Mercy Eluigwe recounts her experiences navigating pre-colonial gender expectations and the harrowing realities of the Nigerian-Biafran Civil War. Denied formal education beyond primary school due to traditional patriarchal norms, she pivoted to fashion design before marrying on the eve of the conflict. As a teenage Red Cross volunteer in Uzuakoli, she provides a visceral, frontline perspective on the war’s devastation—from midnight evacuations of motherless children to the ravages of the Kwashiorkor famine and surviving on “sea salt” and lizards during the blockade. After the war, relocating to Lagos, she starkly contrasts the brutal, impoverished post-war era—where Biafrans were stripped of their wealth and handed a mere 20 pounds—with the extreme economic inflation of modern Nigeria. Her interview is a deeply personal testament to female resilience, grassroots survival, and the enduring scars of civil conflict.