by Lengdung Tungchamma (Author)
A typical Jenta story is one of limited vision. The stereotype is that a person born in Jenta--a slum area of Jos, Nigeria--is stuck in poverty and drifts naturally to vice, crime, and gang activity, mainly because they lack vision for anything better. The saying has always been, "Nothing good can come from Jenta."
But one young man and several friends started a grassroots public library aiming to #ChangeTheNarrative of their community, and they have succeeded. Now, through books, programs, and community involvement, young people in Jenta can access a higher vision for their lives.
Lengdung Tungchamma tells his story of being born in Jenta and growing up amid poverty, terrible government dysfunction, and terrifying religious violence. He tells how, despite himself, God intervened in ways that set Lengdung in motion, away from stagnation in a survival mentality, and toward vitality by blessing others through the Jenta Reads Community Library.