I have sunk in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, where a flood overwhelms me.

On this very good day, I and my aunt decided to ride with my dad to the Bus stop when I heard my Aunt talking to her stepdaughter on the phone asking about the weather and her general welfare. From the conversation, I could deduce that she was “in the abroad” as we funnily call it. After she was done exchanging pleasantries, I decided to ask questions about where she was and the details.

She excitedly told me she was in an Arabian Country — OMAN to be precise on a working Visa and she earns well. In fact, she sends home some money to invest in her father’s business. This excites me a lot. I mean, who wouldn’t be want that kind of life? I was super attentive to learn how this works and hopefully, if she could assist with the processing as my dad showed interest as well.

Before alighting, she gave a brief rundown of the cost and required documents which were – No documents. Since it was a work Visa, I felt well that’s understandable. However, it would cost me about NGN400,000 to process it. That’s doable I said to myself. I’m not a lazy Nigerian youth plus I have some money saved already for my brand launch.

That week, I was on her case 24–7 to get started. That was when I was introduced to her husband who was the processing agent (At least that was what I was told). I spoke with him on the phone and he asked if I was interested in the working Visa. My Aunt and her husband assured me that his daughter was there, and I had absolutely nothing to worry about. She would come pick me up at the airport, and accommodate me while I’m able to secure a job.

The whole plan sounded flawless and coming from a family member, I had no reason to doubt or be afraid. I told my lover at the time, who told me it was too good to be true. The fact that it was Oman (an Arabian Country) was a total turn-off. But, I was too invested in chasing the better life, greener pasture. I wanted to leave the country so badly, start a new life, earn foreign currency, and all that.

Few weeks later, I was asked to come to Ibadan with the processing fee. On arrival, I took some pictures on hijab couple with some other girls. They said it was part of the process as per Arabian country. ISSOKE!

Amazingly, the Visa came out. And I thought. Finally! My long-time dream of leaving the country has arrived. I started saying goodbye to my friend – Inioluwa, we planned how it was it was going to be, how I would send her an invite to join me after working and saving up — LE to the MAO (Lemao). Boy oh Boy! We had lots of lofty dreams on my “Arabian Journey”. Smiles…

Upon receiving the Visa, guess what? I saw Housemaid on the work type. This was two days before departure. I became worried and decided to ask my Aunt why a whole graduate like would be going to do housemaid in the abroad. She assured me again it was part of the process that I had nothing to worry about. That I could get there and do another job. Because I was willing to pull out right there and now.

Okay! I thought.

The D-Day finally came, My family including my Aunt and her husband, Inioluwa saw me off at the airport. As expected, it was an emotional moment. Little did I know what was waiting on the other side for me. I hopped on the plane in search for a better life, with much faith alive, departing with the dream of a brighter future.

Fast forward to my arrival at the airport, I was picked up by a white man which had me confused. Like, what’s going on here. You may wonder how. Well, baba had my name written on a paper waiting at arrival for me. First thing first, he smiled asking for my international passport. Right there, I knew it has happened.

We walked down to the car park and drove down home. I mean we kept going, and going, and going, and going, going (read this in Yoruba) we even had a stopover to grab breakfast. Because I arrived very early in the morning. Lol

You would’ve to imagine how angry and confused I am at the same time. I had lots of questions running through head:

Where’s the daughter?

Where am I going?

What’s going on?

What have I gotten myself into?

Unfortunately, there was one to ask or answer all of my questions. Without taking much of your time, the house lady woke me as early as 6am to sweep with this ancient palm tree broom. With tears, I swept and asked to talk to aunt and his brother because they could see the confusion in my face and body language that I didn’t want to be there.

Well, after a long while I finally got the chance to speak to my aunt and your guess is as good as mine.

She said and I quote: “You are there already, you’ve seen how it is there, do what they do and do as you’re told”.

I broke down in serious tears. Cried for days without eating. I autographed away two freaking years of my life to slavery doing what? Absolutely nothing to write home about. The family I was posted to are as good broke. Who’s living on government funds and benefits. Double wahala for dead body. It was an outskirt of the city. I mean extreme outskirt, where you can be buried and no one will dare to find you.

There was no internet in the house because they couldn’t afford one for the whole house. When I eventually got my own sim, I had to drop voice messages on WhatsApp and pass all the information i needed before turning on my subscription as I only get to subscribe once a month. Then, wait for another 3–4 weeks to get the feedback from the last message. Prison is an understatement. It was hell!

This was one of the toughest times of my entire existence and at the same, the greatest encounter because I have someone who is greater than my Aunt and her husband — Jesus. I got closer to God and he taught me his word himself. I would read my bible day and night, write my heart out in words and songs. At the same time, do all the house chores, and take care a family of 7 with grandma.

. ….

This story is a long one and how got out of this shall be discussed in other articles. But I won’t close this chapter without dropping today’s nugget:

I know that it’s good to have a plan for a better future, but what’s not good is when your plan failed to include a space for the unexpected occurrences.

Most of the times, we get disappointed when things didn’t go according to plan. That’s when I realized that we shouldn’t be too manipulative of the happenings.

There are some instances that because we want it so hard for our plans to happen that we failed to notice that we are slowly destroying ourselves. We are turning blind to other things because we are insisting what we want.

Sometimes, what we want is not what we need and the plan that we’ve made is not the one that will take us to where we are meant to be. I have learned to let life happen and even though I have some plans for my life, I also lower my expectations about it.

Expectation is really bound to lead you to disappointment.

So, stop expecting too much and just let life flows the way it is intended to flow.

Eventually, you’ll find yourself reaching milestones and the unexpected ones are those that will really make you happy because unplanned moments create remarkable memories.”

Outfit – @fadesfits on Instagram

#unexpectedmoments #life #lifeflows