MASAI BLANKET

As I stood holding onto the banister, another sound pierced the night, and that was the sound of my crying baby. I was a little taken aback as I had fed her less than an hour ago. I wondered if she was experiencing gastric discomfort from the baby formula transition we effected less than 24 hours ago. It had not escaped my notice that her feces were more hardened and I made a mental note to switch her back to her previous formula for now. In the United States, baby formula is graded from 0-12 months but the formula we had her on now had four stages: 0-6months, 6-12, 12-18, and 18-24 months. Baby was 7 months old and I had just switched her to the second grade. I rushed to the nursery and discovered, to my relief, that Baby had stopped crying but I picked her up and cuddled her close to my bosom nonetheless. We both settled into the rocking chair in her room and began to rock gently, back and forth. In my mind, I was consoling her from a possible gastric discomfort or even an infantile nightmare. If I was being honest with myself, I was also consoling myself for longing for my emotionally unavailable husband.

As we rocked, I thought about how beautiful Nairobi was. I had quickly fallen in love with the wildlife and the sprawling open market among other things. It reminded me so much of my home country Nigeria and I found that I blended in well until I opened my mouth and it becomes evident to the indigenes that I do not speak much Kiswahili. And unfortunately, even though I am surrounded by a picturesque environment, being away from family, friends and my career was starting to get to me. I could no longer ignore the nagging feeling that I may have lost myself a little since leaving the familiar territory. I was eager to find fulfillment in our temporary base but I acknowledged the fact that these things take time.

I admitted to myself that I felt bored and listless and with this admission came the familiar pang of guilt. Granted, I was in a new space, but I wondered for the umpteenth time why my relationship with Tunde and my children was not enough to fulfill me in the interim.? In the 10 years since I have been married, I have flirted with the idea of being a Stay-At-Home-Mom but have never been able to summon the courage to make such a huge transition. Truth be told, I did consider our temporary sojourn in Kenya as an opportunity to test the waters in this regard. I acknowledged to an unseen cloud of witnesses that I was failing the experiment miserably as the boredom was making me feel enervated and irritable. Why couldn't I be like all the other confident Stay-At-Home Moms who built their world around their sweet families? Why wasn't home life enough for me?

Baby entered into a more languid slumber and began to snore and so I positioned her back in her crib and adjusted the mosquito net securely around the wooden structure. I had noticed that the prevalence of those pesky insects had reduced now that the temperature was cooling down but I still refused to take any chances with the mosquito bites and malaria that can come with it. I took one more look at the sleeping daughter, walked out of her room, and made my way back to the balcony. On my way, I looked in on Tunde and as expected, he was hunched over his computer working hard to meet up with one deadline or the other. I, along with the children followed him to Kenya in the hopes that it would be like an extended vacation but it was yet to feel like an excursion for any of us. He was always busy with work at night and catching up on his sleep during the daytime and we were all reluctant to do much sightseeing without him.

He had told me for years that he wished to invest in real estate on the African continent and this year he finally decided to take the plunge. He had suggested I remain in the United States with our three children but I had declined. I am not even sure why I was reluctant to leave him to his explorative devices in East Africa. He had surely not given me much reason to doubt his fidelity in the 10 years we have been married and perhaps it was insecurity on my part. I was still trying to sort through the murky waters of it all. Regardless of the underlying reason, we packed up the house and traveled to Nairobi. The plan was to remain here for three months and this would give Tunde time to research investment possibilities. Tunde was also working remotely as a Database Administrator and he was constantly working far into the night because of the 8-hr time difference between Kenya and the United States. The long nights and sleep deprivation had made Tunde cranky and his interest in sex had diminished drastically. It had taken quite a toll on our marriage and I was beginning to question the wisdom in following him to Africa. I stood briefly at the door of his study watching him type furiously, willing him to notice me but he did not and I kept moving back to the balcony.

TO BE CONTINUED....

