Groan, Van, LOL! I used to line up my teddy bears and dolls and 'teach' them when I was about two-and-a-half. Bossy little horror I expect. Like Mrrzy, I have always been a teacher. But my interest in Africa may have begun when West Africans started to arrive in my area of West London, to work in the Wolfe rubber factory. I was very small and thought at first they were all chimney sweeps (the only black-faced men I'd seen up til then.) I was somehow fascinated by them, and loved their appearance and gracefulness. My sister and I would make up what we called 'African' words and songs, and from there on I was determined to travel to see those lands where these people lived. That led to meeting my husband and now I have a whole Ivorian family to love.