USA or Canada? Where should I have my baby?

Since I had my second child, the most common question I have gotten from people who are familiar with my first experience is “which experience is better? USA or Canada?” or something like “Are they the same?” to which I answer, they both have their pros and cons

Left to me, I wanted to have my children in the same country, preferably USA, but my visa expired a few months before my due date, and I couldn’t get an early interview date. A lot of other things happened along the way (which I will try to summarise in a later blog post cos it is enough to fill a book), that kept blocking my decision to travel to the US. Almost three months after having my baby now, I still hadn’t gone for my interview, having missed two opportunities to go for interview before I went to Canada. But don’t let me get ahead of myself, as these things will be revealed later.

So to the meat of this post. I know there’s currently a lot of controversy and fear around having your child abroad, with Trump tightening up systems around illegal and legal immigration, causing Nigerians to panic and run to other countries like Canada. But the truth is that having your children abroad for the sole reason of citizenship is

Atilola Moronfolu in Rio Poetry Slam 2019

Hello beautiful people. How are we all doing? I am glad to announce and inform you all that this week, I will be taking part in the Rio Poetry Slam happening live in Rio de Janerioa, Brazil, which is a part of the larger FLUP Literary festival. This is my second time slamming at the Rio Poetry Slam, my first time being in 2014. I was quite surprised and very happy when I was called back, to be honest.

Because of the theme of this year's festival, this edition of the slam will have 16 (8 previous slammers and 8 current slammers) black female poets from different countries slamming, and I will be representing Nigeria. I am so looking forward to the experience.

I got my invitation to the slam a couple of days after delivering my baby. Funny enough, I didn't even think twice before I agreed, thereby setting my husband up for mummy duties without his knowledge, lol. I'm glad for a supportive husband though, if not, OYO (On Your Own) would have been my case. After he was informed,

My Desert Safari Experience in Abu Dhabi

Hello beautiful people. I will just pretend like I've done nothing wrong, and resume blogging as usual, lol. I don't want to join the ranks of runaway bloggers who disappear, come to apologize, promise to never leave, and then disappear again. Lai lai. #putsonholierthanthouface

A lot has happened o. I have tripped, risen, dusted myself, and gotten back in motion again. We got our NAFDAC number at African Naturalistas. Finally! Let's just say we need prayers in Nigeria.

My only brother got married, and it wasn't in Nigeria. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love destination weddings. It's cheaper than the typical Nigerian wedding, and its way more fuuuunnn. My entire nuclear family went to Abu Dhabi for the wedding, and it was beautiful. I won't be sharing pictures of the wedding because it was not my wedding, but you can see a few pictures of me, my friends, and small family below, lol.

Don't Call me Mama (6) - Nigerian Parent - American Baby! Why the Trend?

For me, the decision to have a baby within or outside Nigeria was determined by many factors, and the prestige of having an American citizen as a child had nothing to do with it. I would be taking one after the other.

Cost: This was one of the major factors of the decision. Over and over again, I would count the cost of travelling out, hospital visit, transportation, flight, etc., and I would ask myself if it was worth it. It was damn costly. I considered the pros and cons. What made my mind settled about all of these was that I considered the whole venture as an investment, rather than an expense. Let’s face it, as for now, a blue passport gets people so many opportunities than a green passport does, from education to business, etc. So I closed my eyes, spent the money, knowing I would drink gari for some time. I could have bought a plot of land, scratch that, three plots of land in Epe side, or brand new car, but I decided that this is a good thing to sacrifice for my child. The only way I could cushion the effect on my pocket was by cutting cost where I could. I found affordable hospitals, stayed with family, etc. All in all, I spent about $11,000.00. It’s still paining me till now, but it’s all good. At least, I didn’t borrow a dime, and I can boast that I owe no hospital or any American organization money, so I’m grateful.

Education: I was more convinced that I was doing the right thing for my child when ASUU went on strike in August. I was like “when will this ever end?” The same strike they’ve been striking since my Uni days? Just to drive it home, I finished secondary school 17 years ago. And they are still striking now? Are these the schools I would consider sending my child? Or will I have a child in this country and then spend tens of thousands of dollars sending my children to school abroad in future? Hell no. I would rather sacrifice now, and rest later than rest now and sacrifice later.

Yaayyy, I appeared on a Vlog - Discovering Naturals

Having an active Youtube channel is something I've always wanted, but never really gotten to, because it doesn't make sense to start something you can'be be consistent with, especially on Social Media. So for now, I just stick with putting my Spoken Word videos on Youtube, if I can obtain them from events I'm invited to.

