The Ema family: The early years of the Ema family as told by Mrs Bernice Wendy Ema, mother of Asuquo ‘Zook’, Umo and Iquo Ema.
Asuquo ‘Zook’ Ema is of dual Nigerian and English heritage from parents who met at Hull University. His early years were remarkable as he experienced the trauma of being caught up in the Biafran war and losing his father in the confusion. This story of those early years of his life are retold by his mother Wendy Ema who brought up her three children alone surviving adversity and profound loss. Two of her three children still live locally and Zook went on to be well known in the mid 1980s/90s as a semi professional rugby player for Hull Kingston Rovers. |
Zook's father, Inyang Ndon Ema, was one of nine children born in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria. His father, Ndon Ema Umo, was the chief of the village and also a teacher whilst his mother, Nyong Ekpo Okon, worked as a dressmaker. Inyang came from Nigeria to Britain in 1959 via the sponsorship of the Church of Scotland’s Missionary Society and first attended the Cheltenham Girls College before going to Hull University to study for a joint degree in History and Theology. The terms of his agreement were that he would study in England and then return to Nigeria to teach for ten years. As part of his studies, he spent a period of his teacher training at Andrew Marvel School in Hull. Wendy Duckworth was a twenty-year-old student nurse from Kent, studying midwifery at Hedon Road Hospital in Hull. Their story begins in October 1960 when the British Council arranged a party on Newland Avenue to celebrate Nigeria’s independence. This is where Wendy and Inyang first met and fell in love.
On Saturday 24 February 1962 they married at Hull Registry Office, surrounded by friends but with no family present because not unusually for that period, many people opposed inter-racial marriages and unfortunately this included Wendy’s parents and three of her four siblings.
Wendy and Inyang settled down in Hull living at 1 Ripon Grove, Brunswick Avenue in Hull and on 12 July 1963, Asuquo Inyang Ema was born at Beverley Westwood Hospital. However in the following year because of the funding he had received for his education in England, Inyang had committed to return to Calabar in Nigeria. This promise was fulfilled when he took his young family to Nigeria in the April of 1964 so that he could work for the Church of Scotland Mission to eventually become headmaster of Duke Town Secondary School.
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A second son, Umo Inyang Ema was born in January 1967 in Calabar Hospital, Nigeria. This same year saw Inyang transferred to Itam Secondary School at the beginning of the school term in a co-education boarding school where they also lived. Wendy started working at the Mary Slessor Hospital in Itu. She was one of only a few white members of staff but this was not an issue. However by the July, the Biafran Civil War had begun and this was followed by the closure of Itam Secondary School in the January of 1968 as parents wanted their children home whilst the war raged rather than keeping them at the boarding school.
The dangers of war were made very apparent when on 23 January 1968, Mary Slessor Hospital, where Wendy was working, was destroyed by bombing, a period of time remembered in Zook’s oral history. The family then had to return to live in the safety of the school compound just at a time when Wendy became pregnant again with her third child.
On 26 March that year, Inyang travelled the short distance to Akwa Ibom village to check on his parents’ safety and unfortunately never returned. The family were left with uncertainty and worry as to what might have happened. Two days later, soldiers arrived at the school compound where Wendy was still living with the boys and at gunpoint they were all taken to a prisoner of war camp in Umahia. They had to leave everything behind; no possessions were allowed. They were isolated in a small room away from the rest of the women and children in the camp with no bathing or toilet facilities for five months. Food was minimal and consisted of mainly a bowl of dirty soup which Wendy had to share with Asuquo and Umo.
By mid-August Sir Francis Ibiam, the Governor of Eastern Nigeria and a friend of the family had heard of an English woman being held captive. Francis investigated and took Wendy and the children away. He arranged for the Red Cross to repatriate them to England. This was by no means an easy arrangement. They were lucky that a Dutch plane had been shot down whilst making a test flight from Biafra and by arranging for the family to wait with a village family who owned a large piece of land, escape was made possible. The crew reluctantly agreed to take Wendy and the boys, along with a nun and a couple of priests to Portugal. Due to the nature of their departure and the fact that the plane had no insurance to carry passengers, this was not recorded anywhere but it was their only means of escape. In Portugal the British Consul looked after Wendy and the boys until they could arrange a flight back to Britain.
