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NANCY NEIL FUJARZYK
The Flight Attendant / Historian

When I was flying for ONA, I 
always choose the Hajj flights. 
North Africa and the Middle East 
were my favorite destinations. 
My last flight for ONA was 
October 1977, my base was Kano,
Nigeria. The capital is Lagos, 
Nigeria.We were flying Muslim 
pilgrims to Mecca. 

Kano is located in the north. 
What a place! We certainly didn't 
stay in a Hilton or Radisson.  

We stayed in a small green motel 
with large, friendly lizards.  
ONA gave us pills to prevent 
disease and bottles and bottles 
of fresh water before we left NY 
and the place was so amazing. 
 
Nigerians imported their labor. 
The Italians worked in the oil 
industry, the Lebanese were the 
merchant class, and security was 
provided by tall slender black 
men with aquiline features: 
 
they wore long flowing blue robes 
(the exact color of the sky) and a 
dagger at their waist. WOW.  




Nigeria´s third biggest city Kano
Kano online


I met a man there whose entire 
chest was scarred. He was an Arab 
and looked like Lucifer.  

So many images come to mind 
when I recall this time:  
sitting on a river bank, feeling 
sad, talking with a friend and I 
turn my head. There, I see a man 
driving a donkey cart loaded with 
hay along a pathway. And I think, 
this could be anytime in history.  
It wasn't 1979, it was AD79, or the 
year 1030 or 512BC.  This is the 
attraction for me.  To transport 
oneself in time.

After that, I bid to be laid off 
for the winter months and 
began a BA program in Middle East 
Studies and filmmaking at 
New York University. 

Bruce Willis compares filmmaking to childbirth

CANDID IMAGE PRODUCTIONS

My desire was to return to the 
Middle East and tell their story 
and show the landscape. At the 
time nobody knew about that part 
of the world, except for Israel. 
And I thought it so beautiful. 
Now, everyone is afraid of the 
people and the land. I had wanted 
to live in Damascus as my home 
base but the more I learned about 
Islam and politics, the more 
hesitant I became about fulfilling 
that dream. 

While I was studying at NYU, I 
was given a fellowship to study 
in Syria and Jordan as a guest 
of the governments with 8 other 
students and a professor: we 
studied Roman City Planning and 
the Archeological Method as it 
Applies to Historical Research. 
We lived in actual archeological 
sites: a roman coliseum, an 
arab castle, a fort, a private 
home. While in Aleppo, we stayed 
in the room where Lawrence of Arabia 
stayed. There is a plaque 
on the wall above a desk where 
he presumably wrote. 

I found some of my pictures 
from the ONA days. Back then 
I seemed to have a camera stuck 
to my eye more often than not.
 






Here's a photo with Nancy Neil
and Winnie O´Neil. 
 
We had the day off and hired an 
Arab taxi driver to take 
us out to the desert near the Red 
Sea. He showed us how to catch a 
camel. I wonder if Nancy and 
Winnie remember that?!
I sure do. 

Read about Nancy´s passion for archeological
history and the ancient Middle East.

In 3100 BCE, the land between the 
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers was known
as Mesopotamia. The name Iraq was
used from the time of the Arab 
conquest in 632 AD.