Some of his mother's relatives, not agreeing with her marrying Francis, had set a curse on her, saying that if she married she would never bear a child. When Ayomide was born in December the curse seemed broken, yet within ten days the baby started vomiting, and wouldn't stop. The family lives in a remote area of Nigeria, at the base of the Koma hills, and belongs to the tribespeople of the hills. Their remote ancestors had fled from the lowlands to the hills under the pressure of invading Hausa and Fulani warriors. Since then their location in the rugged hills had protected them not only from those invaders, but also from most contact with civilization and modern life.
Life there is harsh and short.
Many women die in childbirth and when they do, the babies are often left to die, or even buried with their mothers. As in most of Africa, people see the world as governed by a multitude of spirits and impersonal powers. A person's well-being depends on how he or she stays on good terms with the spirits through observing traditions and rituals, and avoiding or countering harmful witchcraft. Francis and Rebecca's families, living at the edge of the hills rather than in the highlands, knew just a little more about the outside world. Both Francis and Rebecca had attended a primary school for a couple of years, run by a Nigerian missionary, Timothy.