₦airaland Forum

Greetings to everyone. I should have come back earlier to share but somehow I did not. Anyway I am doing that now. For those who can’t remember or perhaps do not know at all, this moniker had earlier dropped an album which you can reference on page 299 of Part 4. I think every track was a hit back to back. DW and I have successfully completed our missionary journey to the Glory of God. We got back few weeks now and it’s time to share. I will post thus: Introduction: Port Health, Part 1 - ‘POE Experience’, Part 2 - ‘Others’ (which include stories on Flights- local and international, Accommodation, Documentation – US passport, baby visa and Bills).

Introduction: Port Health

We were flying at 35weeks 3days and got Doctor’s Fit to Fly stating the same gestation age. At the counter, Lufthansa asked us to go to Port Health to get clearance from them. We did. Official cost is 1500 naira.

PART 1 – POE EXPERIENCE

We traveled to the US without holding any dollars in cash. We didn’t want to buy dollars at the cut throat cost at black market. This was exactly what I was going to tell them at POE. If you check my previous post, you will see how we intended to get dollars for our bills. At the time we traveled, we were going to depend solely on 4 ATM naira debit cards between DW and I and across 3 banks. The rate was higher than official rate but much less than black market. This was not to be as we eventually used the services of Moneygram, a 4th Nigerian bank, and requested domiciliary account transfers in the course of our stay in the US. I didn’t take my dollar card and as is typical with uncertainties in Nigeria, soon after we traveled, ATM withdrawals from naira debit cards were capped at $100 per month and POS transactions capped at $300 per month down from $1000 a month. Eventually, ATM withdrawals were suspended as you know. In between, Form A had not been processed by the bank at the time we left. It therefore meant we also did not have receipts to prove to the CBP Officer that since we did not have any cash on us, at least we had prepaid our medical bills. I called the US to try to pay over the phone at the airport on day of travel but it kept on declining. I later learnt CBN issued that directive to prevent debit/credit card fraud. I don’t know if it was also applicable to dollar denominated cards. At the stopover in Frankfurt, we were scared silly because of the possible consequences of not holding cash or having receipts at POE. I called Nigeria via whatsapp with free wifi in Frankfurt and someone close to me after telling her the risk we were taking said ‘maybe you guys should just come back to Nigeria. You can sell your ticket from Frankfurt to New York and come back’. That’s how high the tension was.

Fastforward. Landed in JFK in the evening. I requested that DW bring out from her handbag our bottles of anointing oil and put a little on her head. She did and I did exactly same. At this point, I had put myself together and was somewhat confident. We were directed to a CBP Officer. Oh, i forgot to mention that I did not even print a recent account statement before travel to show at POE. So our situation was: no cash; no receipts; and no bank statement. Our only strategy was to log into our accounts and show them our live account balances. After doing self-help at the kiosk, we were directed to a CBP Officer and the following ensued:

We- Goodevening

CBP – Goodevening

We – (without him asking, I pass 2 passports to him)

CBP – (Looks at DW and says) Are you together?

We- Yes

CBP – What are you here for?

Me – Childbirth and vacation

CBP – Why the US?

Me – Because of the better medical care and the educational opportunities that come with giving birth here in the US.

CBP – How much cash do you have?

Me – No cash. Just debit cards

CBP – How much is in your cards?

We - Told him without any specifics... ‘About....thousand dollars’

CBP – How long are you staying?

We – 8 weeks

CBP – (He had brought out his stamp to stamp us in when he heard 8 weeks)..Hmm...You said childbirth?

We – Yes Sir

CBP – Hold on a second ( he walks in to speak with whom I assume was his supervisor. The supervisor was looking at us through the glass window while responding to whatever question the CBP officer that attended to us asked him. This took about a minute. Then here came the CBP officer)

CBP – Did you tell them at the embassy that you are coming here to give birth?

We – Yes we did

CBP – Really?

We – Sure

CBP – (smiling...) So you went to the embassy and told them you are coming here to give birth and acquire citizenship for your child and they gave you the visa?

We – Yes Sir

CBP – ‘Meeehhhnnn.... I love my country’ (& he started laughing)

CBP – (By this time he was stamping us in and wrote B2 in our passports) Okay guys! Welcome to America!!! I wish you all the best. Have lots of fun.
(He said these with a funny excitement. DW and I giggled with the way he said it.)

