I still remember that heavy downpour in Uyo that evening when my phone rang twice.
What started as drizzling suddenly turned into heavy rain, drumming its own rhythm on the zinc.
The sky had turned dark, and the smell of wet earth mixed with the familiar aroma of rice and beans from the restaurant where I was waiting for the rain to stop. My two hands were holding tight the polythene bag containing the foodstuffs I bought from the market.
It was under that shade that Rena's name popped up on my phone screen. I answered quickly, but she didn’t even let me talk.
"Baby girl, opportunity is up for grab. My uncle just told me there is student visa for Germany and it is very legit."
That was when my dream of going to Germany started.
Rena and I had been friends since childhood. She was the first friend I had when I came to Akwa Ibom, and she has always been among the lucky ones in our circle. She was the first to leave the country. Always posting the outside country life on Facebook, pictures of her wearing hoodie, snowed cars, photos with USA flag.
When she mentioned her uncle, I strongly believed it was legit because he had a hand in her leaving Nigeria that year.
"What’s the next move? I can’t wait to be like you," I asked with excitement.
"I heard him say it's 1.5 million. But it’s for limited people, and I want you to be in. Everything will be provided."
I didn’t know whether to be happy or sad when I heard the price.
"That money is huge o. Where I wan see this kind of money?" The lion king in me has already woken up. My dream of leaving this country is now becoming real.
I ran out from the shade, people looking at me, maybe thinking something was chasing me, rain was still falling seriously. I got home, dropped the foodstuffs in the kitchen and rushed to the parlour where my brother was watching a movie.
He looked at me with a funny face.
"Can't you see you are drenched?"
"Brother, leave that one for later, I will mop it. Opportunity for me to leave this country is finally here. Rena called me to tell me about Students Scholarship in Germany.
"Have you not heard of how people are losing their money to visa scammers? Scammers no dey know friendship o."
"Brother, you know Rena now, it’s her uncle o. If her uncle did it for her, then it must be true."
My dad came back that night and I told him the good news. Just as I expected, he was interested immediately. My dad called Rena's uncle that night and they talked for a long time. The uncle said once the payment is made, he will process everything and I will be travelling in September.
After that long talk, my dad made up his mind. He called me and said, "I'm ready to do anything for you but don’t disappoint me. Promise me."
"I promise, Dad. I will make you proud."
Few days later, he sent the money. Rena's uncle added us to a WhatsApp group where he was always dropping updates that looked very real. What got me thinking was that, this uncle of her is different from who I thought but since is her uncle, I was rest assured.
When it got to the month of travelling, he gave us an address to go and collect our visas. Since I was in Akwa Ibom, my dad told my sister to it collect. She went there and met crowd. Some sitting, some standing, their faces showed frustration, tiredness, and disappointment.
"Where this man dey now? Abi this is not the office?"
"This is the address I was given now and the signpost is here—Germany Students Scholarship." But the signpost is not even looking new. The look alone was already telling us bad news before anybody talk.
Some people started shouting, hitting the gate to see if they can enter the building. My sister called us at that point.
"I don’t understand what is happening here, Dad. The place is locked, nobody is here, and the flyer on the wall looks like old flyer"
Source
My dad tried calling the man, all his numbers were switched off. The WhatsApp group was locked. He left the group and made one unknown number the new admin.
Tears dropped from my eyes. My dad lost strength. The whole place went silent.
I could hear the pain in his voice when he said, "Call her, maybe she knows what is going on."
I quickly dialed Rena’s number. It kept showing "user busy" for more than ten minutes. I was already cursing Rena for the pain she has put us through. I cried bitterly in my room, thinking about the huge money my dad has lost because of my dream to leave this country.
I was thinking when my phone started ringing. Rena's name popped up and I answered.
"I'm so sorry, Mary, for everything happening. I didn’t know he was a scammer. I met him in one conference and he made everything sound so real. I thought it was something you should not miss."
"But you said he’s your uncle, Rena! You even said he helped you process your own! Who will not believe you? You know this is our first time doing this kind of thing and that money is big. That is my dad’s business money, Rena," I said, crying.
"I'm sorry, Mary, I didn’t know it would turn out this way."
"Enough of these sorry. I believed you the first time but never again. Enjoy the money but it will purge both of you, I swear."
"I'm not part of this, seriously. He only promised to teach me how to become visa agent if I can bring students looking for scholarship. I'm sorry, we both lost and I’m sorry it ended like this."
That September was the worst for us. My dad struggled with his business. We had to hawk to help him recover from the big loss. That whole experience taught all of us that truly, not all that glitters is gold.
