Abuja to Edmonton

This being my first blog, i’ll like to appreciate everyone stopping by to read a line or two. I’ll be using this page as a platform to share my ideas and thoughts on issues and topics on happenings around me(English and pidgin), so make we chill and relax and nor take life too serious.

Like every young optimistic hustling Nigerian, struggling to make ends meet and trying to take advantage of every opportunity life presents and with a firm belief that the best place to start from in search of greener pasture is the capital city of any Country or Province as there will sure be diverse opportunities. I packed my kanya(belongings) left Benin city for Abuja(The Nigerian Capital) after Uni. The first attempt I had at a shot towards going out into the real world all by myself and losing myself in a quest for success, after my one-year mandatory Nigeria National Youth Service program for all university graduates, which is the greatest challenge(The fear of a new start/ the fear of trying something new)many people today often have to conquer if one will ever be independent, not being spoon-fed forever and always have something to look back and appreciate God for. Little did I realize that this daring mindset will forever play a role in pushing me to survive even in the Western world.

Hustling, bustling, trying and attempting until God gave me that opportunity to relocate to North America, Canada to be precise, from Abuja(The best thing that has happened to me till date. Canada to me being the biblical land flowing with milk and honey) having conquered that fear of diving into the world alone in Abuja, it didn’t come as much surprise or fear anymore when I relocated to Canada…. Then of course the issue of JJC (Johnny just come or rookie) set in, as i and my friend Chinedu also a Nigerian in same college I was attending in Kitchener, Ontario headed one day to a grocery store in the uncontrollable frenzy and euphoria of our new environment to shop at the grocery store and arrived home with lots of grocery bags which we weren’t used to in naija . Long story short we had cat(meow meow) food for supper because we didn’t know what we bought. LOL. Small by small ogoro(frog) go jump. Na small small stammerer go pronounce e mama name…. Saddled with the thought of “after post-grad what next”? Did I go back to my belief back home that the best place to relocate in search of greener pasture is sure the capital of a region coupled with what I will term “divine direction” was how I found myself in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta, with my duffel bag, a nine month post graduate work permit and $80 left in my pocket(Knowing nobody in the city I had arrived but God) when I landed at The Edmonton International Airport at about 2:00am on January 9th 2014. Suffice to mention here that my nine month post graduate work permit meant I had nine months from that day to find a permanent job which will enable me continue to stay in Canada and probably apply for residency or face a removal/deportation order by Canadian Immigration. I did have confidence in the fact that God who made a promise to make a way where there seems to be no way who did it in Abuja does also exist anywhere including Edmonton and he will sure make a way. I arrived Edmonton in January(the coldest month) and I had come from Kitchener, Ontario which is somewhat warmer and in another of my rookie moves did I dress a very summer-like dressing i.e sneakers to church on Sunday January 12, 2014 for my first worship, the weather that day was hovering around -33 degrees celsius without the windchill and I had to catch two busses to the RCCG church downtown, meaning I had to wait at about two different bus stops for the bus to arrive…. Mehnnnnnnn that coldddddddddd enter me welllllllll like woi woi woi,, I could not feel my feet when I got to church(My first really good frostbite), thanks to Bro Suberu who sat me down in church that day and gave me a good winter dressing orientation and also to Bro Diekola for the volunteer to drop me off that period. Ogbeni, Dem nor dey tell person. But when faith becomes your daily watchword, and you have a strong conviction and optimism that tomorrow will be better than today, you keep pushing and striving.

More to come in my next post….