Last week, I got the opportuninty to shoot a very short Vlog with Discovering Naturals for her channel. DN is one of the writers for my hair blog, African Naturalistas. She is our kids hair care expert. If you haven't been reading our blog, you should do so. It is a great repository of information for natural hair care. Our online store where you can get all our products is africanaturalistas.com/ourstore, or just click here.

We got together, hung out, discussed, and did some school runs with the kids. The video below is what happened as a result. It's quite short. Watch it, and lemme know what you think.

The worst Uber driver I ever encountered

I've had a number of experiences using Uber, mostly pleasant. I started using Uber long before they came to Nigeria, mostly because I go to some cities that have wacky transportation system, like Los Angeles, etc. The major attraction for me when traveling somewhere is how easily I can move around without having to inconvenience my host, and some cities do a poor job of providing that.

I've used Uber in Lagos Nigeria only twice. Most of my Uber trips have been in different states in US and quite uneventful

Last week, I decided to take an Uber ride from one part of Houston to the other. The first red flag was that the driver was on a 4 star rating. Any Uber rider knows that this is pretty low for Uber, and personally, this is the lowest Uber rating I've ever encountered. I heard that they allow as low as 3 star rating in Nigeria, I’m not sure though.

I made up my mind right then that I would give her a 5 star rating in order to improve the driver’s rating so the driver doesn't get kicked out of Uber services. I always give Uber drivers 5 stars though, so this wasn’t a big deal.

My ride came as planned, and the driver was an Asian female, most likely Chinese or Hong Kong, from the way she looked.

It was supposed to be a 1 hour 20 minutes trip. She picked me up and the ride was uneventful. She only asked if my house got flooded and if I was married (side eye).

Then after like 30 minutes of the trip, she said she would have to drop me along the way, and I should get another Uber ride because she doesn't have enough gas. To say I was shocked was an understatement. I felt this must be the joke of the century.

I asked if I was going to be billed for the whole trip, since my account had been debited. She said it would be just for the miles she drove. Right in the car, without allowing me to respond, she ended the trip! I decided that this lady won’t get a penny from me even if it was my last blood I had to give.

How Tropical Storm Harvey affected me personally

I was on my way to Houston when Harvey struck Houston. Before the trip, it had been hitting other towns in Texas but I didn't know Houston would be affected.

While all the news about how bad Houston was hit was flying round the world, I was either somewhere in Cairo, or up in the sky, doing my own flying.

I got to JFK, where I was supposed to be on transit to Houston and I was slammed with the bad news.

Girl, you are not going anywhere today

The storm was terrible and the airport had been closed.

It was like my own hurricane hit me. This kind of thing had never happened to me before. I'm not supposed to be in New York now. Where in the world am I going to sleep? Where am I going to get unplanned money to spend? I was devastated.

The airline wasn't going to cover for inconveniences because it wasn't on an international leg, and it fell under natural disasters. They put me on the flight for the next day.

I counted my loss and went to sort myself out. After all, it was only for one day. Right?

Wrong!!!

Doing business is risky, and other random thoughts

Hello everyone, how are we all doing? It's been long I did a set of random posts, and I feel like doing one now. So let's go


I am extremely tired. From Monday till Saturday last week, I was on my feet from morning till night (from 11-12 hours everyday). This week doesn't seem like it will be any different. How does one achieve balance, cos right now, so many parts of my life are out of tune at the moment. By the grace of God, things will get better in a couple of weeks.

I really need a camera. Who loves me, and is willing to get me one? I need it for a banging blog (why rebrand when you are not ready to upload high quality pictures?), I need it for my business (product upload, development, etc), I need it to shoot videos (my spoken word career needs a new life), and so many more reasons. Do I need to tell you more? Oya please get me a camera. I promise to love you forever if you do.

Sights and Views of The Gambia: Streets and Roads + Problem with Gambian Military

This week is going to be my last on my Gambian trip series, and it is just basically bringing to you the pictures of the normal Gambia.

It seems to be a very peaceful country, with heavy military presence. I was stopped twice by military men, when they saw me snapping, and they checked my phone to make sure I wasn't taking anything incriminating.

Asides that, they are very friendly to foreigners, and always willing to help, which is not a surprise since the country is positioned for tourism anyway.

