On January 4th, during our first chat conversation, Joy made the following comment which has stayed with me ever since:

Your mother’s love for children is coming to me.
Joy Tang, January 4th

As I am not into neither the occult nor into reincarnation, I was left wondering what she meant. I still do.

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For all my life, I have known my father as an alert driver, with whom I have always felt very safe as a passenger. He would never drive recklessly, as he taught me to have respect for traffic, and taught me more generally in life, that risks should be taken for causes that are worthy [...]

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When Love sees one of its own in agony, it mobilizes a search party that will not rest until it has found and embraced the one who went missing.
It sets off on a rescue mission that will endure any hardship that comes its way, burning with the fire of a heart that bleeds for the [...]

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Many of you have wondered about what have been Joy’s intentions in all of this. At the end of the day, however, that is a question only she can answer. But Freeborn’s comment on yesterday’s post Angels & Demons - Raging Obsession sheds some light on the complexity of the situation. In his comment, he [...]

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Between the day my father left Niger in January and the day I met him in Germany, Joy and I shared numerous chat conversations on Skype - a total of more than 20,000 words. What follows is a transcript from my very first chat with Joy on January 4th.
JOY: What a pleasure to hear [...]

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On the day of the second anniversary of my mother’s death (after spending the night at the police station), my dad came to our hotel room to spend the day together with his family with Joy’s blessing.

We started with fresh juice,

…then went to a little café close to where my father was staying, and had [...]

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It’s been raining almost constantly since I arrived in Taipei some ten days ago,

…a far cry from my usual hot & dry West African habitat.

As beautiful as rain can be, life under the umbrella gets restrictive after too many days of downpour…

I was looking long for a beautiful skywatch picture, and at one point, the [...]

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Dear Joy,
As today is your birthday, we would like to buy a gift for you. Will you see us and accept it? It will not have to take long, and preferably later in the day.
I asked my father to call you, but he told me his phone doesn’t work. He also said that he could [...]

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First of all, I would like to thank all of you readers for your comfort, support and prayers. They mean so much! Although the past few weeks have been both physically, mentally and emotionally draining (and I am now down with a sore throat and fever), it’s been amazing to know that so many people [...]

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If I could turn back time
I would relive all those moments again
The good and the bad
The wonderful and the painful
The laughter and the tears

If I could turn back time
I would hold my breath and be still
I would take in every sight
Every smell, every look, every word spoken
I would not want to forget

Not the good nor [...]

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Dad, do you remember?
Two years ago on Monday you called me from Sweden at 5 am Niger time, to tell me that my mother had drawn her last breath. My heart panicked and I asked you, are you sure? Are you really, really sure she’s gone?

You were so brave. You strengthened me. You asked nothing [...]

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…sends her all love and greetings to her grandfather in Taiwan!

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Many of my favourite skywatch moments this year have taken place with my dad.

Since I came back to Niger after summer, we’ve been riding out just about every weekend, discovering new places and enjoying the expanse and change of scenery.

There’s something about the Niger sky that just speaks right into my heart.

My mother grew up [...]

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