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Years with David in Africa followed – an adventurous and fascinating period in several UN missions. “We were in Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Chad before the civil war. Everywhere I felt at home. Often I came to places where people had never seen a white person. I had to learn that their uneasiness in my presence was not directed at me personally but was simply a result of this unusual experience. Already at age 16 my hair had turned white, though not as white as it is today. This had to do with my illness.”

For many years Africa was Ellen’s home. “After some time in Maroua, in northern Cameroon, I realized that tourists did not find anything to take back to their children. Thus I began to make toys from shreds of cloth that were not sold on the market. Together with tailors – all men – I created animals, giraffes, elephants, Kasperli puppets as well as greetings cards decorated with cloth. As time went by, we were able to hire five to six tailors who sewed the toys. A Dutch organization handled the sales. I was simply spontaneously creative.”