“I feel like my whole life revolves around books” - Tchonté Silué (Côte d’Ivoire) - 1/4

Tchonté Silué is an Ivorian blogger and social entrepreneur involved in education. She loves books and dreams of changing the education system in Côte d’Ivoire. In this interview, she tells us about her childhood characterised by her love for books, her conversion to Islam and how she started to blog (Part 2). She then talks about creating her library, Centre Eulis, a study and reading space in Côte d’Ivoire aiming to promote reading among young people (Part 3). Tchonté also talks about the power of collective action and her goals for children and young people’s education in Côte d’Ivoire (Part 4).  

Tchonté was interviewed by Françoise Moudouthe in late 2019, as part of a global project documenting girls’ resistance. The conversation was edited into this four-part interview by Nana Bruce-Amanquah and Chanceline Mevowanou for our #GirlsResistWA series. You can learn more about the series here.

Trigger Warning: This conversation may contain mentions of violence and abuse that may be triggering for readers. Kindly take a moment to decide if you want to keep reading. If you proceed, we encourage you to focus on your well-being and stop reading at any point if you need to.

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Hello Tchonté! Thank you so much for being part of this series of interviews about girls’ resistance in West Africa. Let’s start with this: when asked to talk about the time when you were a young girl or a teenager, what age bracket comes to mind and why?

From age 13 to 17; I’d say from 8th to 12th grade. I’d also mention the first time I got my period as the moment my adolescence began. That’s when I thought “Oh, I’m grown.” Not in the sense that I was an adult, but rather in the sense that I felt “Ok, this is a new step in my life.” I think most of my friends already had theirs. So, I kept on wondering when I would get mine.

You were expecting it, but when it happened, did you feel ready?

Yes, I was ready. I already knew I had to buy pads and everything. However, I didn’t know I would feel pain later. The pain didn’t come during the first period. It was a long time after that I started feeling pain, and I didn’t even understand that it was linked to my period.

At the time, I noticed that it was always when I was at church that I felt pain. So, I thought it was the devil attacking me (laughs). It was a pain in my back, and I would wonder “Is the devil attacking me because I’m at church?” It was only later that I realised that it happened at the same time as my period. Maybe I realised that because some of my friends felt pain too.

I want to understand your background as an adolescent girl. Who did you grow up with, and where?

I was born in Abidjan. I grew up there with my family, my parents, my brothers and my sisters, as well as some cousins. I also lived in the US for my studies, but I spent most of my life here in Abidjan. We have a house with a big garden, and I like that we have a bit of vegetation here. I spent most of my time in my room. My mom calls it a sacred forest (laughs). There was a girls’ room and a boys’ room. Growing up, I first stayed in the girls’ room, then I got my own room. I already had a library that I loved very much and that evolved through the years. It’s undoubtedly the most important corner of the room for me.

How would you describe the young girl you were at the time?

Wow, who was I? I was the hard-working type; I mean the brainy stereotype. The girl who liked reading, who liked answering questions in class, who liked to raise her hands, all of that. Books made me the happiest! Yeah, books and ice cream; it’s still the case today. I liked to play soccer sometimes. I wasn’t the best player, but I would play with both boys and girls. I’d say that I was lively too. I had - and still have - an introverted side. I was the one who wanted to be left alone with her books. I feel like my whole life revolves around books.

You mentioned books and your little library, and I see that the item you chose to represent your adolescence is a book. What can you say about that?

You asked for two items that were important to me. Books, in general, have a very special place in my life.

I chose a book by Chimamanda, because she’s one of my favorite authors, if not my favorite. She made me discover feminism. I used to read authors whose books were sometimes black-and-white. With her, I discovered a writing style where the characters showed a more human side. She also impressed me because of how she showcased her culture. She’s one of the people who made me want to know more about my culture, to such an extent that I started to make videos to learn how to speak my mother tongue.

You say that books play such an important role in your life. Do you remember when this started?

I’ve been reading since I was a little girl. Honestly, as soon as I learned how to read in school, I started reading my books avidly. So, I’d say around when I was 6 -7 years-old because that’s when we really can read. There was a time around the second or third grade, my mother bought a book by a Cameroonian author, Josselin Kalla. It was called, Les erreurs de maman (Mommy’s mistakes), and it was very sad. She read it and told us about it at the dinner table. While she told the story, I cried. That’s when my father started buying me books. That’s when I began devouring books that had nothing to do with school. I started reading in public too.

Could you tell me more about reading in public?