Without a home or family, Wendy and the boys arrived in London on 26 August 1968. They went to stay with Inyang’s brother, Asuquo in London where he was studying veterinary medicine. Wendy at this point was still unsure whether Inyang was alive or not but she made the huge decision to move back to Hull knowing that if he was alive, Inyang would come and look for her there. Wendy was also conscious that at five years old Asuquo needed stability and schooling.
They arrived at Hull train station in the September stood in the clothes they left Nigeria in. Wendy had nowhere to go and no family and friends to turn to. Then coincidentally a previous nursing colleague saw her and inquired after her. Wendy explained the situation and her friend offered to accommodate them at her mother’s house on Ella Street as she lived alone. The timing couldn’t have been better as on 1 November Iquo was born; a much wanted daughter. After Iquo’s birth Wendy worked very hard to support the family doing night shifts at Birds Eye Foods as well as resuming her career in nursing. The long hours were necessary as social services were not immediately willing to assist the family disbelieving their improvised circumstances.
Unfortunately after exhaustive searching, interviewing the villagers and costly court hearings it was eventually ruled that Inyang had been killed on or around 11 April 1968.
Unfortunately after exhaustive searching, interviewing the villagers and costly court hearings it was eventually ruled that Inyang had been killed on or around 11 April 1968.
Ema Family Photographs: click on each photo to enlarge
The Family of the Late Chief Ndon Ema Umo of Ifiayong Obot, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria -
as told by Asuquo Ndon Ema
as told by Asuquo Ndon Ema
I arrived in Hull on the 6 July, 1996 having been discharged from St Thomas’ Hospital, London as an in-patient to become an out-patient. As an out-patient I stayed with my sister-in-law, Mrs Wendy Ema and her children, Asuquo, Umo and Iquo and only travelled to London on hospital appointments. The placard display by Iquo in the sitting room bore the inscription, “Welcome Home”. It was really a big welcome home, a home full of joy, happiness and hope. The rest of my stay was full of care and attention. There was nothing lacked. It was great and memorable, a wonderful reunion after about three decades of separation and partial communication.
Our conversations in my early days in Hull were full of enquiries and questions about family people and events in Nigeria. It quickly occurred to me that my nephews and nieces wanted to know more about their father, Inyang, a graduate of the University of Hull, who had died or been killed during the Nigerian civil war in April, 1968, and many other members of the family. I tried to answer most of the questions as much as I could. But it was evident that something in writing would provide a more permanent information and act as reference material for generations unborn. Sister Wendy had to be evacuated from Nigeria to the U.K. during the civil war. Asuquo and Umo were very small (less than five years) and Wendy was about six months pregnant with Iquo. So the children did not know their father, as it were.
It was based on this that the idea of the FAMILY TREE came to mind. On the right is the FAMILY TREE of the late Chief Ndon Ema Umo and his late wife, Madam Nyong Ekpo Okon. Chief Ndon Ema was born in Ifiayong Obot, Northern Uruan and was brought up by the early Christian missionaries (Church of Scotland Mission). He grew up to become a teacher, mainly in |
Methodist Mission schools and later as an Elder in the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria. During his retirement, he served in many capacities as the President of the Customary Court of Uruan, a member of many committees in the area and of course, became the Chief of the village and brought his expertise to improve the condition of the people. In fact, his period is remembered with grief and sadness since his death in April. 1975.
Madam Nyong Ekpo was born in Ikoroffiong in Itu local government area. Madam Nyong was a seamstress and a dressmaker. She took up this trade without undergoing any training but became one of the most valued dressmakers in the area. It was to such an extent that during festive seasons (Christmas, New Year and Easter) she hardly had sufficient sleep because she had to get the dresses ready for her customer. She died in April, 1978 after giving birth to nine children, as indicated in the FAMILY TREE.
Chief Ndon and his wife were very strict disciplinarians and brought up their children under strict and disciplined conditions. Today, these children live in three continents: America, Europe (UK) and Africa (Nigeria and Uganda). |
As I left Hull on the 8 January, 1997, I felt satisfied that the gaps between all of us had been bridge and that from then on, the family members must keep abreast of developments with the families and maintain regular and constant contacts.
The TREE has a big stem and the roots are deep down in the ground, so it cannot die and it must not. The task we of the older generation leave behind for all of you. Keep the flag flying and keep the TREE alive. Long live the family of late Chief Ndon Ema Umo. Asuquo Ndon Ema January 1997 [In April 1997 Asuquo had to return to Hull for further treatment. He died in August 2000.] |