DEPORTATION???

It was a sunny Tuesday morning in Pretoria South Africa, April was unusually hot that year. Timothy was set to go to work and drop off his daughter Ayo and son Feranmi in school. “Ayo!!! Feranmi!!! I’m leaving! “ he muttered under his breath “what are these kids doing upstairs I thought they were set”

Daddy! Shouted the ever so energetic 8 year old Fearanmi “it’s Ayo that is holding me here” the usual sibling bickering of pushing blame began. Tim had had his full of their rhetoric and took the flight of stairs to their room, with a stern face he announced to them ‘your big mummy will be coming in from Nigeria next week but with your behavior I’m afraid I will have to tell her to reschedule, I need you both to be well behaved’

Their big mummy is Tim’s sister whom the kids love so much and have been eager to see ever since their relocation to South Africa.

Ayo and Feranmi’s behaviors turned to 100% perfection with immediate effect. From that day Timothy’s script to keep them in check was ‘I will ask your Big mummy to change her ticket’ and they would do anything to have Big mummy come to visit.

Fast forward to big mummy’s arrival. Maria aka Big mummy had her bags packed, **the garri ijebu, **Kulli kulli, plantain chips, and all the long list from Olly, Tim’s pretty wife has been covered.

Maria took her flight from Nigeria and arrived Johannesburg by early morning. The ever detailed Tim had constantly emphasized the need to have all her documents complete and crosschecked before leaving Nigeria, to which Maria confirmed to the affirmative.

Upon arrival as usual the line was long and she waited for her turn to be crosschecked by immigration.

With an ever smiling face “Good morning” she said to the stern faced immigration officer, he just took her passports and documents without responding to her smile or greeting. Maria thought in her head ‘hope this guy is ok with all the way I greeted he couldn’t even respond’ hmmm what do I know let me respect myself and answer his questions...she came back to herself when he began the questioning as though a fresh interview to obtain visa. After 15 minutes of rigourous drilling he looked up and with the thick South African accent said ‘madam I will need to send you back to Nigeria, your yellow card is not valid’ the 'back' sounded like ‘bake’ and kept saying like ‘ I will send you ‘bake’ ‘. He pointed out some parts of the yellow card that had not been filled correctly by the health officer in Nigeria and she didn’t notice it before embarking on the trip.

Maria thought he was kidding until he brought out the deportation form and started filling it. Maria was already fidgety and tears welling up in her eyes thought ‘na so dem go deport me? It cannot happen’

She called Tim who was already waiting in the arrival lounge to call someone or just find a way to fix this, Maria was visibly shaken and needed to do something fast. She braced herself and made a big mistake by asking to see the immigration officer supervisor. He became livid with anger and said in that case "i will detain you till the next flight and see my supervisor the following day". When that method didn’t work she began to pray in her heart ‘Lord grant me Favour in Jesus name, touch his heart, make him see me in a different light I don’t want to be deported Lord, please make a way and thanks for answering’

She went back to him with confidence that her prayer had been heard and with tears in her face pleaded one more Time ‘my niece and nephew will be heart broken if I am sent back, please let me in and I will correct my yellow card once I return to Nigeria.’ It was as if a wave hit the officer he looked up with empathy and asked "what are the ages of these children you are talking about"  she quickly answered "they are ages 6 and 8 years" he answered "madam I will let you in this time because of the children waiting for you" he tore the filled deportation form and stamped her passport granting her access to to the country to have a wonderful holiday.

The sigh of relief on Maria was electric and contagious. she learnt her lesson and made the correction upon return to Nigeria

  

Moral of this story

1. When traveling ensure you have all documents required for entry. Don’t take any for granted. FOSHIZI TOURS has team of experts to guide you in visa application and entry requirements to help you avoid Maria’s mistake. Contact Foshizi tours today 0808 608 9535 and info@foshizitours.com for a hassle free travel experience.
2. God answers prayers. No matter how bad a case may be, there will always be a way.

This is a true story that happened to me in April 2016, my name is also Maria and Tim is my brother.

Yours truly

Ife

**the garri ijebu- dry cassava flakes

 Kulli kulli - snack made out of roasted groundnuts