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SINGER Patti Boulaye told the conference of her
faith in God and what it was like growing up in
Nigeria during the Biafran war.
"At 5am we got together for prayers and
we never knew who would live through the day,"
she said.
"We were a political family in enemy territory
and our people were being massacred. We got used
to seeing dead bodies in the street."
Her earliest memory is of being stuck in a jeep
which was attacked by a machete-wielding mob and
being covered in blood dripping from the driver's
head. Somehow they escaped and in the 70s came
to England. Her eight brothers and sisters have
gone into various professions and her family was
not keen on her becoming an entertainer.
As her singing and acting career took off, she
made a point of paying close attention to all
the jobs behind the scenes, which laid the foundation
for another career - in business.
She is the chairman of Boulaye Entertainments
plc as well as an import company. She is also
the president of her own charity, Support for
Africa. She started it after realising that some
well intentioned charities just do not understand
African customs.
She gave the example of shipments of condoms
supplied and demonstrated by being pulled on a
stick. Later every hut had its condom proudly
displayed outside, on its stick. The Africans
thought that they were a fetish which would protect
them from AIDS.
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