Born in England to a Nigerian father and an English Gambian mother, Iyabode Animashaun has had many names. She feels both English and African...

Iyabode was named Sylvia Iyabode at birth. Aged two she was put in a convent where she was called Sylvia. She was then moved to another where she was called Sylvia Veronica, and on to a third where the nuns called her Sylvia Mary. At her fourth convent she was called Vanessa.

The nuns always told her that they were frightened of mixing the children up. It was 'their thing' that they changed the children's names. She also remembers a part for a black child in the school concert. Her song was about being a 'little nigger'.

Aged 40, Iyabode gave herself the name her father always called her - Iyabode. This is a name which is given to a child when the parents mother has died. It means 'mother come back'.

Iyabode remembers the first time she saw her father, which was also the first time it occurred to her that she was black. She screamed and screamed. She remembers her father handed her a bar of chocolate. After that, she thought her father was a king - and that was why she was treated differently.

One of Iyabode's great sadnesses os that she was never able to say goodbye to her friends when she was moved. She was given no notice when her time was up in her final convent, and it was left to the couple who acted as her guardians to tell her that actually her weekend with them - was the start of a new life.

Sylvia worked in a youth club in Brixton. Her job there took her to Holland, where she met and married. The marriage only lasted a couple of years, but she has two children and Iyabode has made her home there.