Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 6

Surviving in Canada Episode Six

Ekaette is a very strong woman, but what Dr Williams did to her pained her even to the bone marrow. She has never experienced heartbreak. Dr Williams is the only man she has ever known. She met him when she was very young. She was still pure back then. Dr Williams was the first man to ever touch her. And throughout the period she lived in Nigeria without her husband, she kept herself pure. She did not allow any man to touch her. Not that men were not coming, it was just that she did not want. She wanted to respect her husband even though he was not around.

"I have never been humiliated like this before.. This is the first time I'm facing this level of humiliation. I sacrificed everything, thinking that my husband still remember me, but I was wrong. He has forgotten about me and married another woman. I'm now an outcast with nowhere to go. My heart is in pain. My heart has been torn apart. I'm totally shattered. What am I going to do now? This is Canada and not Nigeria. If I'm in Uyo, I will go to my customers and collect crayfish on credit and start selling.

But this is Canada. I'm in deep trouble. If I had known, I would have stayed back in Nigeria." Ekaette said in her heart.

That evening after they were pushed out from Dr Williams' house, they went back to the hotel. But when they got there, their bags were already outside waiting for them. The hotel security had already removed their bags from the room they were occupying because the money they paid had expired. When Ekaette saw the bags, she was terrified. She didn't know what to do. Tears poured down from her eyes and her two children also joined her to cry.

"Mummy say something! Where are we going to go? Where are we going to sleep tonight? Are we going to sleep outside? What is going to happen to us? Why did our father chase us out of his house? Are we no longer his children? What did we do to him? Why is he so wicked to us? Mummy say something." Her two children were crying as they asked her many questions.

Ekaette has never been so confused in her life. There were so many questions coming from her children such that she did not know which one to answer. She just kept quiet and wept in silence. Night was already falling and she had nowhere to go with her children. She begged the hotel security to allow them to spend just one more night but they didn't listen to her. She explained what she went through in the hands of her husband but no one at the hotel paid her any attention.

"Madam, this place is not a charitable organization. This is not an asylum home. This is not your house. This is a business place. This is a hotel and a hotel is not free. The money you paid has expired. This means you and your children will have to leave the hotel with immediate effect. Please, stop begging because begging will not help in this situation. Take your children and leave the hotel. You are embarrassing our rich guests with these tears. Let me tell you, if you don't leave soon, I will call the police." The hotel security threatened.

Ekaette refused to leave. She believed there must be a way out of the bad situation. She sat at the entrance of the hotel building and she was still begging for help. She brought back her bags from where the security men threw them. She opened one of the bags and brought out plenty of crayfish which she had brought from Nigeria. She brought out some dried meat, 'kanda', dried ugu leaves, plenty of stock fish,

dried snails and ogbono soup which was grounded into powder. The hotel security was just watching her as she was bringing out the food items. She had brought the food items from Nigeria, hoping that he would use them to cook for her husband, but that didn't happen again.

"Please, my children are hungry, can you allow

me to use your kitchen? I want to cook this soup

for my children. I want to feed them please. I

beg you in the name of God, please just give me

even if it is one pot, let me use it to cook. I will

only spend 20 minutes in your kitchen. Let me

cook something and give to my children

because they are hungry. If I don't give them

food, they will die." Ekaette said. She was

kneeling down and crying as she begged the

security man. Even the security man got tired of

seeing her tears. Hotel guests were coming in

and out of the big facility as the night got

darker.

After a long time of begging, the security man took Ekaette to the hotel's kitchen. Her children followed her. The man joined Ekaette to beg the overall chef who was in charge of the kitchen at the hotel to allow Ekaette to make use of just one pot and one spoon.

"Madam, please I have all the ingredients, even Palm oil, and Maggi. I even have peppers and salt. I brought them from Nigeria. The only thing I don't have is pot. I have garri and "loi loi" as well. I will not touch anything in the hotel kitchen. Just borrow me one small pot and spoon. Let me cook and give to my children. I don't have money to buy food."

Ekaette said. The overall chef agreed.

Ekaette rushed to the gas cooker and started cooking. First of all, she put the pot on fire, poured some water in it and dropped the large stock fish in the pot and it started boiling. The odour of the stock fish filled the entire hotel.

Stock fish has a very powerful aroma that can even wake someone from sleep. That hotel use to have a lot of Nigerians lodging there. It is very close to the airport. Because of that, Nigerians and other Africans visiting Canada lodge there. That night, as the odour of the stock fish entered each room, they started wondering who was cooking such food in Canada. Many of them came down to the hotel's canteen to ask for the Nigerian soup that was smelling everywhere. They offered to pay for it if need be.

"Please, serve us that food. I perceived the odour of okporoko while in my hotel room. So,

you people have okporoko soup and you served me noodles? Are you out of your mind?" One of the guests said. At least, twenty guests came out from their rooms to ask for the soup. The hotel attendants had no idea what to do. The chief chef went to Ekaette to beg her.

"Please, our guests have rejected all the Canadian food we served them. They said they want to eat your own food. Can you help us and serve them? Is it plenty? We will pay you for it." The chef asked Ekaette.

"Yes. It can serve many people. Just bring me plates." Ekaette said. She dished the ogbono soup into plates and added one wrap of loi loi each. She brought plenty of fufu from Nigeria. The Nigerian guests were served by the hotel attendants. They ate with relish. Ekaette also fed her children. That night, Ekaette and her children were not chased from the hotel again.

"The hotel manager asked me to tell you to stay here for as long as you want. Also, the hotel wants to offer you a job. You will be in charge of cooking Nigerian food for our guests. We will also give you the contract to import all the ingredients you need from Nigeria. The initial contract is worth $15,000 and your monthly salary and allowance is $5,000." The chief chef said.

Ekaette wept out of joy.

Watch out for episode 7