It has been a while since my last post on Hive, the longest break I ever took off from Hive as I have never gone a month without posting since I joined Hive in 2017.
I took a special holiday travel from New Zealand 🇳🇿 to Benin 🇧🇯 to meet my daughter for the first time, she was conceived before I left for New Zealander in 2023 so it was a special journey to Benin 🇧🇯 for me, a journey of love ❤️.
I was met by my cousin, wife and daughter at the airport. As I expected, my daughter didn’t know me, the video calls didn't help and that was heartbreaking for me to be honest but I had to be patient with her. I knew she would come around because I had a luggage 🧳 full of toys for her and chocolates 🍫 😋
Day 2 was good she started coming to me and we gradually bonded.
From day 3 we had become buddies, and taking selfies 🤳 😊 😄
I pointedmy camera 📷 at her, at every opportunity that I got to photograph the moment. She is an absolute joy, very playful and a handful!
I took her to the pool, and she dashed straight for the pool with clothes and sandals on while I was still busy with payments at the reception. She was quickly stopped from entering the pool as people laughed at her. She spent over an hour in the pool and didn’t want to leave.
I managed to get her attention for a shot 📷
She likes her cartoon!
I took them to the beach ⛱️ in Grand Popo and my daughter dashed for the ocean, I had to run after her and hold onto her all the time. My little darling doesn't know her father can't swim 😄
A moment with her at home
Sadly, it was time to leave as my 24 days to Benin 🇧🇯 was up, unknown to her at the airport she just wanted to run around and play not realizing daddy was leaving 😢.
My journey back to New Zealand 🇳🇿 was long, with a bit of a sad one leaving my daughter and wife behind. It was a approximately two days flight ✈️ with stops at Ethiopia 🇪🇹, Singapore 🇸🇬, Malaysia, Auckland and finally to my base in Christchurch.
I was completely exhausted when I arrived yesterday 😴.
