Jakarta –
In 1990, Professor Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu stepped off a plane in London with her three young daughters, one of whom was still a baby. From Nigeria, he brought one suitcase and a little money.
Ijeoma returns to London, the city of her birth 30 years ago, to start a new life.
But for several weeks, she and her children were forced to live in a homeless shelter due to lack of money.
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Several decades later, he has now become a widely known and world-recognized scientist.
Her extraordinary journey is marked by courage, resilience, and some unexpected twists and turns.
Childhood
Table of Contents
Ijeoma UchegbuIjeoma means “well traveled”the name given when Prof Ijeoma Uchegbu’s parents arrived in England.
When Ijeoma’s father and mother arrived in Great Britain from Nigeria in 1960, Ijeoma was still in her mother’s womb. When he was born, they gave him a name full of hope and meaning.
“Ijeoma means ‘good journey’ they named me that, hoping that everything would go well in the new country,” Ijeoma recalled.
Both of her parents were students, so they entrusted baby Ijeoma to a foster family in Kent, a region in southeast England.
This is a common practice among West African students with children.
Ijeoma Uchegbu as a child with her adopted siblings in Kent, England. (Ijeoma Uchegbu)
Ijeoma spent four happy years with this family, which she believed to be her own.
One day his biological father came to pick him up.
“I don’t know what happened. I only remember that my foster mother suddenly left, and my father was there.”
At that time, his father had separated from his biological mother. Ijeoma only discovered her stepmother was not her biological mother when she was about 10 years old.
The unspoken question
Ijeoma finally met her biological mother when she was 13 years old.
“He was very, very happy to meet me, and very nervous; he was shaking when we hugged. To me, he was like a stranger, but we had a wonderful weekend.”
At that time, Ijeoma was one of six children. So spending time with his mother, who lives with a younger sister, is a new atmosphere.
“I was alone with two adults and had all their attention. We went shopping, and I ended up carrying a suitcase full of gifts. I just had to look at something, and he would ask, ‘Do you want it?'”
What they never discussed in those meetings was why his mother was so distant from his life.
“I felt like if I asked, the answer would be difficult for him, and maybe for me too, so I thought better of it. I just enjoyed the moment.”
A year after that meeting, his mother moved to the United States, and died not long after at the age of 33.
“I was crying, screaming, I never imagined I would never see him again,” Ijeoma recalled.
He has lost his adoptive mother, stepmother, and biological mother. But he still has his father.
“[Dia] what an extraordinary person. By the end of his life he had many children, 11 in total, but he always cared deeply about me. He never forgets my birthday, often plays with us, reads us stories [dan] took us to the zoo,” he said.
Ijeoma recalled that he had always dreamed of returning to Nigeria, but it felt impossible because the Biafra war was raging there.
He remembers his father saying: “I’ll be back next year. We’ll be back.”
Move to Nigeria
Ijeoma grew up in England, when racism was rampant.
Even though he had a wonderful teacher who always said, “You can do whatever you want,” he found it difficult to do so.
“I don’t consider myself a professional, because I don’t see people like me in those professions,” he said.
However, things changed drastically when his father finally took the family back to Nigeria.
“I left all my friends to go to a place far away and unknown to me,” said Ijeoma.
“I tried to be strong, but I remember when I went into the principal’s office to tell him I was leaving, I broke down crying. I was inconsolable, and to cheer me up, he said, ‘Your Christmas will be bright!’ And I cried even more.”
In fact, even the sun is not friendly to Ijeoma.
Shortly after arriving in Nigeria, he suffered a severe sunstroke and was bedridden for months.
Doctors said he was allergic to intense sun exposure.
Change of perspective
Ijeoma UchegbuDame Ijeoma’s father continues to talk about returning with his children to Nigeria.
When he was finally able to go to school, his situation did not improve much.
“It was very difficult to accept. I looked like I had severe burns, my speech was strange, and I didn’t experience the war. People said I only came back because things had gotten better,” he explained.
However, all around there is still visible “destruction”, made worse by erratic electricity and water supplies.
In England, he was always at the top of his class at school, and was also very popular. In Nigeria, he had to adjust to studying unfamiliar subjects.
“The only thing that’s the same is science and math, so I rely on both because I understand them.”
Apparently, this was very beneficial for his future career, and when he thought about it, it sparked his desire to go to college.
“It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said.
Finding love
At the age of 16, Ijeoma enrolled at university to study pharmacy. He later earned a master’s degree, married, and had three daughters. But her relationship with her husband ultimately foundered.
This was one of the reasons he returned to England. Another reason is the job opportunities there.
“I want to be a scientist, and with the infrastructure that exists in Nigeria, that’s difficult,” he explains.
However, few believed him.
“They laughed at me, saying I didn’t have enough money and poverty would take me back.”
With little money and with her three daughters, she arrived in London. Because she had little money, she and her children ended up in a homeless shelter.
Everything is so uncertain.
“At one point, 11 families shared the same bathroom; sometimes the kitchen was closed and we couldn’t cook. And the staff treated us very badly. I stayed there for seven months, and when I left, it was like being released from prison.”
Despite the hardships he faced, he said he never once considered returning to Nigeria.
Ijeoma UchegbuIjeoma met her biological mother in London after several years.
He immediately sought a doctoral research position in the field of nanotechnology, the study of small particles.
The scholarship is not very large, but he receives government assistance to pay his rent.
Three years later, he attended a conference that again changed his life “in unimaginable ways.”
There, he met Professor Andreas Schtzlein, a German scientist. In just four days, he admitted he “fell in love to death.”
Nanoparticles
Finally Andreas moved to England. “He left everything for me,” Ijeoma said.
Professor Andreas Schtzlein became not only her husband, but also her professional colleague.
Imagine a nanoparticle so small, less than one thousandth the width of a human hair, and so precise that it could deliver drugs exactly where they are needed in the body, increasing effectiveness and reducing side effects.
That’s what they do.
“When you take a drug, either orally (as tablets) or by injection, it eventually reaches the bloodstream and thus to all organs.”
But sometimes that is undesirable, because not all organs need to be affected. “The solution lies in nanoparticle-based drugs,” explained Ijeoma.
“If these nanoparticles only target the affected area and not healthy tissue, the risk of side effects will be reduced.”
These side effects can range from the devastating impact of chemotherapy to addiction caused by medications prescribed for severe pain, such as morphine or fentanyl.
The couple is developing nanoparticles to deliver drugs to hard-to-reach areas of the body, such as the back of the eyes and brain.
With ongoing clinical trials, they hope to treat blindness with eye drops, modify pain relief, and help solve the opioid crisis.
Ijeoma UchegbuDame Ijeoma at age 16, at the University of Benin in Nigeria.
Finding time to laugh
Ijeoma is currently affiliated with University College London (UCL) and the University of Cambridge in the UK.
However, his love of science also pushed him to explore humor as a way to convey his message.
“I realized my jokes were attracting more attention from students. So I decided to get better and took a 10-week comedy course.”
The course includes performances stand-up comedy at a theater in London.
“[Itu] scary, but in the end, I was able to have fun.”
A sentiment that seems to reflect his extraordinary life journey to date.
Based on the Outlook broadcast on the BBC World Service.
(eng/ita)
