2 May ...

 This was written on the 2nd for my American Cancer Society fundraiser, but posted a day late due to connectivity issues.

The second portion of my trip was a reunion with my sisters. I realized the day before I left that this would be the first time the three of us have been together. Ever.  

By the time my youngest (half) sister was born, I was living with my father for my last year of high school. When I was able to go see her for the first time, she was about 18 months old, and our middle sister (my step) was living with her mother in a different state.

It had been about 21+ years since my youngest and I had seen our middle sister, at a time when her own daughter was about 18 months old.

One of the things we did was visit the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (more pictures will follow later this month) where I saw the beautiful print above from Nigeria.

This resist-dyed fabric was made during the 20th century by Adire Eleko of the Yoruba Culture (Nigeria, Republic of Benin)

"There is a tradition in Yoruba textiles of using designs to encode messages, embody wishes, project values, or to offer prayers. Designs often project values through proverbs. A wearer can actively wish the good things of life upon himself or herself by using certain patterns and designs. Words were frequently incorporated into the designs of àdire cloths and other textiles after the European colonization. The phrase SURULERE ("patience is profitable") appears as a repeated motif in the stenciled design of this àdire cloth. Some dyers were unfamiliar with the alphabet of the colonial powers, perhaps explaining why the upside down "L" in the inscription on this cloth."

This struck me as very poignant when I read the description of the fabric because it speaks volumes when understood as a response to colonization. 

Patience would be needed when waiting for an opportunity to take back one's country ... or life.

Something I have done many times.