Thanks...

I think it's time to give my appreciation to some people, they are actually not some people, they are my very beloved friends

Solomon...I don't even know how to thank you and you say the same:-) Thank you for being my friend, for making this place bearable when I felt depressed, for giving me 4 plots of land in your village:-) for taking me out to dance in crazy Lagos, I will never forget Surulere dancing nights and the Shrine, thank you for being such a nice person among all the bad, you are a shining star my friend. I will allways be in touch with you and Sasa, you are making this country so beautiful.

Susy...My dear little sister, ex-member of DHWTVC:-) my friend who was allways there untill she started working, now she goes to bed at 8pm:-) Thank you for being such a good, funny and open friend, thank you so much for taking me to your country, those 17 days I'll never forget! By the way, even her mother doesn't know yet but she's pregnant!!! Congratulations Susy, I know you can't wait to see your baby and you wonder what kind of baby will come out of your belly, I'm sure it will be a great mixture of your beauty and Manoj's indian charm:-) I'm sure you will have a great and successfull career and a family. I'll definetaly come to visit you wherever you are and will cry when I see my little sister nursing her little baby. I love you girl!

Ebun...My very talented and multi disciplinary friend, a great and honest journalist and a successfull designer. Thank you for getting me into social life, concerts, events, arts and many more, thank you for opening your heart to me since the very moment I asked you ''will you come back to see me?'' at the orphanage, you allways came back. I love your adventurist, free spirit full of new ideas. I'll keep supporting you whole my life, I'm sure you'll be a very famous costume designer on Hollywood movie sets one day and you know I'm serious. Go girl!

Matron Julianna...E ka so Ma. I feel like your own daughter and you are one of the strongest woman I have met. I don't know how to thank you (I'm sure you'd be blessed if I decided to be a Christian, ha ha!), you are my mother Teresa, you are the hope and the mother for our children. Thank you for giving me all your support, thank you for being there with me when Sherriff fall sick and passed away, thank you for being honest, for giving me the best presents I have got in Nigeria(my Nigerian outfits), thank you for dedicating your life to the children of the world, because they need you so much. I hope and pray that every orphan has the privilage to have a mother like you.

Dr.Onyeji...You are just one of the few who is educated and dedicated in community development, a great doctor, a person with a golden heart. I don't know what to tell you after all you have done for my babies and especially for Sherriff. I meet him on my dreams, he is having a good time in heaven and he is so greatfull to you. You are the diamond of UNHCR and Nigerian Red Cross and you deserve better.

Julie and Julius Chilaca...I love you guys, you made my days more bearable in the heat of anger and hopelessness. Julius, thanks to you and Patricia I attended a wedding which I badly wanted to do:-) I wish you a happy and life lasting commitment. Don't mind the refugees:-)

My babies...You know I love you...Can't say more, I hope I could make you feel how much I loved you by the time I was there taking care of you. My dear children Ramotzu,Sylvia, Jeff, Sherriff and many more who passed away, I remember of you every single day and I pray for you. I'm sure you are much more happy in heaven.

Docas...My child...You don't know how I pray for you every day to get adopted by nice people. You have suffered enough and you don't deserve that, wherever I am in this world, I will allways do something for children like you, I will try my best to find adoptive parents for disabled children. I hope you know that I love you so much altough you nerved me sometimes:-) God will take care of you, that's my hope.

There are a few other people I'd like to thank; Mama cook(for being the most caring, loving and sensitive person in the orphanage, I love you Ma); Gloria, Lila, ACC:-) ,Mr. Umoh and Lucky for being friendly with me eventough I played rough most of the time.

Many thanks to all donors and partners of Nigerian Red Cross, i tried my best to prevent corruption and take the best care of the children with your donations.

Bitti...

