I Japa'd to Canada With a Master's Degree. I Now Clean Toilets for a Living.

Back in 2022, I landed in Toronto with a Master's in Civil Engineering from UNN and dreams of building bridges. My parents sold land in Enugu to fund my tuition. I was 27, and I thought the world was waiting for me with open arms.

Omo, e be like film. First three months, I sent out over 200 applications. Not a single interview. Not one. Naija degree na paper wey Canada no want. I started working as a cleaner in a mall to pay rent. 15 dollars an hour. My mother calls every Sunday asking when I go start my big job. I tell her I dey process certification.

The worst part? The loneliness. I live in a basement room with no windows. My roommates are two guys from India and one from Ghana. We share one bathroom. I have not held a woman in two years. The cold here is not just weather , e dey enter your bone.

Sometimes I sit on the bus and watch Canadians laugh and talk, and I feel invisible. Back home I was somebody , first class, head boy, my pastor prophesied greatness. Here, I am just the black man pushing a mop. I cannot even cry because my eyes don dry from shame.

I think about coming back every day. But how? My people will say I failed. My father will not look at me. So I stay, scrubbing toilets, waiting for a miracle. If you dey plan to japa, make sure you know wetin dey wait you. Not everybody story get happy ending.