India & Africa - the early years
India - Ballet. “Buzz off, little bee’.
Holidays in Kashmir - riding my pony, Chocolate.
India
Birthday parties with elephants and holidays on houseboats are among my earliest recollections of my childhood in India. I was born in Kanpur in Independent India. To me, India was a child’s paradise.
Elisabethville - the last picnic
Dux of my year at Institut Marie-José - accepting my prize from Monseigneur.
The Belgian Congo
Moving to Elisabethville in what was then the Belgian Congo (now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo) was a big change. First of all, there was the language: French. I remember my first day at school. I couldn’t understand or speak a word, and when my teacher at the convent asked me to stand up, I didn’t know how to tell her my legs had gone to sleep. I burst into tears: a universal language.