I must have been in the third grade when I was asked to read in church at my grandfather’s funeral. It wasn’t anything exceptional for me, but I remember that people were like “Wow! She reads so well for her age!” I feel like when I was a child, I took more initiative without overthinking about what would happen. Like when I was asked to read, I accepted right away. I don’t think that I asked myself “Can I do this?” That’s why when I thought about it, I realised that it’s something I had in me since I was a kid. It changed later. When I was a teenager, impostor syndrome began to grow. I kept on doing things, but I asked myself more questions.

We’ll come back to the impostor syndrome, but first, let’s go on with your background. Who were the most important people in your life at that time, as a girl?

My parents. I had friends from middle school and high school, but my parents were the most important people in my life at the time.

Could you describe your relationship with your parents at the time?

Back then, I was already closer to my father. It was the case, but I’ve gotten closer to my mother too, now. I had closer ties with my father. First, I was named after his mother, then he always liked education and since I was a hard-working child, we got along. My mother is a teacher. When I was born, she was a school principal, and she then became an educational consultant. I would always go to school with her until the 8th grade. She would drop me off at my school and go to hers.

In the ninth grade, I went to boarding school. Boarding school usually makes us grow closer to our parents because when you come back home after not being there, you’re pampered more. I don’t feel like my parents were too strict with me. I feel like I’ve always been able to speak up in my family.

And how would these important people describe the little girl you were?

I think most of my relatives at the time thought I was chatty. I was lazy at home, meaning that I didn’t clean with the others; I didn’t cook either. I didn’t do so-called women’s activities. It was my parents’ biggest admonition; I wouldn’t do the dishes. When everyone was outside, I was in my room. Cooking or doing chores annoyed me.

Today I’m often told: “Aah you like responding when you’re told something”. It’s something I’m fortunate to have. I believe it’s great because this is what allowed me to make my own decisions and tell myself “I can think differently from other people”.

Back then, when you started resisting a little, who helped you to reflect and analyze all the things you wanted to change?

Books. (laughs). And since my father bought the books for me, I’d say it was my dad and all my books. Especially Camara Nangala’s books. I read all his books as a teenager. There’s one called Cahier Noir (Black notebook), the story of two kids who lost their mom and whose dad remarried to a woman who had children too. The woman is a stereotypical evil stepmother who mistreats her stepchildren. The kids decide to document their pain in a notebook. At some point, they start to rebel and plot to make the stepmother leave. Their suffering and the writing process stood out to me.

There’s also La dernière chance (The last chance), also by Camara Nangala, and Rebelle (Rebel) by Fatou Keita. I could name so many books in which I realized there’s resistance and that had an impact on me. Today, I see books with an adult’s eyes, and when I talk about them, I think about the writing process during which we tell ourselves we’ll write something to resist in our way. These are the type of stories that had an impact on me.

What role did your parents play in this awakening?

I mentioned my dad who gifted me books. Well, not only would he give me the books, but he would also ask me to summarise them for him and we would discuss them together. My dad was the one who encouraged me about school. He would tell me “You can do this or that”'; he made me confident.

My mom played a role as well but more subtly. She made me like reading through her summary of Les Erreurs de Maman. But also, because I usually found several books in her office when I joined her there after school. When I was a kid, we weren’t that close, but she also encouraged me. We’re closer now that I’m an adult. She encourages me and tells me she’s proud of me more often.

During the same period, were there people who opposed you?

When I was little, I was teased about having a long chin and a prominent forehead. And everyone would do it. It wasn't necessarily mean to some, but it was the kind of thing that affected my self-confidence. I wrote an article about self-esteem, and I thought about the stories from my youth that affected me. For instance, when I was in college, I was doing liturgy at church. Someone reported to me that there were people who said that when I was reading, I would make noises with my mouth in the pauses, like clicking my tongue. It kind of freaked me out since it was in church, in front of everyone. Every time I got up on the altar I was like, "Man, I hope I don't do this!" So, I think that was one of the things that had put a little bit of doubt in my mind about public speaking.

And in both cases, why weren’t you stopped by your doubts?

In the case of liturgy, it was that I loved what I was doing. So, I wasn't going to stop because some people were saying behind my back that I wasn't doing it right. Those who said that were not in my shoes. So, I just kept going because I liked it and I had made a commitment.

When it comes to complexes about my appearance, I used to watch a lot of motivational videos, especially when I was in college. I remember a video of a man who is very popular because he has no legs. He was born without limbs, and he does motivational talks, he swims, he has a family...

I looked at him and I said to myself that at the end of the day, it was God who created me. So, I'm perfect the way I am and I'm not going to question what God has done. Then I would look at myself in the mirror and think I was beautiful. In the end, that's all that matters, what I see.

In the second part, we’ll talk about the moments that marked the end of adolescence for Tchonté. Click here for the next part.