End of the Story -Wild Wild West Africa-

I decided to move on with my life and am closing the Nigerian book to open a new one in Australia. I'll be going to Istanbul by the end of the month to see family and friends, finally see my dentist, my optician, my hairdresser, the manicure-pedicure lady, I'm just gonna spoil myself, oh God what excitement!
One thing I won't forget about Nigeria, is NEPA PLC(National Electric and Power Ass.) or Never Expect Power Again Please Light Candles as we call it:-) five to ten times of power cuts a day. If your heart stops beating and you are about to get an electroshock at a Nigerian hospital, the chances are more like you're allready dead because right at that moment there will be a power cut (it really happens!). Actually,there are a variety of memories I won't forget, maybe later I write a book called ""Memoires of an Oyibo'' :-)))
I'll definately miss the kids, all kids. Oyibo pepper, chop more pepper, chiqui chiqui pepper.
So we'll be equal with Aussies when they ask me ''howaya?'' I'll ask them ''how far ooo?'', two different kind of english huh?
I wish, I so wish to find a place like Casa Rosa in Laranjeiras-Rio de Janeiro in Australia, that's my biggest concern:-))) Casa Rosa is the place where I had one of the best and most amazing times of my life, an old whorehouse now a Bahian cultural center serving fejioada, with live samba, live Capoeira, live africanjazzfunkimprovize kinda music and relaxed people who are really having fun, the best and the most sensual dance I have ever seen, despite fever, malaria and thyphoid. Moments don't come back, so I gotta look for new ones, maybe even better ones.
Wish me luck!

Message from Iya Sheriff

Sheriff, I love you my child. I am very lonely without you, I think of you every day, my prayers will be sent to you every night untill death takes me to unite with you. You will allways be my first child and the last candle will allways be there.

I'm sure you're crowling in heaven making everyone happy with your beautiful smile over there.

I love you. I will allways love you.

Iya Sheriff

Ipara Remo, where I own plots of land!

I had a very nice week-end at Solomon's village, it was his birthday. Solomon is my best friend and salvator in Nigeria. He is allways there when I need help or need to know how to get something, somewhere, when I need to yell at someone about Nigerian Red Cross etc.
Anyway, we partied, he had the whole village helping out with the food and organization, we had pounded yam (they pound boiled yam for hours as you can see in the picture) which is a delicacy in Nigeria and is cooked for special events and guests, Eba, catfish, chicken and jollof rice(this name amuses me indeed) among many other dishes.
Saturday night after dinner Solo murdered the heart shaped melted birthday cake carried all the way from Lagos by Sasa(Solo's to be fiancee, a Slovenian teacher for disabled children and a very nice person) and we had palm wine (interestingly alcoholic and healthy drink made of the small nutty things of palm three which washes toxines out of the body, Nigerians say it's good for malaria too so I had a lot but I hope it was made with drinking water since I have typhoid too) at the terrace of Solo's beautiful village house and talked and watched the stars. Then, Nigerian friends started dancing with fela kuti, akon, lagbada and many others' music. After around 2 am, Solo's friends started making an incredible percussion music using the glasses, wooden table and their voices and it was just amazing! They kept playing and singing for about 2 hours, my fingers would be crushed if I had played a wooden table that long...
On sunday, we went into the tropical forest with the hunter bushman to hunt antilopes but all we hunted was a bushrat(they actually eat it and love it), we trekked for about 4 hours, it was tiring but nice, very very nice and unique.

By the way, as I now completed 1 year of voluntary service in Nigeria trough Solomon's NGO, he announced me as a national coordinator to Heritage Nigeria and gave me 4 plots of land in his village with official papers from cadastro and staff as an appreciation!!! And all I got him for his birthday was a travel book:-) So, I now announce my self as the new queen of Ipara Remo, my new village...(That's no joke, beleive it or not he really did that!)

More info and rememberings: Ipara Remo is a small village in Ogun State of Nigeria(jaga jaga) and I have lots of memories there. I was actually supposed to teach there Maths 3 times a week at the primary school of the village but then had to change plans because it wasn't taking 1 hour with public transport as Solo promissed, my record time to get there is 4 hours as every bus I take broke down or had a flat tyer. But the funniest story is about the king of the place, every village, every town and establishment in Nigeria has an Oba or Emir or whatever they call them(they are called with different names in different regions as the tribes and languages change according to the region), and Solomon comes from Ipara's King's family, so he brought me to meet the king the first time I arrived to Ipara. He didn't speak english, an old guy respected by everybody there and he lives in his ''palace'' with multiple wifes and numerous children and grandchildren. I was asking questions and he was answering and Solo was the interpreter. We talked about politics and staff, then I started asking questions on how to become a king and how they elect the next king when the other one dies, so he explained to me that there are some 2-3 respected families in every village and usually the oldest and most experienced person among these families is choosen to be the next king and the elected king has to eat the heart of the former king to become a real king, they actually take out and preserve the heart of kings when they die to be eaten by the new elected person, he was telling me all that on my first week in Nigeria and I kept cool just not to cause any cultural misunderstanding or disrespect, so I kept so cool that I found myself asking if they cook the heart before eating or they take it row and the king suddenly got angry and shouted at me saying they are no hannibals of course they cook before eating a human heart. Gosh, I felt so stupid how could I ask such a question:-)