Meet the author: Nicole Bachoke

Thank you for sharing this powerful story with us. Could you tell us about what inspired you to write it?

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My story is a true story and not from the imagination. I have written this story about the death of my father, and how my family went from a bad life to a good life. You must understand how life can change and you must work hard in life because life is like a circle. I get through life by trusting in God and I tried to capture this in my story. 

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What messages do you hope your readers will take away from your story?

​I hope my readers will benefit from this story and the message that is here in this story. I hope my readers will be inspired by this story because my story shows how life changes. You can be rich today, but tomorrow you may become poor.​

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What is the point of storytelling to you? Why do we tell stories, what do they do for us, and what purpose do they serve?

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We tell stories in order to motivate, counsel and inspire people, to help them pick lessons from us via stories, information, experiences.

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Did your story change over the course of your participation in the storytelling workshops? How?

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Yes. My story changed in many ways. I worked on showing the reader how my story unfolded rather than just telling the events. I also changed the title to make it more attractive.

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How does your story offer an alternative path, point of view, or way forward? How does it speak to the possibility of an otherwise? 

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My story shows an alternative path because although there are a lot of sad scenes and it is a sorrowful story, it shows that we can have hope. I believe that reading my story can help someone to learn a positive lesson.

My name is Nicole Bachoke Joshwa. I am sixteen years old. I live in Nakivale Refugee Settlement. Before coming here, I was living in Democratic Republic of Congo. In my free time I like to write and revise my stories. I think a lot about how I am going to become a storyteller in the world because I like writing stories.

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Read Nicole's story 'Two sides of tears' in the Junctions issue.

This interview was conducted by Otherwise creative non-fiction and memoir editor Laura Moran