Soli

Some would agree that the love that a mother has for her children is something that is universal no matter where on this earth that woman resides. This statement could not be truer for Evalynn Okolie a Mid-Nigerian woman in her mid-sixties. She is a single mother after she loses her husband to diabetes. She has two sons that she loves with everything that she has and like a mother bear her goal is to keep them safe. In Nigeria the belief is that if you have white skin, you are worth more than gold. When Evalynn's son Soli was born and came out with no pigmentation his father shunned him, wanted to sell him, didn't want any of the neighbors to know he existed and tried to get rid of him, but she saw him as a gift from God and would have none of it. She went out of her way to keep him hidden for worries that someone would kidnap him and sell him. Home schooled him, for years not allowing him to go outside at all, lied to him about why saying that his white skin would burn in the sun. But like all maturing children Soli gets curious, he ventures outside to find that she was wrong, his skin didn't burn and slowly Evalynn began to allow him to go outside with his big brother, do normal things, she let her guard down. But when Soli goes missing Evalynn's heart is broken. She searches for him and spends the rest of her life blaming herself. How do you fix the pain that a mother feels when she feels that she has failed at her one job? to be the protector. *The actress in this performance must be of African descent.