WILLIAM QUEST
By Segun Ozique
William’s Quest is a story about child to child kindness, about the bond and
divides between two culture. It throws spotlight on the issues of child abuse but most of all, the book is a creative narrative on HIV/AIDS, with emphasis on the need to know about the HIV virus; stressing its reality and spread and of the ruin of the AIDS disease.
The story is mainly about a boy called William; a ten years old who lives in England with his parents. His secret birthday gift plans for his mother, was disrupted by a telephone call from Nigeria, and afterwards, in a series of questions following the call, he got to learn about HIV/Aids, how the virus is spread and what not to do, so as not to be infected. Shortly after he got the information, he travelled to Nigeria where, for the first time, he met his grandmother.
In Nigeria, William also met two brothers – Ahmed and Nurha. Nuhra was living with the HIV virus and dying of the Aids disease. And though William had been well-informed on the spread of HIV, he misunderstood a crucial aspect of how the virus can be passed from one person to another. In his attempt to be kind to Nuhra, he thought that by leaning over and hugging the sick boy, which he considered practically sleeping with him, the virus had been passed on, had entered his own body and as a result, he was surely going to die.
But William was not so much concerned about his future death. He was glad that by helping the sick boy, Nuhra, he was going to sacrifice his life, and in the process, have at least, been able to fulfil his passion in life. That passion was; to be able to help children in need and watch those sad, become happy. He knew he had made Nuhra happy when on his last visit to the hospital; he presented the sick boy with a CD walkman. On turning the walkman on and placing the headphones over Nuhra’s ears, he saw the dying boy blink at him several time and also noticed the boy had joyful tears in his eyes.
But despite William’s feeling of happy ending to his journey to Nigeria, he felt an injustice had been done to him by his grandma. He felt that grandma had neglected her duty of care as an adult to; properly look after her grandson. Grandma, he felt, was responsible for him going outside to meet with Ahmed, a total stranger, when his mother had warned he should never do so. Again, grandma insisted that he should come with them into the hospital ward where he had met Nuhra, and though he was glad at the end that he was able to see and make sad Nuhra happy, he thought grandma must be punished for her carelessness.
The only hitch was he found grandma too tough to handle.
ADEDUM:
The most important idea that set the context for William Quest, first had to do with the privilege I had several years ago, of being involved in research field work on sero-prevalence of HIV/AIDS in two states, commissioned by DFID and working with other Pathfinder International Consultants, facilitate the training of health workers in the syndromic management of STDS & HIV/AIDS. And then of course, there has been the sustained present day health discourses on the incidence and spread of HIV/Aids among the youths and how to tailor the awareness campaign to reach them.
Actually, the latter, which is the innovative campaign targeting the youth was upper most in my mind when I was writing. So, dramatising many of the events that took place in the book, my sole intention was to be able to entertain the readers, my target audience. And, bring about a shift away from most other HIV/AIDS discourses that lecture, are telling, often repetitive, dreary, and tiring in addition to scare mongering.
As a writer, my first concern was on how to communicate effectively. And, I hope I have done my job properly. I wanted to avoid completely, exoteric and complex expressions & plots because doing so would take the message away from the intellectual reach of most youths and those others whose grasp of the English language may not be very sophisticated.
As a story teller, what I felt was left to do then was, how to blend, through careful suggestive statements and symbolism, the characterisation and subject matter such that the reader is able to follow the narrator and particularly, William through his journey, his situations, his experience and emotional state at every point; and above all, make the audience stay with him at his dilemma and ecstasy. I also wanted to be able to convey within the work, lessons to be learnt about life and its proneness to crisis, the need to appreciate and respect our culture and most of all, add a voice to the HIV/AIDS campaign.
The story is told through a third person, an all knowing omniscient. And this is done so, so that the reader is able to be everywhere, including in the heads of the different characters as in for instance, his thoughts before he entered the hospital, when he wanted his grandma arrested etc, etc.
Again, if I have done justice to the work, the readers would also be able to see that though all the other characters have their own unique personalities, they all helped to bring to forefront William’s qualities and individuality.
