EIGHT YEARS OF STRIKING IDEAS: A TRIBUTE TO STRIDA ON HER 8TH ANNIVERSARY_ BY SAGEBOY ABDULAI FAHBUNDEH

In the vast and often lonely landscape of African literature, where many young writers struggle to find their voice, find a platform, and find the consistency to keep writing, there are few lights that shine as steadily and as sincerely as STRIDA.

STRIDA - Striking Ideas (Since 2018) - is more than an institute. It is a movement, a workshop, a home, and a training ground for the African mind that dares to write.

When I, Sageboy Abdulai Fahbundeh, first encountered STRIDA - that was in 2023, what struck me was not just the name, but the philosophy behind the name. To strike an idea is not just to have it; it is to make it land, to make it count, to make it memorable. For eight years now, from 2018 to this glorious 8th Anniversary in 2026, STRIDA has been doing exactly that. As boldly written on your anniversary banner: _"...guiding you to striking confidence in academic and creative writing!"_ That sentence alone captures the entire essence of what you do.

That’s why to me, STRIDA was founded on a simple but powerful conviction: that young African writers do not lack talent; they lack guidance, consistency, and opportunity. In a continent overflowing with stories, our youth often write one poem and stop, write one article and hide it in their drafts, write one beautiful thought and lose it to self-doubt. STRIDA came to break that cycle.

Your work has been to encourage consistency. To tell the young writer in Freetown, in Lagos, in Nairobi, in Accra - keep writing. Write today, write tomorrow. Develop the skill. Hone the craft. You have taught us that writing is not a miracle; it is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it becomes.

And you have not just taught - you have provided the platform. In the last eight years, STRIDA has published several hundred articles, poems, short stories, academic essays, and other creative write-ups for different writers across Africa. You have become a bridge between the notebook and the world. For many young authors, STRIDA was their first byline, their first public validation, their first time seeing their name in print under a title they bled to create. That is not a small thing. That first publication is the spark that keeps a writer alive.

What makes STRIDA unique is your balance. As your 8th Anniversary theme so aptly says: "ACADEMIC AND CREATIVE WRITING FOR EMPLOYABILITY." You understand that writing in Africa must be both art and skill. We must write to express our soul - our poems, our folklore, our pain - but we must also write to survive, to get jobs, to write academic papers, proposals, and compelling professional content. You have merged these two worlds. Through your trainings, your online sessions, and through Ajakaye STRIDA TV on YouTube, you have democratized writing education. You have told every young person that striking confidence in writing is employability. It is power.

Same vision, bigger impact. That handwritten note on your anniversary poster is true. You started with a vision in 2018 and eight years later, the impact is continental. You are raising a generation of African writers who are not just writing for likes, but writing for legacy.

And now, allow me to become personal. Allow me to drop the collective voice and speak as Sageboy Abdulai Fahbundeh, a writer whose pen found a home in your hands.

If STRIDA is a mother to many writers, I am one of her proudest children. You did not just encourage me from afar; you published me. You gave my thoughts wings.

You published “Screw it, Let’s Do It” - my didactic poem. That poem was a call to action to myself and to my generation to stop procrastinating and to dare despite fear. Many platforms would have called it too blunt, too motivational. But STRIDA saw its teaching value. You understood that literature must also teach. You gave that didactic voice a platform.

You published “African Teacher” - my ode. In a time when teachers in Africa are often mocked and underpaid, I wanted to write an ode to celebrate them as nation-builders. STRIDA celebrated it with me. You helped me honor the noble profession that raised me.

You published “The Black Diamond in the Red Sea” - my elegiac poetry. That was one of my most emotional pieces, a lamentation, a mourning wrapped in metaphor. Elegies require sensitivity to publish, and you handled it with such literary respect.

And you published “Plight of the Greenhouse” - my protest and social commentary. In that piece I tried to be the voice of our dying environment, the voice of our choked planet. It was political, it was angry, it was uncomfortable. Many would shy away. But STRIDA, true to your name, is not afraid of striking ideas, even when they protest. You gave my activism a page.

For these four, and for all the other times you have believed in me, I say a very big thank you. Abundantly.

Thank you for seeing a young writer from Sierra Leone and saying, your voice matters. Thank you for not asking how many followers I have before publishing me. Thank you for editing without erasing my voice. Thank you for your consistency when I was still learning consistency.

On behalf of all the young writers across Africa whose poems you have polished, whose articles you have published, whose confidence you have built - I say thank you.

Thank you to the founder, Ajakaye, and the entire STRIDA team, the editors, the graphic designers, the managers of STRIDA TV, the mentors who work behind the scenes. Your labor is not in vain. Every writer you help today is a library you are building for tomorrow.

As you celebrate 8 years, I pray for 80 more years of striking ideas. May you continue to guide us to striking confidence. May you continue to find us in our hidden corners and bring us to the light.

Long live STRIDA. Long live Striking Ideas. Long live the African writer.

Happy 8th Anniversary!

© SAGEBOY ABDULAI FAHBUNDEH 

-Sierra Leone.

Writer, Poet, Proud Member of the STRIDA Family