[Must Read] Hello! I'm Back :D

First of all, I would like to wish you a happy and prosperous 2023, and yes I AM BACK woot woot! In this blog post, I share with you details of everything I have been up to after I took about a year to focus on ME.

If you regularly check up on my blog, you might have noticed that I have not published a new blog post for about a year now. And, if you are a subscriber to my mailing list, you might remember the email I sent in 2021 where I shared a bit about some of the personal issues I was having.

Well, things got a bit too much for me, and where I enjoyed writing before, I struggled to write. So I just had to take time away from my normal.

Sometimes, WE ALL NEED A BREAK and there’s no shame in doing what is best for you!

What have I been doing in the last year?

Looking after my dad

Well, after my mum passed away in 2013, I struggled with her death. I had a lot of internalised guilt. She was a bit unwell and I hated myself that I was not there to look after her.

My dad is 85 and has all the regular issues people experience when they get older. I made the decision to go spend some time with him in Nigeria for several reasons:

I wanted to play a role in looking after my dad and ensure that he has a good quality of life (as within my capacity to provide)
I wanted my now 8-year-old baby to get to know Nigeria, experience living in Nigeria, and have a relationship with my family. I’m in shock writing that my daughter is now 8 years old. It feels like just yesterday when she was 1 year old and I first started my podcast The Segilola Salami Show

I feel like I’ve achieved both goals as my daughter has an amazing relationship with my dad now. I never got to know my grandparents myself as both my paternal and maternal grandparents died when my parents were young. So, seeing my daughter and my dad together really gladdens my heart.

Even though we have someone that helps to look after my dad, being with him has helped me develop an even greater respect for carers. I can assure you that looking after someone elderly is NOT a walk in the park.

If you know any carers, please share a word of appreciation with them. Unless you have been in their shows, you might not fully understand how tasking it is mentally to look after someone else.

Working on several projects

Bee’s Food Drive

A couple of friends and I have been contributing money, buying food, and distributing it to people living on the streets of a town in Abuja, Nigeria once a month.

I share some of the pictures from the food drive with my daughter and explain to her the importance of being grateful for what we have, even if I can’t buy her everything she wants.

Bee’s Food Drive is not a registered charity but I love being a part of this group. We do things the way I feel a charity should be run. We have a WhatsApp group where the person who buys the food gives an account of how much is spent and on what. There’s full transparency in real-time.

For 2022, we had a goal to raise ₦300,000 but more than doubled it when we contributed ₦628,500 equivalent to about $1500 (subject to exchange rate fluctuations) by the 31st of December 2022.

Please ignore the currency on the screenshot, the database we used did not allow us to change the currency to Nigeria Naira ₦.

Here are some pictures of the people we distributed the food we bought to:

THESE PICTURES SHOULD NOT BE EDITED, DISTRIBUTED, OR PUBLISHED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES

Whilst I am glad that we could provide one meal once a month, I’m hoping that this 2023, we can do more.

In 2022, we bought several boxes of noodles and several crates of eggs. Each pack we gave out had about 1 pack of noodles and 1 egg. Where possible we gave more. I know you might say that it is not a lot but considering that we are only a tiny group of friends, we have done the best that we can. A small pack is better than nothing at all, especially with the global financial crises.

If you would like to join us, simply send me a message via my contact form or leave a comment below.

I know lots of people like to think that every Nigerian is trying to steal their money, so I won’t ask anyone to send me any money for the Food Drive 😀

Are you able to order some food and have it delivered to our address in Nigeria? If yes, please get in touch.

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) In Nigeria

I recently found out that there are IDP camps in Nigeria for people that have been affected by Boko Haram. This was news to me and I felt bad that I did not know about this sooner.

So this year, I hope to put aside money that can be used to support girls and women living in some of these camps.

As a mother and a woman myself, I keep wondering how these girls and women cope in these camps when they have their monthly periods.

It is for this reason that I would like to implore you to please consider ordering at least one pack of 3 Period Pants by Shida Healthcare LTD Online Pharmacy and Doctor. In the delivery address section, please put Bee’s Food Drive, FAO Samuel Kadiri, Abuja Nigeria. This way, the Period Pants can be distributed to the IDP Camps. If you would like to be added to Bee’s Food Drive WhatsApp group, please include your WhatsApp number including the international dialing code.

Writing and The Segilola Salami Show podcast

I just realised that I have written about one thousand words so far now, so I won’t inundate you with everything that I have been doing. But honestly, just taking time away from everything has really helped me. Writing this post has helped me remember what I love about writing.

I am also grateful to the people who took the time to drop me an email during my hiatus. I am especially grateful to everyone who kept listening to the old episodes of my podcast.

Whenever I receive my weekly email from my podcast host regarding my show, I would be stunned that people were listening to the old episodes of the show even after a year of me going AWOL.

Only yesterday, I got an email with the latest review of The Segilola Salami Show.