MASAI BLANKET

It was a chilly November night and the East African breeze felt cool and refreshing on my cheek and shoulders. On nights like these, it made sense to be situated on the 30th floor of the penthouse apartment in Kileleshwa Nairobi. The panoramic view was certainly more impressive up here although the darkness of the night camouflaged the breathtaking view for the moment. However, the night sounds more than compensated for the cloaked sights. The soft tussle of the leaves upon the trees in the fields below created a soothing melody and I reveled in its night song. The stimulating sound of the small brook was a special treat as well. Although the streamlet blazes a watery path at all hours, during the day, its sound is usually muffled above the resonance of the nearby Primary Boarding School when it is in full swing. The happy sounds of children playing and frolicking in the sun were a different kind of refrain….


TO BE CONTINUED

delzbaba:
you comot for oyo come go settle for chicago south side? you no see better place like pensylvania or maryland go? dem never shoot ur yansh.

Toor
Everybody knows that Southside Chicago is very rough and dangerous but it's not a comprehensive picture of the whole of America

Hmmm

I'm not crazy about living in the US and there is no place like home. BUT my earning power is in America and I will always be grateful for the opportunity of dual citizenship.... Enjoying the best of both worlds..

To God alone be the glory

int0x80:
I bet you will be singing a different song in two weeks time . Enjoy your stay while the euphoria lasts. I felt that way too but couldn't stay past two weeks.

Hahaha

The euphoria is still intact for now sha, we will see…...

Stargangz:

You're welcome, but no 4get to add quality pics join make e dey interesting o. I siddon gidigba dey tag along.

.
Thanks so much for the support……..

Owopariola1:

Me self no go mind tag along.

Notin you need in that country joor…. Naija be the enjoyment destination

So the two major mountains that loomed ahead that could possibly impede my travel plans to Nigeria were:

Full COVID Vaccination:
I must admit that when the first wave of COVID vaccines emerged I was skeptical about receiving it, even as a nurse. The reason was simple: the speed with which it was developed was unprecedented for any vaccine and that was alarming. Myself and many of my colleagues opted to pass on the vaccine at that initial stage.
Soon after the vaccine came out, I travelled to East Africa on an extended holiday and only just returned from Kenya in March of this year. As of then, all Kenyan citizens traveling in or out of Kenya needed to be fully vaccinated, but thankfully, I wasn't questioned about my vaccination status upon leaving Kenya or arriving in the US; my negative PCR test sufficed at that point. However, Nigeria does require vaccination and, honestly, at this point the anxiety surrounding the possible side effects of the vaccine had subsided on my part. And so, subsequently, I submitted the first and second doses and became fully vaccinated.

Travel Document:
I've always said that airports are like purgatories and travel documents are needed to enter and emerge. Unfortunately, however, my beloved green passport had expired in 2017. I tried to renew it in Washington DC in 2020. I even went so far as to schedule the Biometric Capturing appointment. Unfortunately, this appointment was cancelled when the consulate was shut down due to COVID precautions. Rescheduling the appointments became quite a Herculean affair and I ended up requesting a refund.
I have also attempted to renew it in Nairobi, Kenya. I went to the consulate there and faced a lot of reprimands for allowing my Nigerian passport to expire for so long. Unfortunately, the Kenyan consulate was out of booklets, so I was not able to renew there either.
There is a consulate in Atlanta, Georgia and they confirmed they did have booklets but the entire process would take 2-3 months and I was so eager to travel.....hmmmm....

So if I wished to travel to Nigeria, I was faced with three options:
1. Acquire a Nigerian Visa in my US Passport
2. Wait 2-3 months for a renewed Nigerian Passport
3. Apply for an Emergency Travel Document (ETC)

I eventually settled for the ETC, which is a document that permits Nigerian citizens abroad with expired, stolen or missing passports to travel home. The document is valid for only one month and the turn around time to receive it is 48hours.

I was also required to register my intention to travel home on the Nigeria International Travel Portal. A QR code is received which is associated with a Permit to Travel Certificate which must be presented prior to boarding the aircraft and at the port of entry upon reaching Nigeria.

As I saw myself ticking off my To Do List for my travel documents, it occurred to me that a journey of a thousand miles indeed begins with a single step. Every seemingly insurmountable hurdle can be scaled eventually with determination and patience.

Sooooooooo.........

