Surviving Biafra: A Niger Wife’s Story.
In 1961, Rosina ‘Rose’ Martin married John Umelo, a young Nigerian she met on a London Tube platform, eventually moving to Nigeria with him and their children. As Rose taught Latin in Enugu, they found themselves caught up in Nigeria’s Civil War, which followed the 1967 secession of Eastern Nigeria—now named, Biafra. The family fled to John’s ancestral village, then moved from place to place as the war closed in. When it ended in 1970, up to 2 million had died, most from starvation. Rose (worse off than some, better off than many) had kept notes, capturing the reality of living in Biafra—from excitement in the beginning to despair towards the end.
AUTHOR: S. Elizabeth Bird and Rosina Umelo
