'I wanted to know where my curly hair and dark skin came from:' Cork woman's search for her African roots

From East Cork to Nigeria, Oona Agbi-Colin talks about being born in a mother and baby home, her adopted past and her 'magical' journey to find 'where she came from'

Oona Agbi-Colin, on the beach in Youghal, Co Cork. She was born in 1968 in St Patricks’ Mother and Baby home on the Navan Road in north Dublin. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

As she stepped out of the car onto the streets of Nigeria in her floral summer dress, Oona Agbi-Colin couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw all the people who gathered to greet her.

Her delighted relatives had lined up on the roadside to hug and cheer her on as she set foot in the small town of Afikpo where her Nigerian father had grown up.