Airport Experience 2

If you have been reading along since the very early days of this blog, then you would have journeyed with me through my different experiences in work and life in general. I have been denied study applications, rejected visas, being dismayed about Nigeria et al.

I have not been able to post anything for over a month now and this is because of my current workload. I am presently coordinating a project, Dance4Life in my office. Dance4Life is a service-learning HIV/AIDS project and is being implemented in like 13 countries among which 5 are African including Nigeria.

I was at my desk in the office on Wednesday, October 5 when I saw a mail alert from my Yahoo messenger. I delayed a while in opening the mail when I realised it was from one of the international guys coordinating the project and concentrated on a proposal I was putting together since I knew the mail would require more than 100% of my attention.

When I opened the mail, I wasn't disappointed cos it was a very long mail with about four attachment documents. I began girding myself for the plenty work ahead and imminent screams of deadlines. I decided to take a step by step approach in solving the challenge on the screen infront of me, so I began by first opening the mail then, I opened each attachment in a new tab so I could download all at once within one window.

After downloading, I settled myself in my seat to read, actually to study the long mail. I studied it line by line and took noted of details of meetings, expected activities over the next three weeks and so many decisions and radical adjustments that needed to be made to initially agreed plans.

On a particular line, I read that in order to finalize plans among the African countries, there would be a pan-African meeting of the country managers and the directors in Nairobi, Kenya. I knew I fell into the category and so it remained who among my bosses (2 of them, one direct and the other, indirect) would be coming. It was agreed that my indirect boss and I would go to attend the meeting.

I packed my bags and left for Lagos on Friday, attended the This Day concert on Sunday so I could meet with my indirect boss as he was kinda involved in organising the show. I resumed in the Lagos office on Monday waiting for my indirect boss and expecting letters of invitation from the organisers in Kenya which was supposed to be sent by courier since they could not get through to Nigeria by fax.

I didn't see any sign of my indirect and his telephone lines were all switched off and I just did not see any courier package in view. After waiting till noon, I called the embassy and I was told they had received the fax for the letters and I could use that for the visa application. I was later told that my indirect boss fell terribly ill and his wife, wanting him to remain alive and kicking seized his phones and would not allow him do any work until he had recovered well enough.

So, I went to the embassy hoping to only go and get information on the process since I didn’t have my boss' passport and other documents, however, the lady at the reception admonished me to drop my own application and wait to get the visa even though it was past their closing time.

I submitted the application and bravo………………got the visa on Monday, was told I had to travel alone by afternoon, bought ticket on Tuesday, packed on Wednesday morning and caught the flight to Nairobi on Wednesday by 12noon.

I arrived at Nairobi airport 7p.m, lodged at the Hilton, attended exhausting meetings all Thursday and Friday, went to a club, the MadHouse Friday night till 2.30a.m. I left for Nairobi airport at 5.30a.m Saturday morning and boarded the flight to Lagos, Nigeria. I arrived at my house in Lagos at 12noon, flew to Abuja on Sunday 5.20p.m.

And now I have been back at my office desk in Abuja since Monday morning, 8a.m.