Gifted hands (VII)- “the known to the unknown”

I was born in Syracuse, Onondaga county,  New York. This area is home to one of  the research universities in the United States known as Syracuse University. Back in the days, when the  Nigerian government, genuinely awarded scholarships to students based on merit, some students had the opportunity to study overseas. Unfortunately, it’s not the case in recent times.

The leadership of the  Nigerian government is corrupt for the most part.  A greater portion of scholarships are not given based on merit anymore.  In my opinion, it’s more like a family heritage now. For example, if a family member is opportune to have such funding in his possession, as a government official, he diverts the scholarship to his family and relatives. Meanwhile, kids from  underserved areas, or poverty-stricken homes, who truly need the assistance, have slim chances to  access these  scholarships. This is so sad but, true!! !

That’s how my dad came to the U.S for academic studies, of which he had the option to invite his family. I  was born in the States, as a result of his choice to bring his family over. At that time in Nigeria, anyone with a foreign degree had a better chance of getting a “white collar job”. As soon as he completed his education, dad relocated with his family to Nigeria to continue his career.

In Nigeria, we grew up in an estate  sponsored by the university, where my dad still teaches. During my senior high school years, it was popular for ,most of my  classmates born overseas,  to travel to their place of birth,  for further studies, after graduating from high school.

I clearly remember, after school one day, my dad gave me an  encyclopedia of lists of universities in the United States. I was of the notion that I would be furthering my studies in North America. So I spent one full week searching for universities of my interest. After a while,  It seemed like the concept of  attending any university overseas, had “gone with the winds”, just like the movie. It was never mentioned again and, my many attempts of reviving this concept fell on deaf ears. Instead, I received  numerous excuses , that didn’t make sense to me. So, I gradually forgot about it and continued living my life in Port Harcourt.

Now you see why I reacted in an awkward manner when my friend revisited this topic again. It felt like someone just reopened an old wound. Just like old times I listened to her suggestions. I laughed so hard when she told me that she had a dream . True story , you guys!

Here is a summary of her dream;

In that dream, I saw you (Akudo) at John F. kennedy Airport, New York. 

My reaction was something along the lines of … “chic listen, I’ve never visited the local airport in Port Harcourt, how much more the airport in New York”, lol! this nigerian_chic was just keeping it 100% real! I thanked her so much for thinking highly of me and asked if she had anything more interesting to talk about. Lol!

“This whole travelling to the States is just a fallacy , honey “, I replied

We continued our conversation on other topics. Finally, it was time to close for the day. My friend gently reminded me to consider our conversation on relocating to the States. I just nodded my head in agreement to her request since she was so persistent and will not leave until I said yes.

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God” -Corrie ten Boom

To be continued……

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♣♣Shout out to Freda!!! -(the Ghanaian chic, who drives me crazy at work) for assisting me in choosing the title for this session …♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♣

Thanks for viewing!

♣♣♣♣this nigerian_chic♣♣♣♣

Glossary

White-collar-job– professional jobs