Adeola Carew: Finding Her Identity Through Poetry and Advocacy

One thing every young adult finds themselves challenged with at some point is solving their identity puzzle. Who am I? For what purpose was I born? Where am I from? How do I find my sense of self?

To kick off the exclusive eelive.ng series that takes a deep dive into the lives of “Book People”, we discover that Sheryl Adeola Dorcas Carew is no different.

Back to Her Roots

Born to Alfred Carew, a human rights activist, and Sallay Carew, a senior public health medical personnel, Carew finds herself exploring her ancestry. Although she is Sierra Leonean, her name indicates that she has ancestral ties to Nigeria.

“I am of Nigerian ancestry; my history is a very long one. My tribe is Krio in Sierra Leone,” Carew states. “Sierra Leone was a British colony because of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. They came here in 1787 with 400 slaves after the abolition of the slave trade. When they got here, they bought lands from one of the tribes, a Temne Chief called King Tom.”

According to Carew, there were four groups of freed slaves who arrived in British-controlled Sierra Leone. The fourth group consisted of captives who were taken from different parts of Africa on their way to Europe and America. 

“At the time that ships were patrolling the Atlantic oceans, the slaves were freed and brought back to Sierra Leone. My family was part of them; we were taken captive from Nigeria. The Krio are a combination of different cultures and languages. If you listen to our language, you’ll find words that consist of pidgin English from Nigeria, words from Jamaica and America. It is a combination of everything.”

“There are different types of Krios in Sierra Leone: the Foulah Tong and the Fourah Bay Krios. I am a Foulah Tong Krio.”

The Freetown-based journalist speaks to eelive’s Chidirim Ndeche about her family’s lineage with pride, mentioning how, while reading a book titled Foulah Tong – 1960 and Beyond, she saw her family’s name and lineage. “So, they wrote about our history and the twist in our genetics. And I found the name of my aunty, the Reverend Gloria Cline-Smythe, who is my father’s oldest sister and the current matriarch of our family. That’s another reason we know we are from Nigeria.”

Poetic Beginnings

“a good poem to me is like food when I’m starving 
you’re poetry
a book battered and burnt
but still legible
I read you”
— An excerpt from “In The Sun” by Adeola Carew

Adeola Carew has become a notable poetic voice in her West African country. Her poems — often an enjambment written in blank verse — mimic natural speech and give you a satisfying sense of rhythm that captures your attention from the first line. The law student at Fourah Bay College talks about her foray into poetry and how her love for stories drove her to write. 

“I have always been drawn by words since I was a little girl. I consumed books the way one would drink water, and I loved it! My father played a huge role in developing my love for writing. We would read together and he would point out the big words, telling me their meanings. I would consult my thesaurus and, when there were no books to read, I started writing my own stories: the kind I liked to read.”

 “I began writing poetry because it was shorter and more fulfilling to pen down an idea, a concept, an emotion or an experience in one sitting than to take months to finish a single story.”

Although Carew started writing poems at an early age of 11, it took seven years for her to start performing at events. “I wasn’t sure I was good enough. I hid my poems because I considered them personal diary entries. However, in December 2018, I read one of my poems before an audience. That was when I realised that my work was actually very good. People loved it, and guess what? I loved the stage too!”

 Two Epidemics and a Fight Against Sexual Abuse

“This is Sierra Leone,
where rape is our biggest epidemic.”
— Adeola Carew

The end of 2019 marked the start of a global pandemic which led to a total or partial lockdown in countries around the world. During this period, many victims of various forms of abuse would find themselves trapped in their homes with their abusers, with no safe space to run to. 

In June 2020, the death of a 5-year-old Sierra Leonean girl, who was raped and murdered by her cousin, led to outrage, protests and demands for law reforms justice. A number of activists and sympathisers — who had peacefully been demonstrating outside the Criminal Investigation Department Headquarters in Freetown demanding #JusticeForKhadija — were arrested. Carew, one of the arrested activists, shared the news of her arrest on her Twitter page.

Long before this, Carew, who is also an advocate for sex positivity, used her poems to paint a picture of the experiences many African women face. “I write a lot about abuse in all its forms. This is what I know. This is what I am passionate about, and so this is what I talk about. It is personal for me because if it hasn’t happened to me, it’s happened to someone I know.”

“I write about my family, particularly my mother. I was raised by a single parent, and this shows in my work. Also, I write about love but not the idealist kind that is placed on a pedestal. My love is real and raw and unpretentious. And sex, I write about sex.” 

Other Pens in Her Pocket 

“Live life:
from life blooms words.”
— Adeola Carew

Referring to poetry as an undeveloped art form, Carew says: “The writers I know have been creating a niche for themselves gradually, but it is a slow process. Poetry is considered as entertainment only for intellectuals, and so it is snubbed by the mainstream audience.

“I noticed early on that the poems that I saw performed at events were lofty — big words, incomprehensible, rigid rhyming schemes. Therefore, I strived to do the opposite. I write using simple words, mixing English with our native languages and using local imagery and references. People connect with the poems they relate to.”

Poetry is not all that Carew has her hands in. She owns an online grocery delivery store. She also intends to use her law degree to improve her work as an advocate. Furthermore, the content creator writes scripts for adverts, documentaries, television shows, website information and more. 

Her word to aspiring writers is to be bold and vocal. She states, “One can only better one’s art form through practise, mistakes, constructive criticism and experience. So put yourself out there, even when you’re terrified of the response you’ll get. Let people know what you can do. One gig will lead to another and another. Also, live life. From life blooms words.”