My flight was booked…Check
ETC was in hand…Check
Permit to Travel received and printed out…Check
Vaccine certificate uploaded to the travel portal…Check

The excitement now began to build in earnest to an overwhelming crescendo until COVID came knocking a few days to Travel Day ......

Mide3367:
OyinNurse when take me to America?

You go fit leave Naija excitement? US seems very full compared to the energy I'm experiencing here at home oooooo

Savage8563:
You are back to Nigeria?? For holiday ??

Savage8563, I’m back on holiday. Lagos is so vibrant! The food, the people, the energy……! Wow! It’s been too long, I swear. I would honestly stay if I could hahaha

Stargangz:
FTC, To God be the glory. Ok, OyinNurse I don carry chair sit down dey read with my kpoli in my left hand. Welcome to 9ja.

Stargangz, thank you, so very much ooooo. I cannot even begin to describe the feeling of utter pride I felt landing in that Delta aircraft and hearing “Welcome to Lagos, Nigeria”, but I will try……

Pls stay tuned….

Greetings!
My name is Oyin and I am a Nigerian-American nurse who just loves to travel. I would say I’ve always had that itinerant streak running through my veins, although I have not always embraced it wholeheartedly. I country-hopped quite a bit as a child and I admit that I hated it at the time. It was hard to nurture and build cross-border friendships in that pre-email, pre-mobile phone age. Letter writing, via air-letter cards, was paramount in those days and the trajectory of those missives took soooo long. Thank God for Facebook, otherwise some of the great friends I’ve made along the course of my travel adventures would have been perpetually lost to me.
Well, as an adult, I began to miss that itinerant lifestyle and longed to travel again. I spent the better part of last year traveling in East Africa: Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya. But of course, there is no place like home and Nigeria had to be next on my itinerary. Prior to this, I was so afraid to even venture home, I won't lie. Apart from the fact that my Nigerian passport expired in 2017, I've heard so many horror stories of airport harassment and kidnappings here and there…..But I longed for home….The Nollywood movies and the second-class Naija food here in the US could not assuage that longing for home. Even the WhatsApp group of Nigerians I joined last year could not completely do that and eventually I decided to take the plunge and venture back to my Fatherland.
I landed at MM Airport 11 days ago and it has been amazing in some ways and enlightening in others.

Lemme gist you guys about the experience so far…..

Please stay tuned….

What a lovely couple! May God bless their union…..

Just sit down with your lover and agree on whether to raise the kiddos as Catholics or Pentecostals and proceed with the marriage. I really don't see any problem here.

I am a teacher and I teach oda nurses. How much do I make? Not enough, I tell you. If not for love of teaching, I make more with my oda nursing job at the bedside.

Happy Birthday Lady, God bless and perfect everything concerning you this year!!!! Cheers and many happy returns to you....

Kudos! So inspiring!

MALIGNANTGuest:

It's not about the PASSPORT.
Does Blue Passport guarantee peace in marriage?
It's about giving your HUSBAND peace of mind.
It's about respecting him despite residing in d US.
A LADY can't be a husband.
A MAN can't be a Wife.
These are not elective positions.
They are Natural Roles which are not debatable.
Problem starts when the Lady decides to abrogate the role and lordship of men to herself.
The moment a man starts losing his RESPECT, anarchy becomes inevitable.

A LADY that isn't ready to listen to a man nor come under a man in tutelage of matrimony shouldn't even get close to Men.
No Lady will be penalized for being alone.
No one penalises the Reverend Sisters.

Abeg, don't come for me o....re-read what I wrote before. I repeat, there are still some of us that did NOT go crazy because we landed in a foreign land. I'm peacefully married and so are my friends that immigrated to the US. I see no reason to stress your husband out if he does not disturb your peace of mind. However, if he starts exhibiting dangerous/callous behavior, the woman has the right to act in the best interest of herself and her children, if she has any.

Sirqt5:
yawn. 6th grade abortion arguments that have no relevance to real-life situations. she has the right to make the best decision for herself and she did. argue with your keyboard.

Nope, have no reason to argue. To each his own and we all give account of our behaviors and most definitely suffer the consequences. Alright, back to my peaceful life.

