BLANCHE

During the war I lost a pot that was very precious to me because it belonged to my mother. It was one of the things she had given me when I was a student living in the university campus. When I lost my mother, it was one of the things I had in memory of her. This pan was precious to me. I liked to use it to cook for my son who didn't know his grandmother.
She was a very hardworking woman, my mother. At the end of her life, we did not say goodbye. She left without warning, in a hurry. I was on campus at the university when she passed away. I found it very hard to accept that I was not with her when she left. So when I wanted to remember her, it was through objects she had used like this pot. The pot won't replace my mother, but the fact that her presence and spirit were around that pot made it precious to me. When I used it I felt like I was cooking with my mother. It was a kind of communion for me and losing it was like breaking that communion with my mother. That's one of the things that the war took from me that I'm still struggling with.
I am an avid reader, I started reading at the age of five. I could read books that my father couldn't imagine I could read. I could even read words that I didn't know the meaning of and would later ask my father what they meant and he was shocked but took his time to explain them to me. I started collecting books at an early age and still do today. I remember one of those books was ..., because my grandfather was like the backbone of that magazine.
When I moved to Buea, I had most of those books with me and I bought hundreds afterwards. I invested money in books. I have a great passion for interior design and fashion too. When I was younger, I dreamed of becoming an editor of a magazine. You know, when you are young you have dreams that are not formulated, but you know where you are going. For me it was always entertainment and information. Those books were important because they were already building my personality. All those things are gone.
Some people will say it's just material, that I haven't lost my life. But what is life without magic? I believe that the things we do in life are part of this magic that God gave us to write, to draw, to paint... The tools you used to learn these things, when they are taken away from you, it is like a part of your soul is stolen.