We – Thank you. We will ( Off we went)

Time taken was about 5 minutes including time he took with his supervisor. We were stamped in for 6 months till March 2017.

As we were walking to get baggage, DW kept asking me ‘is that all? I can’t believe this ’. At a point, I said ‘Please let’s leave this place before CBP calls us back and say they forgot something’. Lol

After getting our luggage, at the final exit, all passengers were asked to show passport and tickets. DW and I got to our turn and the following ensued:

Officer – Hello...Passports...(looks at quantity of luggage with us and asks...) Sir, are you based in the United States?

Me – No

Officer – Okay Sir...(writes ‘A’ on a form and says) Sir, can you take this there? (pointing to Agriculture)...it is written Agriculture, they’ll tell you what to do.

Got to Agriculture in a few short steps with our luggage.

We – Goodevening

Agric Officer – Goodevening. Are you carrying fruits, vegetables, meat?

We – No

Agric Officer – What country are you coming from?

We – Nigeria

Agric Officer – oh Nigeria! What do you have?

Me – grinded egusi, grinded ogbono, dried fish, rice (I turned to DW to continue since she did most of the packing... (wife continues...)
Agric Officer – (cuts her...) Okay. Put these 3 bags in the scanner (he pointed and selected 3 randomly)

I put the first two and it went through without any problems.

Agric Officer – Don’t worry about the third one

Agric officer 2– Let me get you your bags and get you out of here quickly (gave them to us and said ) Enjoy your stay!

Part 2 – Others

Flew South West airlines, had 2 stops from New York i.e Dallas and San Antonio before touching down. Then this woman walks up to DW and I at baggage claim and tried to strike a conversation. Are you guys Nigerians? We answered in the affirmative. ‘I saw you guys in Dallas when you walked pass but i wasn’t able to talk to you’. ‘i saw your wife’s dress and suspected that you are from Nigeria’ (DW wore a Nigerian attire to travel). ‘I also saw you guys walking in the plane to take your seats’. Quite frankly, DW and I were more interested in taking our bags and zooming off to our hotel (which by the way some prepayment was made) for a bath and some rest after travelling for so long than we were in engaging in a discussion. We were tired. This woman kept on asking us at baggage claim if she could do anything for us and we kept on saying ‘No, thanks’. The offer we acceded to was to drop us off at our hotel if she was very sure it was no inconvenience. She had her husband come pick her up at the airport. In the course of the trip to our hotel, they (her and her husband) said ‘why don’t you guys come take a shower at our house and eat before going?’ DW and I in our usual characteristic turned it down but after a bit of convincing, we obliged. As soon as we got to this large beautiful home in a beautiful neighbourhood, they said ‘If you don’t mind, you can stay at our home, you don’t need to go to a hotel. We would drive you to the hotel when you have eaten and are well rested to get a refund.’ We were stunned to say the least at the offer because we didn’t know them from anywhere neither did they know us from anywhere. We were excited but they seemed even more excited to have us stay than we were of being given free accommodation for as long as were to stay in the United States. It wasn’t a decision to regret. What started out as a casual discussion has blossomed into one of the closest relationships DW & I have had with any family including our own immediate family. Today, these persons whom I have referred to above as ‘this woman’, ‘she’ and ‘her husband’ are now ‘blood’. If I were to recount the whole experience, I would type a very long time but what I typed above is a tip of the iceberg. We were welcomed to the world of freebies. Feeding (even though we came with some foodstuff), Transportation, shopping? Free. They organised a very elaborate surprise baby shower after baby was born with lots of friends in attendance. LO was given cash and gifts in thousands of dollars. For the clothes alone, if LO were to wear a clothe a day, she will not use all of them in one year. One weekend, they took us on a road trip to another state outside Texas for site seeing. Every weekend, they took us out to eat in one cafe or the other. On another weekend, Cinema...etc. Our hosts are a truly great and extraordinary family.
When our beautiful daughter was born, host (wife) was kind enough to bath her throughout –Morning and Night till the day we left. When it was time to go, they asked us to shift our flight and stay 2 extra months or 1 month at the least. I think they have forgiven me for not shifting the flight. Lol.

DOCUMENTATION
Did expedited and picked US passport in 2 days. Went to Passport Office without SSN. I put in 0000. They said they have a new policy that SSN must be filled in to get passport. They advised I should go to Social Security Administration Office few blocks away and they will give me the number. Took LO’s birth certificate and US Passport Application form to SSA. On sighting them, they gave me her SSN. Processed it and as I said earlier, collected it in two days. Host took us to the passport office and Vital Records Office for birth certificate and waited all the while. Got back home, checked in the mail only to realise SSN card was in the mail a day earlier but did not check.