MALIGNANTGuest:
I suffered same FATE too.
It appears there's a headstrong spirit that accompanies Nigerian Ladies to the USA.
INDIANS & Chinese move with their culture.
Their women respect their men a lot despite residing in the United States.

I keep warning Nigerian MEN residing in the US...
In Fact, I stood up and called men out in our last Sunday meeting to stop traveling to Nigeria to get married. After all what will these LADIES do 4u?
Between you and the Lady residing in Nigeria who is doing each other a great Favour?

What you need, are KIDS, nothing else.
MILLIONS of Ladies are willing to give in to that.
Travel to Nigeria, get them pregnant.
Place them on reasonable salary or pay them off if they demand. Takeover ur child's custody.

Please cancel every suggestion that will to lead to Nuptial knot-tying. It's not worth it.
The MADNESS is too much.

Lol @ reasonable salary. Anyway there are still some of us who married US Citizens and have not gone crazy because of blue passport

Pierocash:
No woman can try that shit with me. If I start sensing danger,I won't alert her.

I will simply trick her down to Nigeria with one excuse of attending to an urgent issue.

Nah for naija here I go conclude her case before returning back alone to the states.

Don't ask me what happened to her,God will reveal it to you in the afterlife.

Rubbish

Wow, that's cold. Better to divorce than to end her.

Sirqt5:
this isn't about having a child out of wedlock but about having a child for an idiot who doesn't want the baby or you missed the part where he forced her to abort? it's obvious dude won't show up during pregnancy, or help her monetarily to care of or raise the child. better for her to abort in the early stages than for her to suffer and bring a child into the world to suffer join. now's the time to work on herself. she's still young, she can pick herself up.

Excuses as far as I am concerned. Did the innocent child ask to be conceived? They called for the child by having unprotected sex and the child should not be the one to die for their irresponsibility. If a woman knows that she is young and still has much to accomplish in life then she should act responsibly. There is no excuse for murder. If the father won't accept the child, the woman should man up and do the needful for her baby. If she can't or won't raise the child, I guarantee you that their are millions of barren women that would adopt that child with eager gladness. Choosing to end a life to save face or save your own skin is selfish, irresponsible and evil. For God's sake, have the baby and give it to a couple that are desperate for a baby and will raise the child with love. As a mother, make a selfless decision and do what's in the best interest of the child, and that decision should not be murder.

Sirqt5:
had she kept the pregnancy she will end up a single mother

Our culture teaches us that the shame and disgrace of having a child out of wedlock is much and there is nothing compared to it. That is a lie. The mind-blowing guilt of abortion is even more unprecedented. I can't imagine what it is like but I have spoken to women that have lived with the guilt for decades and will likely feel the pain till they die. The OP showed that she fears man more than she fears God because she aborted to please a mere man who betrayed her in the end. She lost both ways and that is so sad.

You should have exercised patience to marry your spec na. When u marry your spec the love will be hot like fire every day. There is someone for everyone out there and you should have left her alone jejely so that the guy who would have loved her truly would have found her. Now you have trapped her in a loveless union. How selfish

The tin wey pain me pass na the innocent child that was snuffed out just like that. So you have mind to kill what you cannot create; you will surely give account. As for the oda matter, you are experiencing the pains of unrequited love; move on.

Congrats!

Can't believe students are still facing these disruptions in their education. I remember my Uni days when the aluta gang would come and flog us out of our hostels to encourage us to protest...I wonder if that still happens

Sorry, take heart. So she got knocked up and aborted for another dude? Wow, just thank God you didn't end up marrying a stone-cold murderer.However, if I tell you not all women are like this, you won't believe me but pls do, so you don't close your heart to the One. You will still meet her, by God's grace. You won't have to move heaven and earth just to please her; she will just love you for who you are. Just be strong and stay prayerful.

OMG!!! Am I dreaming!?! What is happening

Babtunz:


You are welcome
I hope you continue to enjoy the regards you've been given here.

This place has its bad eggs, they will surely come even when they weren't invited. But this place has a lot of good to offer than the other side of it

Noted, and thanks for the welcome.