Update in Due Time: About that Masters in Public Health.

Knowing why that guy in the wheelchair in Sex Education needs to be blown up in the first scene of season 3 (whenever it films) is probably not the best preamble to this post. But, it is my blog and SEO stuff can like to hug a Nigerian electric pole while it rains. Yeah, nothing will happen to it. Welcome back to this space where I sometimes share glimpses of my real world, grant access to my fictional world, entertain and educate and all that right along with having some fun.

Now, to the meat of this post. Some of you (most of you, likely) would recall my last update on the Masters dream and how, in as few words as I could manage, I tried to paint what space I was in at that time. Summarily, I felt I was right at the edge of a breakthrough but everything that could possibly go wrong was going… Wrong. I was ready to give up on that dream, find some other REM (Rapid Eye Movement) channel and forget for a while. But, like a fine, young man once said, “When God pulls your trigger, nobody can stop your boom ‘cos you’re too loaded.”

Indeed, God had pulled my trigger. About two weeks after that update, I was chatting with a friend and classmate (who I have been ‘small letttering’) and I just thought to check for available visa interview dates again. I want to say, “lo and behold”, but, bleeh, too cliché! Gbagaun! There, right in my very before, was a December 2020 date. If I could have the interview on that date and get the visa, the Spring 2021 admission would no longer be an elusive idea. I quickly clicked on the reschedule button and because the date was critically close, I started putting my documents together. I was stacking them together at the print shop, ready to head home when an email came, informing me that the interview I had just rescheduled had been rescheduled by forces beyond my control. Classes were meant to resume January 20 and this new date was a week after. But, hey, that is way better than an April date, right? I carefully kept my documents. Did some rearrangement with the school concerning resumption date (God bless you, Mrs. Shoemake). And waited.

God’s ways are really not our ways. Towards the end of 2020, I had to make some decisions and it all seemed to be hinging on lots of uncertainties. It got tense. So tense, me and the One I love could almost not resolve some timeline questions. I remember us meeting up at that kampala shop at Itoku and him pulling me into a hug, while asking, “You, what’s wrong with you?” I could almost dissolve into tears at that moment but I leaned more into the relief and joy of things being right again between Us even if we were not completely certain of what next. But, holding hands and placing them right at the center of God’s Word with faith, we stepped into some major phase of our lives together. And just as if He was waiting for Us to do that, God started pouring in the blessings. Things we had waited and prayed for, hoped and longed for started coming through.

Hey, things still tried to go wrong again especially when I got Covid (there I was thinking NYSC calling us back to camp would have been the worst thing to happen). Certain uncertainties still existed like the possibility of my visa being denied and even if approved, the question of funding still hung largely unanswered. How would I survive?

The story of my visa interview is for another day. But, when your visa officer says, “I have approved your visa… and you can keep taking care of your community (public health…)” and then winks, you know that outcome was nothing short of a miracle. Sourcing for funds for my flight ticket alone was tedious but we did it. (J, it is not often one gets to have a brother, friend, mentor and hype-man all rolled into one package for free. Love you!) I had less than six days to get into the US for resumption. In that time, I needed to be tested negative to Covid (do you get why now?). I needed to sort out what things could fit into two 23kg bags and find a new home/owner for Fola. (It was hard, really hard waving goodbye to her. But, Fola was strong. I wasn’t.)

Knight.

If you are wondering how come you have not come across that name, it is because you just have not looked well enough. Look again.

It has been 6 weeks at The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, USA. The Knight has been there… Solid, supportive, savoring and spicing up every moment we get to share in the world of differing timelines. (Looking forward to seeing you soon, Flame-Catcher.)

There’s a long list of people to thank. Terribly long list and if I haven’t bored you up to this point, maybe I should not push my luck. But, to all the angels both here and abroad who stood up and added more flesh to the limb of faith on which I traveled that evening, who stood up and are still standing strong for me and my current phase, thank you once again. I will revenge.

Getting to the US is not the dream. Living this life the best I can while fulfilling God’s purpose and impacting the lives of others positively, is.

Photo Dump, shall we? Dig in. Dig in. Dig in.