MRS. ESTHER
EMINA ONWUEMEZIA
A BIOGRAPHY
Mrs Esther
Emina Onwuemezia, nee Iwezu, was born on January 10, 1941, at a spot near the Old Council Building or
Secretariat at Agbor, to Pa Jacob Iwezu of Ogbe Ahuma in Alisimie Village, Agbor and
Mrs. Uwaya Iyare of Igbanke Village, then at
Agbor.
As her
mother, Uwaya was going to see her husband at his place of work at Agbor when
birth pangs seized her and she was constrained to give birth to a bouncing baby
girl…
She was the first of five children of her
parents.
Esther grew up during the Second World War and
her biological father, Jacob, did not seem to see the need for his daughter to
be educated as the perception of some people in Agbor at the time was that the
Home was the Place for the Girl Child.
However, her
maternal grandfather, Pa Iyare, would not hear of it as he was determined that
his granddaughter should have the benefit of Western Education just as he had
had.
So, young Esther was enrolled at the Government School, Agbor,
within the leafy precincts of the spot where she was born. She left the
Government school with flying colours and was among the earliest female
teachers from Agbor as she got a Teaching Appointment at the Agbor Nta Local Authority School. While
teaching, she had her eyes on furthering her education or training for a profession;
so, she left Agbor Nta when she was admitted to the School of Nursing at the Benin
General Hospital in the late
1950s.
She had
barely commenced serious training when she was espied by Nicholas Onwuemezia,
an Agborman who was reading Law in the United
Kingdom, decided to have Esther as a wife.
As an 18-year old, Esther decided to join Nicholas and so, in 1959, left the
Shores of Nigeria, in a French Boat, to sail to Britain, in order to
bring back “the Golden Fleece”. On arrival in London in those
pre-Independence days, she recalled that it was cold and though the houses
looked dirty on the outside, they were very beautiful and well decorated
inside. She only met her Sister-in-Law, Miss Lucy Onwuemezia and Mrs. Henrietta
Uwadia who is now commonly known as Mrs. Henrietta Ajuebon-Egbarin or “Big H”
at Agbor. Only very few people could afford to send their children to study in
the U.K in those days, unless the young men won scholarships to go abroad.
Esther spent ten years in the United Kingdom before returning home. In Lagos, the
Nigerian Civil War was still raging but she got a job with Scan African, A
Company which retailed Office Equipment and at Nicholas Laboratories, also in Lagos.
A mother of five
children, John Efenewemgbe, Stella,
Alfred, Henry and Leonard; she is also a Fashion Designer who studied at the
distinguished London School of Fashion and Design in Oxford Street. She is
versed in the Culture and Tradition of the Agbor People… A Vice President of
the Ika Union of Great Britain and Ireland, she is also
a Founding Member and Vice President of the Agbor Daughters of Great Britain, a
Sociocultural Organisation which comprises women, usually married, of Agbor Descent.
Fair in
complexion with alluring eyes, Esther has a beautiful voice and generally acts
as Lead Singer on Social occasions when the Ika people in general and Agbor
indigenes in particular, meet on social occasions such as Weddings,
Christenings and Funerals. She has a ravishing smile which is genuine and comes
from her heart as effervescent dimples spring up on her cheeks when her face
lights up with a smile.
Speaking
about his mother, John, the eldest of her children described her as a mother
who has devoted her time relentlessly in pursuing the welfare and well-being of
her children and grandchildren by hosting family gatherings and birthdays for
them in different places.
He added that
she is an exemplary mother “whose all inclusive approach to motherhood is
worthy of emulation by all mothers.”
John went on
to say that his mother has spared nothing in sacrificing herself to the benefit
of the proper and balanced development of all her children and grandchildren.
Among
Esther’s grandchildren are: Shash, Jonathan, Nicol, Jude, Daniel, Christopher
and John (Junior)
It would be
recalled that Esther, on account of her sincerity and trusworthiness, was for a
time, the Honourable treasurer of the Caroline gardens Tenants and Residents
Association, in the area of London where she
lives.
Philip
C.M.Ideh
Email: mideh.ideh.matthias@googlemail.com
7 March 2011.
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