Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 7

Surviving in Canada Episode Seven

Ekaette's life has changed. Everything was working wonderfully well after she was offered a job at the luxurious hotel. She became popular at the hotel. The hotel is popular among Africans and Nigerians visiting Canada.

However, news about Ekaette spread like

wildfire. It was not only people at the hotel that

were talking about her, even social media users

were sharing her story. The story of how she

cooked a simple meal at the hotel and used it to

feed guests captured the imagination of many

people in Canada and around the world. The

Chief Chef at the hotel shared Ekaette's story

online. The hotel also shared it on its social

media handles.

The story went viral and Ekaette became some kind of a celebrity in Canada. Many television stations invited her for interviews. She appeared in the news and people saw her face on television. When she visited one of the TV stations, she decided to share her full story with the audience.

"People who see me now on TV will not know what I have been through. It is just that I'm not allowing the pain I have gone through to define me. I didn't just come to Canada to work. That was not my intention. I came here to look for my husband. My husband came to Canada ten years ago to work as a medical doctor. Since then, we have not seen him. He completely abandoned me and my two children. He did this even though I was the one who gave him the money he used to come to Canada." Ekaette said. She was weeping on live TV as she was pouring out her heart.

"I had no option than to come here to look for him. When I came, I found him, but I discovered he had already married another woman. I had no idea that he had completely turned his back on us. I was thinking I would find him and we would reunite. It was heartbreaking when he pushed me and my children out of his house. We became stranded in the streets of Toronto. 1 had nowhere to go. I had no money and even the hotel had already pushed us out. I just begged them to allow me to use their kitchen to cook a meal for my children because I had no money to buy food. They graciously allowed me. That was how my success story started." Ekaette said to the TV presenter interviewing her.

Within weeks, Ekaette's face became very popular in Canada. She became a food celebrity. Soon, she grew bigger than the hotel that employed her. She has become so popular that it was difficult for her to stay in one hotel. The hotel management decided to help her set up a company. She started training people on how to cook Nigerian dishes. The work was too much for her alone, so she trained others. Those people she trained were hired by hotels in Canada and their salaries were paid to her. She takes 10 percent of the salary and pays the rest to the cooks. She became an employer of labour.

She became a madam who owned many cooks under her agency. She has up to 500 cooks under her cooking company. She sends them out to cook for hotels while she sits back as the madam and I chief cook who brings the ideas.

"I never knew I would be this successful in Canada. This can only be a miracle. My children. and I were stranded and God changed our story. This is so amazing. Ekaette said.

Ekaette was not educated but she knows how to run a business. She knew how to treat her staff.

"Look at me! I'm now an employer of labour in Canada. So many hotels are reaching out to me to come and train their chefs on how to cook Nigerian food. Some want to hire my trained chefs to cook for them. I never knew that many people in Canada would love Nigerian food. I have made Nigerian food to become a hot cake in Canada. Ekaette said.

One of her best dishes was 'Edika ikong', a very popular soup in Uyo. She made it popular in Canada. Ekaette was not only cooking for hotels, she was also buying ingredients from Nigeria and bringing them to Canada for sell. She employed someone in Nigeria to help her buy the best local ingredients in bulk and have them shipped to Canada as cargo. She sells them to hotels.

Within two months, Ekaette bought a house in Canada. Her success was quick. It happened like a miracle. Even herself was shocked. She was only coming to Canada to find her husband and live under him as a housewife, but she has become successful.

"I think God planned everything for me. I was thinking that made a mistake to come to Canada, but it wasn't a mistake. My destiny was here. God dragged me to Canada to meet the huge package he had for me. I'm so shocked. I was not even selling food while in Nigeria, but I have become a food seller and a cook in Canada. If someone told me that this would happen, I would not believe the person. This is totally a miracle." Ekaette said on the day she moved into her house in Canada.

Ekaette and her children were not longer lacking. They live in their own house. They have money and a car. She has enrolled them in a school. Everyday, they eat chicken. Everyday became Christmas.

Meanwhile, Dr Williams has become very jealous of Ekaette. It all started one day when he was watching television and he saw Ekaette. Ekaette has become a regular face on TV and each time Dr Williams sees her, he will change the channel..

"This 'yeye' woman refused to go back to Nigeria. She wants to spoil everything I have built. I will not allow this to happen." Dr Williams said.

Even his Oyinbo wife was asking more questions.

"You said you didn't know that woman and her children but she is telling her story on national television and many people believe her. Why did you lie? I'm going to divorce you if I find out that you abandoned your wife and two children and married me." The Oyinbo wife said.

Dr Williams was terrified because he knew the consequences of divorce. That same day, he started looking for Ekaette.

"Maybe, I will make peace with her and beg her to quietly go back to Nigeria." Dr Williams said as he drove out to look for Ekaette.

Watch out for episode eight