Nkabom here I come!

On my way to Cyprus for the commonwealth youth leadership programme (Nkabom), I had to transit through in Egypt. Spending two in night the beautiful ancient city of Cairo was an experience worth sharing. While waiting for immigration formalities, interacting with the fellow travellers some of whom were also first time visitors to the city dominated the first few hours of my stop at Cairo. All of us are inquisitive to see the city and explore some her uniqueness, but since we were only here on transit there is a limit to what we can see.

At the popular La Passage five star hotel where we were lodged for the night, (this gesture from Egypt air disabused my initial expectation from the airline as friends had accounted for several experience in the hand of this airlines, some making them to spend the night in airport lounges…) the experience was indeed a night to remember, from the difficulty of getting a familiar food from the hotel collection( I had to settle for bread) through meeting tourists who were at the city to explore the beauty of nature, to learning a few Arabic names and their meanings( Mina, Islam, Bella(beauty)..).

The time for sleep was not left out because I had the greatest sleep in along time, far away from my daily stress, I was alone, relaxed and comfortable for the first time (but not away from my laptop which I still used to fine tune my presentation against Nkabom). The hotel room was excellent (anyway I don’t expect less from a five starred hotel)

This experience will not be complete without sharing some of my observations. Yetunde Osho is a young Nigeria who studies Medicine in Ukraine. Unlike other young Nigerian abroad I have seen, she was passionate about Nigeria, this we shared and we engaged in along discussion about what we youths home and abroad can do to help our country Nigeria. I was amazed at the disposition about the need for young people to help build a new Nigerian. As I late knew, I was not surprised she lived in the north for larger part of her life.

I think it is worth it to let you guys know that I was opportune to visit Beirut (Lebanon) spend few hours in their airport and shop at the duty free shops, good place though…

Another experience I will like to comment about is the treatment of the Cyprus immigration. I was not surprised to be treated like a typical Nigerian (black). They scrutinised all my claims even after verifying them and finding them to be correct. My entire attempt to proof to them my intention here is simply to attend a youth leadership programme for a few days and leave the island proved abortive. They doubted me and even accused me of being a second timer in the island. It was frustrating and very annoying to be treated that way when all I wanted was just to come and learn a few lessons from the Cyprus conflict. Sincerely, if not for the intervention of the authority of the organisers, the immigration officer was ready to send me back on the same plane that brought me. Is that not annoying? Does it mean all black people are interested in coming to “these” countries to seek greener pastures? It was really sad. I think we should do something really quick as Nigerians and better our lot.