FLIGHT
We made a call to Lufthansa to add baby ticket and got a quote for $86.40. We paid over the phone on the spot. All through the legs of the journey back to Nigeria, we were given bassinet. The hostesses were always telling us what we already knew...how beautiful my princess was.lol. Lufthansa gave her some gifts. On SouthWest, after looking for a long time one white woman asked DW if she could carry LO a bit. DW said ‘yes’. Next thing, the woman began taking selfie with LO. She turned to DW and said ‘hope you don’t mind’. Similar events happened in Dallas and New York. In Germany, they were doing like a celeb landed. People that were supposed to be scanning our bags were gathering around baby stroller smiling and looking at my daughter sleeping. I wanted to take a picture of the scene but my phone was acting up. They will take turns even from the other line. It was at this point I told DW that we have to increase the bride price of my princess when she grows up and we would open a nice boutique where we can be selling her hair as Brazilian hair or Peruvian hair since everywhere we go admirers keep saying she has long hair. It will help a bit to recoup our cost of investment on this missionary journey 

VISA ON ARRIVAL
Requested my people in Nigeria to go to the airport and get visa on Arrival approval for LO. They got it same day in a couple of minutes. All that was required from us was to send scanned copy of baby’s international passport, mother’s international passport, father’s international passport and date of intended arrival. My own passport was asked for since I was travelling with them. They said the Visa on Arrival will cost $198 and will be paid the day we arrive. Got to the airport – when asked for baby visa , we told them visa on arrival and showed them visa on arrival approval reference letter. They signed something on the letter and told us to go. I asked ‘what of the visa?’ They said ‘Oga, don’t bother. See this fine baby – get her a Nigerian international passport and present both US and Nigerian passport anytime she is leaving Nigeria. When she is entering Nigeria, present only Nigerian passport. Anytime you are ready to do her international passport, call us and we would get it done same day.’ We exchanged numbers at their office there. They told me the cost of it. Gave them something little for their kindness and left. Got home and noticed my own passport was not stamped. DW was stamped. Called them and they told me to come to their office at the international airport. I went there in the afternoon the next day and gave them my ticket with DW and LO. They did all they needed to do and backdated my stamp to the day before – our arrival day. It took about 45 minutes. I understand the delay had to do with them inputing it in the system.

BILLS
Doctor - $2800, Hospital - $3325, Epidural - $500, Scan- $135, Paediatrician (including first visit)- $500, ear piercing - $40. Collected zero balance from hospital, doctor and paediatrician.

We are home now bonding with our precious little gift. We can’t seem to stop famzing her. After going on this journey, I personally have come to appreciate DW more. It is not easy. I also understand only a bit now of what mums that travel alone experience. For those that have twins there and are alone, I remove my cap for you. Travelling as a first time mum or returnee without help whether single or multiple pregnancy is not easy especially if you have no one in the US. These women are the real MVP’s.
To those who have this dream and are yet to go for this journey very especially those who are yet to go for visa interviews, by all means keep the dream alive. If it is your dream, just keep at it. Don’t let anybody talk you out of it. Dreams are personal. It is not the responsibility of another person who by the way has his or her own dream to tell you how yours does not make sense. What appeals to one may not appeal to another. Giving up is an easy convenience too cheap to buy. Don’t fall for it. US Birthright Citizenship as we have it now may not be around forever, things may change. Nobody knows. Let the future not catch you telling your child ‘If I had known, I should have pushed harder’. Your one sentence reply to these critics of your desire for your kids should be ‘It is better to have it (US citizenship), keep it and not use it than to need it and you don’t have it.’ Notwithstanding, God knows the future of everyone of us including our kids regardless of citizenship, and by the Grace of God we shall all prosper.

A friend of mine heard our story from POE to Arrival and told me ‘I don’t want anything from you. I Just want you to lay your hands on me’. Even though I laughed, I became immediately reminded that DW and I have experienced God’s favour in this journey. I said to him what I wrote in my previous post and I will reiterate here, ‘Promotion comes neither from the East nor from the West but from the Lord’ and ‘It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that showeth mercy’. Romans 9:16.

I wish everyone the best.

------ 1st Missionary journey concluded - Set of 2016 --------