Popular actress, Joke Silva shocked many at a recent event in Lagos when she revealed that she was not a natural child of late lawyer, Chief E.A Silva who was the then Babajiro of Lagos and his late wife, Dr Abimbola Silva, reputed to be Nigeria’s first female medical doctor.
Dr Silva died in July 2015.
Speaking recently at the first Annual Conference of Heritage Adoption Support and Advocacy Group (HASAAG) in Lagos, the actress revealed that her family also kept the fact that she was adopted a secret from her, until she accidentally discovered that fact: “But I got to know years later when I wanted to travel and was looking for my passport where my mum kept it. Since she was not around, I opened the box in her absence and I saw my adoption papers. I never discussed it with my mum because I felt it was something that would hurt her, that was why, it was kept secret from me”
Before her discovery however, an older cousin had tried to let her know the fact that she was not a natural child of the Silvas’, “I remembered going out with my cousin and we met a big cousin She introduced me as ‘my cousin’s daughter and this is Dr Silva’s daughter.’ Then, the older cousin was like, ‘Dr. Silva ke? Se Doctor Silva bimo ni? (meaning does Dr. Silva have a child?) . Did Dr Silva ever have a child?’
“I was so confused and when I got home I told my mum, ‘I met this lady that says you never had a child.’ My mum froze and she said, ‘don’t mind them, they are used to rubbish talk.’
The 56 year-old said before her adoption, she lived in a foster home of the Red Cross in Yaba, Lagos and recalled that her foster parent was Mrs. Desalu.
“Everybody would be calling me whenever my adopted mum (Dr. Silva)came with cakes and a lot of things during her visit. I went to YWCA Nursery, which was not too far from the Silva’s home in Yaba. I also have memories of moving in with them when they moved to Glover Road in Ikoyi.
At the August occasion which had the wife of the Vice President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo in attendance, Joke Jacob gave a vivid account of her experience as an adopted child as exclusively reported by kemiashefonlovehaven.com
Read the full story here: Day My Late Mum Asked Olu If He Knew I Was An Adopted Child