Remember I said it is a coastal country. The sad part is that some of their beach front is already suffering from erosion. Some of the pictures below reveal that fact. Unfortunately, I was too tired and in a hurry to walk to the beach front for pictures

GTBank: You find them everywhere.

The billboard below shows their president, whose picture is virtually everywhere. His name is Yahya Jammeh. You can research more about him. When I took this picture, there was a police man and military man there. They took my phone, searched me, questioned me, and released me. I left, and continued taking pictures.

 The picture is the entrance to the town called Senegambia. The town is just one street in Banjul. Yes o, a whole town. You cam literally drive around a town in two minutes, and the distance between to towns can be like one minute. It's such a small country.

The street of Senegambia, and other parts of Banjul is filled with sleeping dogs everywhere.

Gambian Mall  below

Yes, that's a donkey below. They still use donkeys to transport things in the market. In this case, it was being used to transport waste.

This is the police station and bus park below. I was following Olamide around, so we entered bus. I can't remember when last I boarded these kind of buses in Nigeria. It was an experience, and also jampacked like Lagos buses. Moving around in The Gambia is pretty cheap and easy. No bikes and keke marwa, thank God.

 Our conductor below, lol. Gambia is very big on preventing child trafficking, female genital mutiliation, modern day slavery, and all those things, so you find billboards like this everywhere. If they catch you ehn...

I took many of these pictures on our way to the Nigerian High Commision, because Olamide wanted to see the Consular General. I took pictures of the buldings, and police people stopped me again, and started questioning me. I told them it was for my blog, and after all, these pictures are online, so it's not a secret how the building looks.They deleted all the pictures after so much talk on terrorism and boko haram.  I was just too tired of their wahala, that I stopped taking pictures of Gambian streets and roads.

I don't know why our problem is just so much, especially with authority and law enforcement. I had a completely different experience at White House in DC, where everyone was welcomed, and that's where Obama lives o. Upon all, they sniff out terrorism faster and better than we do.

Sights and Views of The Gambia: Hotels and Resorts

So in the last two editions, I wrote about my experience going to The Gambia, mostly negative and stressful, majorly due to my fault, and had nothing to do with the country itself.

I stayed in The Gambia for three days and two nights, instead of two days and one night, thanks to Arik who are experts are ruining people's plans.

If you have heard any stories about The Gambia, it is that it is a very beautiful country, and a very good vacation spot.

Well, here is the truth. Gambia is a very good tourist destination. In fact, in the hotels, you see loads and loads of white people, but the country itself is not a beautiful. It's not even as beautiful as Nigeria, it is just like a typical northern state, and they are not as developed as Nigeria (just like many other African countries).

The Gambia, which is the smallest country in Africa (about the size of Victoria Island + Lekki phase 1) is a coastal country, i.e. it is along the beach front. The country is very sparse in population so you won't find loads and loads of people on the road, like you would in Lagos.

But... The Gambia is marketed and built to be a tourist destination, so there are loads of beach front hotels and resorts, and that's exactly where the beauty lies. That's why you find loads of foreigners there, ready to spend their money.

Anyway, too much talk for now. Let's move on to pictures. I will make them as few as I can so I don't overload you. This week, I will show you the hotels and resorts, and next weekm you would see the streets. You yourself can make a comparison

My first day there took me to Coco Ocean Beach Front Hotel, where they have a mostly white administrative staff.

 And then to Coconut Residence, which is stronger in rooms, than in environment.

After this, I went to Senegambia Beach Front Hotel, and I was blown away. It's very tropical, even more then Coco Ocean. It's the busiest hotel in The Gambia, and I wasn't surprised that it was dominated by whites

My tour guide is below.

 The food I had at Senegambia. I told them I wanted it very spicy, and believe it or not, what they did was cut rodo pepper (scotch bonnet) in halves, and put it by the rice.

By this time, I was tired. I just stayed at the reception of Senegambia Hotel, and worked on my iPad before heading back to my own hotel. The next day, I set out on another day's waka. I started by taking pictures of the regular streets.

But for now, let's go to The Kairaba before we call it a wrap this week.

The Kairaba is also very tropical like Senegambia Beach hotel, but more carved, and looks more official.

I wonder what they do to the foreigners who disobey the rule below.

They are very big on pools and green areas in Gambian hotels

 And their resorts have birds, butterflies, cats, and many beautiful animals

I hope you enjoyed seeing these pictures. To be concluded next week