Now, go buy the book!
William’s Quest is a story about child to child kindness, about the bond and
divides between two culture. It throws spotlight on the issues of child abuse but most of all, the book is a creative narrative on HIV/AIDS, with emphasis on the need to know about the HIV virus; stressing its reality and spread and of the ruin of the AIDS disease.
The story is mainly about a boy called William; a ten years old who lives in England with his parents. His secret birthday gift plans for his mother, was disrupted by a telephone call from Nigeria, and afterwards, in a series of questions following the call, he got to learn about HIV/Aids, how the virus is spread and what not to do, so as not to be infected. Shortly after he got the information, he travelled to Nigeria where, for the first time, he met his grandmother.
In Nigeria, William also met two brothers – Ahmed and Nurha. Nuhra was living with the HIV virus and dying of the Aids disease. And though William had been well-informed on the spread of HIV, he misunderstood a crucial aspect of how the virus can be passed from one person to another. In his attempt to be kind to Nuhra, he thought that by leaning over and hugging the sick boy, which he considered practically sleeping with him, the virus had been passed on, had entered his own body and as a result, he was surely going to die.
But William was not so much concerned about his future death. He was glad that by helping the sick boy, Nuhra, he was going to sacrifice his life, and in the process, have at least, been able to fulfil his passion in life. That passion was; to be able to help children in need and watch those sad, become happy. He knew he had made Nuhra happy when on his last visit to the hospital; he presented the sick boy with a CD walkman. On turning the walkman on and placing the headphones over Nuhra’s ears, he saw the dying boy blink at him several time and also noticed the boy had joyful tears in his eyes.
But despite William’s feeling of happy ending to his journey to Nigeria, he felt an injustice had been done to him by his grandma. He felt that grandma had neglected her duty of care as an adult to; properly look after her grandson. Grandma, he felt, was responsible for him going outside to meet with Ahmed, a total stranger, when his mother had warned he should never do so. Again, grandma insisted that he should come with them into the hospital ward where he had met Nuhra, and though he was glad at the end that he was able to see and make sad Nuhra happy, he thought grandma must be punished for her carelessness.
The only hitch was he found grandma too tough to handle.
ADEDUM:
The most important idea that set the context for William Quest, first had to do with the privilege I had several years ago, of being involved in research field work on sero-prevalence of HIV/AIDS in two states, commissioned by DFID and working with other Pathfinder International Consultants, facilitate the training of health workers in the syndromic management of STDS & HIV/AIDS. And then of course, there has been the sustained present day health discourses on the incidence and spread of HIV/Aids among the youths and how to tailor the awareness campaign to reach them.
Actually, the latter, which is the innovative campaign targeting the youth was upper most in my mind when I was writing. So, dramatising many of the events that took place in the book, my sole intention was to be able to entertain the readers, my target audience. And, bring about a shift away from most other HIV/AIDS discourses that lecture, are telling, often repetitive, dreary, and tiring in addition to scare mongering.
As a writer, my first concern was on how to communicate effectively. And, I hope I have done my job properly. I wanted to avoid completely, exoteric and complex expressions & plots because doing so would take the message away from the intellectual reach of most youths and those others whose grasp of the English language may not be very sophisticated.
As a story teller, what I felt was left to do then was, how to blend, through careful suggestive statements and symbolism, the characterisation and subject matter such that the reader is able to follow the narrator and particularly, William through his journey, his situations, his experience and emotional state at every point; and above all, make the audience stay with him at his dilemma and ecstasy. I also wanted to be able to convey within the work, lessons to be learnt about life and its proneness to crisis, the need to appreciate and respect our culture and most of all, add a voice to the HIV/AIDS campaign.
The story is told through a third person, an all knowing omniscient. And this is done so, so that the reader is able to be everywhere, including in the heads of the different characters as in for instance, his thoughts before he entered the hospital, when he wanted his grandma arrested etc, etc.
Again, if I have done justice to the work, the readers would also be able to see that though all the other characters have their own unique personalities, they all helped to bring to forefront William’s qualities and individuality.
Now, go buy the book!
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