The only thing that I ever wanted to be was a nun. I was eighteen when I entered holy orders at the convent in Kilkenny. There were twelve nuns already well established and I was the first new novice in four years. I found only one thing. An intense feeling of love from them all.

After three very happy years, the mother superior sent for me and told me that I was to be sent out to a little village in Nigeria to establish a new outpost with the promise that more sisters would follow shortly. I really did not want to leave the sanctuary of the Convent. 

The journey by sea was not good. I was sick just about every day and the food was dreadful. After what seemed an endless nightmare the ship finally docked in Nigeria. My mode of transport to the village was a beat-up old truck driven by a toothless old man.

It must have taken about three hours to reach my destination. Some destination? My bags were just dumped on the side of the dirt track which was the so-called road, and the old truck disappeared in a cloud of dust. I had arrived in an alien world.

I expected someone, anyone to have been there to meet me but there was no one. The villagers seemed indifferent to me, was I invisible? I just stood there not knowing what to do. At last, a lady came over and carried my bags to a hut with a thatched roof. She smiled and was then gone.

The only thing in that hut was a mat woven from something unknown to me. I was just so tired after my journey that I lay down and went to sleep. How I wished that I was back in the warmth and security of the convent.

The lady came back again several hours later with a bowl of a spicy type of soup and a chunk of bread. The combination was most appreciated. She had shown me kindest but the only way we could communicate was by gestures.

I named her Maria after Mother Superior. At a guess, I would say that she was thirty-something. Twice a day she would bring me food and water without her I would not have survived. After about a week I was not as clean as I should have been.

There were no facilities of any kind in the village. I had noticed that the people were washing in the nearby river, and also that no one except me wore any clothes? After several days there was the sound of children chattering in a most excitable way. I ventured out of my little hut to see what was going on.

A boat had moored up alongside the riverbank, and the men of the village were unloading various boxes and crates. I turned to go back into my hut when a voice boomed out from the direction of the boat.

"Hey, How's it all going?" I couldn't believe it, for the first time in almost a month I heard a language that I could understand. He was a big man with a cheery smile. He told me that his name was Joe and he was from Sydney Australia.

He had been doing the river run once a month, delivering supplies to several villages for nineteen years. We chatted for hours on his boat, he even had coffee, and sugar, and biscuits, on board. (Such a luxury).

He handed me a clipboard, paper, and a pencil. "Scribble down what you want and I will get it for you." I wrote down five items. He glanced at my list, screwed up the piece of paper, threw it overboard, and roared with laughter.

He had such warmth in his eyes as he whispered to me. "Now do a proper list I will get whatever you want?" And Joe was true to his word. He should have left just after dawn but he didn't. I was still fast asleep with my head on his lap.

Later that morning he took me to see the village chief. Joe spoke the same language fluently. He was a very elderly man, and it was the first time that I had seen him. Joe explained why I was in his village. The chief nodded rather a lot which was a good sign.

Later that day Joe had to leave, but he made it very clear that he would be back in one month to see me again. During that night on his boat, I told him things that I had never told anyone. I even apologised for my unhealthy fragrance. What did he do he whispered to me, "I lost my sense of smell years ago?" 

The following morning there was frantic activity in the village. The men were building something with felled trees. Maria came into my hut with my morning meal, she was clearly excited about something but couldn't tell me what.

To be continued ...