Joy Hadji Alliy
My left hand How memoir helped lawyer make sense of her stroke Successful commercial lawyer and now author Joy Alliy is a fighter. Last year a stroke left her without the use of the right side of her body and unable to speak or swallow so she used her left hand to write a brutally honest account of her life before and after the stroke and how she came to terms with the condition. Now the memoir, The Metamorphosis of a Butterfly, has been published and Joy is on the road to recovery. Here she reveals to Mark Edwards how the traumatic event led her to re-examine her life.
T
he warning signs were there.
Novita Law, in a notoriously ruthless
Dizzy spells that would make
and competitive profession. She didn’t
Joy Alliy feel “like the whole
have the time to be ill.
room was spinning” were dismissed
All smiles Joy Alliy before the stroke
that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.” She intended the quote to serve as inspiration to her young team – most
by her doctor as vertigo and when she
Starting over
also started experiencing momentary
In September of that year Novita
or even high school and set on a
losses of vision – once while
Law – which specialises in corporate
steep learning curve – as well as to
swimming with her nephew and once
and commercial law – marked its
reference the brave new beginnings
while watching television at home –
fifth anniversary with a small party
she told no-one but inwardly noted
at its offices in Dar’s city centre. Joy
that it was probably time she booked
addressed attending colleagues and
an appointment with her optician.
friends with a moving celebration
standard that has seen her listed seven
of them hired straight from university
in her own career, which had seen her Lawyer Joy runs her own firm, Novita Law
go solo after 12 years working in some of Tanzania’s biggest law firms to a
They were worrying symptoms,
speech. At its heart was a quote Joy
times in international legal ranking
especially in 2020 among the fear
had taken from one of her favourite
system Chambers Global Guide.
and uncertainty of the global Covid
films, The Curious Case of Benjamin
pandemic. But 42-year-old Joy was a
Button. “It’s never too late to become
that soon her life would be hit with a
bright, ambitious commercial lawyer in
who you want to be. I hope you live a
shocking, unavoidable reason to start
Dar es Salaam, running her own firm,
life that you’re proud of, and if you find
over once again.
8
Paa Tanzania
However, Joy couldn’t have known
