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This was definitely a skill that was harnessed
through going to Church with the Olatunde’s. I
realised that people have a need for illusion, you see,
whether you fully believe or not, as I remember after
Church a few weeks after I had arrived; Olu had just
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given his lungs a good session of speaking in
tongues, and we were on our way back to the house,
walking. Cher was saying something about how she
did not really understand why a black woman at
Church, an Usher, seemed to have a chip on her
shoulder as apparently she would always attend
Church without a smile. “That Black woman is a bit
hostile sometimes, probably why she is always
looking for a husband. She could smile a bit,” said
Cher. Then I remember Cecil, looking at her Father
and interrupting her Mother half laughing, to say:
“In your tongues I heard you say: hmmmmbalala - I
willa watch that tonight - bmmmmababalla. Dad do
you know what you’re saying when your speaking
like that?” I then thought Cecil was going to get a
telling off as Mr Olatende was very strict; he didn’t
allow his daughter’s to listen to the Rap they would
seem to talk about all the time: Nas is so cute this or
did you hear that ‘She Said’ song by Ludacris, and
they would begin to sing the lyrics in laughs and
giggles: “She said she was Christian she was brought
up in the Church! In the Chuuuch!” Mr Olatende
looked puzzled from the frown on his forehead, I’d
imagined he would say something stern perhaps
detecting the obvious sarcasm in Cecil’s words, but
he then said something I will always remember;
“What you believe is always true, regardless.”
Although, like Cecil and Estelle I was not
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