For several days, the villages toiled from dawn to dusk, building something almost next to my hut. Maria was clearly excited by the development. Joe had only been gone three days, yet it seemed like ages.

There was a commotion going on in the village early one morning. A huge Crocodile was on the riverbank, basking in the sun. Clearly, he was not welcome. The building work had to stop because the felled trees were brought to the village in boats down the river.

After a few days, the visitor was gone and life returned to normal. I still had no idea of just what was being built. I was beginning to feel a little unwell, and I had a high temperature. I decided to have a lay down on the mat in my hut.

I fell asleep very quickly. When I woke several hours later, it was dark but I knew that Maria was present. My temperature had soared, I was burning up. She kept wiping my face with a cold wet cloth.

The next thing I remembered, was the village witch doctor performing some kind of ritual. Then things went black, and I was convinced that I was going to die. It may seem a strange thing to say, but I now know that my life was saved by voodoo.

Within a day or so, I felt well enough to leave my hut with Maria. As we got to the completed building, she gestured for me to go in. What was it, I wondered? No one could tell me, It was so strange.

That night in my hut I began to think about home, my parents, and the convent. I cried myself to sleep. I was twenty-one years old and in an alien world. Around mid-morning, I was taking a stroll through the village for exercise when I heard the strangest sound.

The people were all running for cover, but I just froze not knowing what to do. I was suddenly grabbed by four very big men and carried quite quickly to the new building. They had only just got me inside when a swarm of locusts arrived.

They landed in the fields of barley, maize, and wheat, and stripped them bare, and then they were gone. Such a terrifying experience. Joe was due back in two days, I could hardly wait to see him again.

That night Maria was fast asleep opposite me in my hut, and she was bathed most fully by the silvery light of the moon streaming through the entrance. She looked stunning. I took several minutes to have a rather good look at her, and I liked what I saw.

As I lay back down on the old matted carpet, I reflected on the day's events. When those gentlemen came to my rescue, two of them were being very bad indeed. Their cocks were not only pressed firmly against my pride and joy, but they were rather stiff and of good size.

I was up early the next morning to meet Joe on his boat. His face lit up when he saw me. We walked to my little hut and had a cold drink which he had brought with him. We chatted for ages, it was just so wonderful to have him all to myself.

He had everything that I had ordered, he even had more than one of some of the items. Maria and Joe were my saviours of that there was no doubt. Later that day a messenger came into my hut. The village chief wanted to talk to us.

Again he was very friendly and smiled and nodded quite a lot. Joe looked a little unhappy because he knew my background. The chief had suggested that I go native. We just couldn't believe it. I was as white as snow and everyone else was a very dark brown.

So strange so very strange. With Maria on my left and Joe on my right, I nervously ventured out of my hut completely naked and no one even looked at me. I have to be honest and say that being liberated for the first time was a rather pleasing experience.

Joe steered me towards the new building."Well what do you think the only thing missing is the cross above the door?" He turned towards me and smiled. The villagers had built me a church.

Over several months, I become very much like the other women, even my colour changed to be almost the same as theirs. Thanks mainly to Maria I was learning their language. It was late in the year when the monsoons came I had never known rain like it.

Maria and I took shelter in the church. Suddenly a violent thunderstorm arrived from the west coast. I had a fear of thunder, Maria hugged me tightly in a reassuring sort of way, but our slits were pressed firmly against each other. I was on fire, I knew from my teachings at the convent that my thoughts and feelings were wrong, but I could not suppress them.

Maria did for me the most wonderful things. Ironic, my first sexual experience was not with a man but a woman. Did I feel guilt, no I did not? Joe had mentioned about going back to Sydney, to start a road haulage business, and he wanted me to go with him. I was well settled in the village and had almost begun to like the place.

During the spring of my third year at the village, the Chief once again sent for Joe and I. When we entered his hut there were five men, aged in their thirty's standing behind the chief's chair. Joe was horrified by what he was told.

As we walked back to the church, Joe had great difficulty telling me what the chief had said. At last, he managed to blurt out the words. Colleen, the chief wants you to be the mother of his son's children.

At first Joe's words never really sank in. I was exasperated as any other woman would have been, there were five sons. I really had no say in matters. When the time was right, and under the watchful eyes of the chief, and witch doctor, I did my duty.

I can best describe each occasion as cold, indifferent, and mechanical. There was however an upside for Joe and I. Even nuns could not be pregnant twice at the same time? Over the next eight years, I gave birth to three boys, and two girls, and my position in the village was second to the witch doctor, who was second to the chief.

I rather liked being pregnant, and Joe and Maria took a very close interest in my development. As for the church, well that became a school where I taught the village children basic English, and it was also a shelter against the really bad storms that we were getting.

I have been a villager now for thirty-seven years, and I know that I will never leave. Joe is still delivering goods from his boat, but he knows now that like me he will die in Nigeria.