Alfred Fayemi, the author of Voices from Within was born to a teacher father and homemaker mother in Ifako-Ekiti. Dr. Fayemi describes his late father, also Alfred, as a quiet yet assertive church elder, a religious man. His remembers his quite elderly mother, Abiola, as the more outgoing of the couple. She sang in the church choir and took good care of her family which included other children who had been sent to live with them in order to benefit from the structure of living with a teacher. Alfred's mother comes from a royal family in Igede-Ekiti, about 28 miles from where he was born. The young Dr. Fayemi was raised in Itesi, Abeokuta in the care of his uncle who was a headmaster at a local school. He describes his early childhood as a typical Christian African boy's childhood, filled with soccer, household chores and morning and evening family prayers. He has three siblings; a sister and two brothers.

The promising young Alfred attended Itesi Methodist Primary School and then went on to high school in Igbobi College in Lagos. Some of Dr. Fayemi's fondest childhood memories are about his experiences at Igbobi College, a parochial school that afforded many boys an oportunity to experience some of the trappings of the upper class such as the game of cricket. In Dr. Fayemi's words, "When old Igbobians meet, nothing else exists." Igbobi College represented his first real taste of independence since he no longer lived with family members. He lived in a boarding school with other boys from all over the country. It was at Igbobi College where he made some of his closest friends and longest lasting friends. He still maintains close contact with Professor Babalola, one of his former housemasters and later principal, from the Igbobi College days.

Alfred was an accomplished student. He was able to complete the 5-year high school program in 4 years. He had to do a lot of independent study since being accelerated a year was not accompanied by any additional support to ensure that he was exposed to the curriculum from the year he skipped. He is especially proud of the organization in the dormitories and the leadership skills he was provided during his high school dormitory experience. After high school he attended Abeokuta Grammar School, another parochial school, to complete his Higher School Certificate (HSC). He then taught general science and biology at Reagan Memorial Girl's Baptist School for a brief period of 9 months before he left for Israel to study medicine.

Today, Dr. Fayemi is a pathologist and Director of Laboratories at the Franciscan Health System of New Jersey. He is also an accomplished photojournalist. He currently has two publications to his credit- Balancing Acts: Photographs From West Africa and Voices from Within: Photographs of African Children. He is currently working on a book of photographs that focuses on African women. He hopes to follow that with a book on the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Dr. Fayemi's books can be obtained from Amazon.com or by calling (914) 761-0362.