Illuminations


"All the women in this book embraced the opportunity to travel because it offered them independence and a redefinition of themselves outside the narrow confines of society. They rejected the submissive position of women at home, and had no particular affinity with domesticity. But if they laid the foundations of women's liberation, most of them did it unwittingly, for they were motivated by the desire for self-improvement. Although their vagaries are amusing now, they did not travel frivolously. They put a girdle round the earth by doing: teaching, singing, empire-building, nursing, flying, acting, hunting, dancing, climbing. A minority travelled with their husbands; few were in pursuit of a man, although not proof against loneliness. Many were very frail, but invalidism seems to have a mysterious link with indomitability. In any case, their upbringing had trained them to withstand hardship, for the majority came from middle-class homes that made a virtue of stoicism. Their families provided the finance necessary for their expeditions, and their nationalities gave them prestige in the countries they travelled in. With the exception of missionaries, teachers and empire-builders, on the whole they did not try to change the people they encountered."


from Maria Aitken "A girdle round the earth. Adventuresses abroad", 1987 Constable & Co., London


Thank you dear aunt Maria, for continuous inspiration as an intellectual and as a woman. 

I always wanted to create a blog, never found the courage to do it, maybe too insecure to let everyone read what I wrote, because of the writing itself and, of course, because of the content. this seems a good moment to start writing, my first big adventure in a far away country. never expected that my very first place would be Nigeria. onestly never thought about it, never had it in mind, until last year, when i suddenly started to realize what that country was, and still is, all the contraddictions, and i started to get quite interested in all of the religious, social and political aspects of it. i decided to go to nigeria quite by instinct, but now, at 5 days before departure i must say i'm really excited. and very nervous of course.