Ivie Okaro

Ivie Okaro: So Ivies father told the elder he could have Ivie. Aside from marriage to this old man, which Ivie didnt want, she would also have to be publicly circumcised, a painful and sometimes fatal procedure. Ivies father had already thrown her mother out of the home so, in desperation, Ivie ran away. Her mother and an aunt knew she couldnt hide from her father and the elder forever so they managed to raise enough money for her to escape, according to The Star. She looked confused and unsure where to go, so soon a pair of immigration officers, a man and a woman, demanded to see her passport and took the terrified girl away to a small room. After questioning her for most of the afternoon, she was sent to the Immigration Holding Centre on Rexdale Blvd., where she was detained for two weeks and When Ivie Okaro was 16 and still lived in a rural area 240 kilometres northwest of Lagos, Nigeria, she dreamed of going to university, of becoming a doctor or a nurse. But she had to drop out of school because her father, a farmer who sold palm oil, fell into financial trouble and couldnt afford the fees. He borrowed from a tribal elder and when he was unable to repay the loan, the elder demanded, as compensation, one of the mans daughters as a wife. On May 5, 2006, her aunt took her to Lagos. A man she only saw once provided forged documents and a few days later, a second man, who Ivie knew only as Jerry, got on a plane with her, although he sat in a seat far away. When the flight arrived at Pearson airport, Ivie disembarked and realized Jerry had disappeared. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.