A picture is worth a thousand words…
Childhood memories from Romania

Christmas with my Grandparents
With her Loving Grandparents – Christmas 1972

Baby Pictures
With Taticu – her white father

Baby Picture Mamica
With Mamica – her mother

Baby pic Angela 2
With her loving Aunt

Baby Pictures
With her white parents

Biological Parents 1
With her biological parents

Suceava 1984
With her sister and brother after she met her biological father who gave her his electronic watch

Sister in RO
Her black sister on her visit to Romania in 1984

Suceava 1984 -pe banca
With her grandfather and her white siblings wearing the same red dress her father bought for her and her black sister

Gradinita
Reciting a poem in Kindergarten – Suceava 1976

Clasa aIIIa
In third grade – proud pioneers

Dans Modern
With her modern dance group after a show in 1984

Birthday 1984
On her 13th Birthday with close friends
Memories from Lagos, Nigeria

In Lagos, Queen’s College Boarding school with good friends

Prize Giving Day in Queen’s College with a close friend

Toyin Bakare's confirmation in Queen's College

Sports Day 1990 in Queen's College

Sports Day in Queen’s College, February 1990

With good friends in Queen's College - February 1990

In Surulere Lagos with the house girl who was from Sierra Leone

At her father’s house in Lagos, two years after she left Romania

With her sisters in Lagos

With her uncle who mailed her letters from Lagos

With my brother and sisters in Lagos
Visiting Romania in July 1989

Celebrating with her white family on her first visit back home

Enjoying sweets with her sisters

With her mother and her black sister

With her white parents

With her dear Aunt

Her sisters dancing together

Her black sister became good friends with her white brother

With Taticu – her white father

With her white father and her black sister

Happy Romanian family together with her black sister
Treasured Items

Author’s Romanian book documented her pioneer activities

Declaration inside author’s Romanian pioneer book 1985

Author’s 1991 Diary provided most details found in the book

Author’s 1991 Diary featuring her signature on the first page

This signed bank note represents sweet memories

The other side of the bank note mentioned in the book

KLM itinerary for THE airline ticket that saved her life

The snake-skin wallet – a parting gift for her sweetheart

Message written by the author in the snake-skin wallet in 1991

This important note delivered critical information to the author

Official Letter used by author to board flight for Sierra Leone
Returning to Sierra Leone

On the ferry to Lungi where the International Airport is located

With her younger sister in Freetown – August 2005

Reunited with her sweetheart in Freetown – August 2005

Finally together again - my sweetheart and I on the beautiful beach of Sierra Leone - August 2005

Her sweetheart took her on top of the hill to enjoy a spectacular view of Freetown – Sept.2005

Behind her father’s home in Goderich – November 2008

With Sierra Leonean girls after interviewing them about FGM

With Members of Parliament after interviews in 2008

With President of Sierra Leone during research trip – 2008

Fun memories with her adoptive mother in Freetown 2008

Visiting her adoptive mother in her home - October 2008
Living in America

With her mother in Los Angeles celebrating 4th of July

With her black father at the United Nations in New York 2002

Her black father with her white siblings in Los Angeles 2002

Her black father cooking in her Los Angeles apartment – 2002

With her mother – Graduation from Calstate LA in June 2003

Graduation 2003 with her white brother

Celebrating her mother’s 60th Birthday together in LA

At UC Irvine with her committee members after defending her dissertation proposal on FGM in the Parliament of Sierra Leone

With her graduate school advisor, Professor David Snow, after she completed her dissertation on FGM in Sierra Leone

DSC06878
With Professor Ann Hironaka at the University of Califoria, Irvine

Vagina Monologues at UC Irvine - with SWF supporter and UCI student Stephen Marley

Vagina Monologues at UC Irvine - on the stage with Students and Eve Ensler

Birthday fun with grad-school friends at UC Irvine – 2009

Celebrating with graduate school friends

With her Nigerian girlfriends celebrating in Texas – April 2010

With her white brother in Los Angeles

With her white sister in Los Angeles

With Katie, her graduate school friend in California -May 2009

With Professor Ruben Rumbaut at UC Irvine in 2009

With Ijeoma, her long time QC friend, in California – Nov. 2009

With Toyin, her best friend from QC, in Texas – April 2010

With UCI Vice Chancellor Parham finally holding her Ph. D. diploma

With Scott Fifer, founder of GO Campaign – November 2012

With Professor Tom Spencer-Walters at California State University, Northridge – February 2013

With friends and her sister at the African Fellowship Fundraiser in LA

Jackie and Nina2
With Jackie Collins whose famous book "Lucky" inspired the author at a crucial time

Presentation on FGM at the University of Southern California

Presentation about FGM in Sierra Leone at the Soroptimist of Downey in California
The identities of some of author’s family members have been protected as they each declined participation.