Photo by Shift Management Inc.

I managed some few forward steps this year because I strive to figure out how to stand on your shoulders and that of others. I must say a huge thanks to you all for lending me and my team your shoulders in 2018, through; telling the stories no one want to tell using all versions of Diversity Magazine, celebrating success in the poorest community in Edmonton in the form of AC Awards, connecting bright minds as BizNet, bringing together creative people to work and support one another in the same building and present their ideas in the form of events at our now two floors Diversity Centre, celebrating multiculturalism in Alberta as Diversity Awards, not leaving out our summer fun time out door festival called Africanival, Diversity and Inclusion Presentations, and many other projects I left out and those to come in 2019.

As you transition from one year to the next, you will take stock of your year and certainly keep working on your dreams, unusually, let me spice your yearly review with a tip of a huge ice berg of my own journey. 

My Own Journey and Discovering the Power of my Mind

It was a hot sunny day in the year 1998 in the South Western City of Kumba, in Cameroon, Central Africa. I could see tears rolling down my cheeks like it happened yesterday. All my friends were successful in one of the easiest Mathematics test in my high school days. I had a miserable 7/20. At the time, I had developed a self destructive habit of spying on my friends to find out their test scores like most people today watch with envy, the heavenly lives of their families and friends updated daily through photos and videos on Facebook and other social media.

This, I realized that I was the only one who failed in a test where most of my friends hit 15/20 and 20/20. At the back of the classroom, sitting on the grass, on a hot sunny day, the tears flowed like a river. My world was collapsing and I finally decided to promise myself to solve a Mathematics problem every day as a compulsory daily routine to step up my preparation for the final examination, as the results of the final examination are traditionally publish nationwide. When the results of the public examination (GCE as it is called) were out, my “C” grade on a passed scale from “A” to “E”, was the third best in a class of Mathematics dummies, complemented with my top score in Biology and Chemistry, my strong points. This, my dad could proudly be seen spraying drinks and celebrating with family and friends.

Making the Most of Fantastic Edmonton

Fast forward to 2009, when I arrived Edmonton, I realized that my passion for writing from my time in Cameroon could be taken to another level. It became apparent that I will never become a medical doctor as my mum so wanted. My dad too will be disappointed as I am neither a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. I worked in a field that I cannot explain to his understanding. My friends too will see my masters in Engineering as a waste as I am no engineer. I am constantly drawn to people, supporting and empowering them, sharing their stories, accomplishments, journeys, and connecting them to other useful people and resources. In summary, helping them build their “life scores” with a great team and very supportive Edmontonians initially and now Albertans. That is where I found happiness and satisfaction every day such that I could go to bed each day with a smile changing the world, one connection at a time. 

Today it’s easy to not only spy on my friends like in my high school days, but on everyone that I want through social media, but this time, I do not have to even spy but ask them openly what their “life scores” are not their test scores, to help promote what they do with no self-destructive envy.  I learnt that I do not have to walk in another persons path by trying to be them or to be whom I am not or to do as they do on Facebook and social media. Neither do I have to make my parents dream of me a crushing nightmare when I could just be me and focus on my own resolutions, get up every day and do the things I like, celebrate what ever I consider success, and change strategies when need be or shift gears as it’s said in Canada.

As You Make Your Own New Year Resolutions…

When next you take a walk down your 2018 memory lane, do not worry about what friends are sharing online or how others are showing off in your community, first find what you enjoy doing or identify what you enjoy from what you do, develop talents and skills, build support networks, focus on your achievements, and challenges, shift gears if you have to until you get there, what ever there means to you. 

A very happy New Year from Frankline Agbor and the entire Diversity Team

Till 2019…See Ya!