Ile- Ife

I have lived in Nigeria for a year and a half, starting in June 2012. My presense over there was part of my contract with Sijuwade Holding, where I worked as a PA for His Imperial Majesty King Sijuwade. The Palace of The Ooni is in Ile-Ife, as local people say it is a cradle of Yoruba race.

I lived in a Palace, I had my own house not far from His Imperial Majesty, I used to greet governors, meet politicians, write contracts for business magnats; we travelled quite a lot, although His Majesty – ‘Kabiyesi’ in Yoruba language was then already past 80.

King

He was a great King, an amazing human being and a very generous soul, a true leader. I feel very privilidged to have an opportunity to live by his side for that time, I am also very connected with Africa. Mostly because I was the only women from my culture and from my race in the area then, everyone knew I work for Kabiyesi, therefore a risk of kidnapping was even higher, that was also a time when Boko Haram worked at a full speed in Katsina and northern parts of the country.

Palace

I remember having a cultural shock for a month, after that I sink into the new world and carried on, Kabieysi gave me three initial weeks to get to know the Palace, the country and the area, in order to understand where I am and how should I behave. Important note is, it wasn’t Lagos, it was more rural environment, although Ife is a city, it is 4 hours drive from Lagos, and a Palace is a place full of rituals, special etiquette, different beliefs and a place where a King with his family lives.

A Place surrounded by guards and thick walls, where noone can enter as he pleases, including me. What ended in many stories, of how can you can get out of palace not actually walking through the gate…

Please see below a very narrow selection from that special time in my life, where I not only photographed Kabiyesi and his entourage multiple times, but also was His Majesty’s right hand in governing, travelling and running his office, wherever we were.

‘Palace’ is also a different place, sort of a town in a town, where everyone knows each other and any news travells incredibly fast, depending on how many people likes you…you need to be very carefull; and everything reaches Kings ears… I have many stories about this as well.

I will write a book about this amazing person 🙂