displaced persons camp. Her work is always a reflection of the person within. Through her academic research she seeks to fill the knowledge gaps and give voice to those who would otherwise remain unheard.
For her Ph.D. she came to Freiburg. She studies at the DFG Graduate School 2571 Empires and is currently researching the effect of Imperialism on the Indigenous Cultural Leadership Institution of the Igbo community in her country of origin, Nigeria.
The most prominent hurdles she faces in Germany and at university institutions, are the dominance of the German language and bureaucracy in this country. Thus, she is always dependent on other people to translate the university instructions or everyday documents and signs. This also excludes her from participating in conversations at events outside her institute and leads to frequently unpleasant situations on train platforms. She giggles to herself when she remembers standing lost on platforms, missing her train, because the DB announcements were in German.
In Nigeria, her path is not free of barriers either. Back home, she does not always only receive praise for her academic status, but also faces criticism for her personal choices. A woman with this much knowledge, occupying a recognized position in society, will not find a man to marry and this choice attracts envy or gives her an intimidating reputation. Chinwe hears that but her response is clear: “That is not what I am striving for anyways. The higher you climb on the ladder of academic success the fewer women you will meet. But I am fearless and I will climb up there.”
She manages to exude both inner calm, as well as a striking self-confidence and competence. You can tell that she doesn’t want to convince anyone of herself and her opinion. „I don’t seek to have many friends.“ Chinwe doesn’t need confirmation; she knows why she is doing her work.
Chinwe’s whirlwind energy arises from her liveliness and authenticity. Her eyes start to sparkle and her body moves when she talks about the empowerment of girls and women in Nigeria’s communities and the experience of violence against women during election times in her country. That is when her inner storms begin to crescendo. „I’m fearless, Paula“, is what she repeats several times during our conversation, and her nature does not let you doubt it for a moment. She fixates her eyes on me and explains that, what you need is a goal and the strength to pursue it. Plans can change, and hers did too. But you need to want something and have the courage to pass the hurdles to reach it.
Portrait by Paula Wolf
Paula is a young woman who loves any form of cultural exchange and expression. She is enthusiastic about movies, good books, the theater and activism. Feminist topics are especially important to her and she enjoys giving people visibility and a voice through telling stories. She studies Liberal Arts and Sciences in Freiburg.