Letters from the Diaspora (Diaspora Stories) is a newsletter series by Send App where we chat with members of the African diaspora and explore what life abroad really feels like, from the wins, the challenges, and the little things that keep us going. This Month, we spoke with Rolake.

Rolake is one of the few Africans living in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The small, beautiful island is rarely the first choice for diasporas who prefer a more intense economic and social rhythm. The slow pace of PEI was exactly what Rolake needed, though she would only realize the full extent of that need much later. 

In 2020, Rolake lost her mum. It’s a loss she admits she hasn't 'scratched the surface' of, even today. After her mum passed, two other life-altering events made it apparent that she needed a new lease on life, and schooling abroad happened to be a path that surprisingly clicked quicker than other options she had.

Prince Edward Island (PEI) was a pragmatic choice at first: it had the cheapest school she could find, and after laborious effort, she put together her first session’s tuition and moved to the island for school in 2023. 

Beauty and depression co-exist way too often for comfort. 

Rolake: I was depressed in Lagos, but didn’t realize how bad it was until I came to PEI. The houses that lined my route to school were especially beautiful and picturesque, making for the most scenic walk but depression didn’t allow me to appreciate the beauty surrounding me, it was like looking through grey glasses...It was drab.

Your arrival in PEI is starting to feel like an eerie premonition.. 

Rolake: The Airline lost my bag containing all my Nigerian food. That, combined with the stress of starting school late, and the harsh winter, made me feel completely alone. I was miserable, and cried a lot. But I found IRSA (Immigrant and Refugee Settlement Association), whose job is to help non-Canadian immigrants adapt. They gave me food and winter provisions and assigned me to a therapist. They really helped. 

Rolake had a plan before landing in PEI. She was going to start applying for a job once she arrived, bag a role and save for her second year’s tuition. In PEI she applied for roles aligned with her project management career, but received no replies. Even applications to local stores went unanswered. Months later, she got a service job in a hot/cold drinks shop after stripping her experience off her resume, and dropping copies herself at different stores across town.  

Rolake: It was the hardest job I’d ever done. I worked 4-8 hours daily, and sometimes when my shift ended at midnight, I had to walk for 45 minutes back home in the freezing cold. There was a day I burst out crying in the store because I couldn’t remember the recipes for the drinks. 

The meltdown was an accumulation of things, but in the background, things were slowly shifting: incoming for Rolake was a summer job out of town, and a summer house with a sunroom where she could watch foxes on a lazy weekend.  

Random fox sighting from a sunroom sounds like a fairytale

Rolake: During my summer job, the house I stayed in had a sunroom. The house was located in a forested area, and surrounded by trees and lush greenery. On some weekends, I’d laze around in the sunroom and hear the birds singing in the morning. If I was lucky on some days, I would see foxes emerge from behind the trees. It was refreshing. 

Rolake: For the summer job, I was an Evening Server/Hostess at an Inn, and the pay was twice my salary at my previous place; I remember manifesting and praying to get the job when I found out about the salary. The role was more demanding but my previous job had prepared me for that - I learned that smiling at people constantly is actually hard work. 

The Island is beautiful, and the people have a healing component about them 

Rolake: In this place, you get kindness from people you least expect. My colleagues at the Inn were lifesavers. They knew I didn't have a car and was new to the area, so they would often help me run errands in town after our shifts. Then there was my first landlord, a no-nonsense woman who made me feel loved and seen. She went out of her way to make me feel welcome. One day, without any prompting, she brought me fresh corn, and that made me cry. 

After the summer gig, Rolake finally landed an office job — one she hadn't even applied for - but the numerous rejections she faced in the beginning had a lasting effect. However, if one thing is clear about her journey in PEI, then it’s how life guides her to where she needs to be: a quiet place to heal or a summer home where she feels seen, or to a new job where she will put her therapist’s lessons to work.

Rolake: By not giving me a chance at an interview during my early days, my mind was reprogrammed into thinking that maybe there was no space for me in the corporate world. But my best friend, Moyin, or I have to constantly remind me to snap out of it. One of the things that I learned in therapy was how to stop ruminating: when you start overthinking, engage your sense of smell, touch, and sight to snap back to reality.

Prince Edward Island is the perfect place for engaging all the senses. For Rolake, this island has given her the space to heal, and find peace at her own pace. 

Rolake: There’s a long street behind my house that overlooks the beach shoreline. On tough days, I take a long walk on the street, and sometimes the walk leads me to the beach. I also try to take the scenic routes to work. Right now it's fall and the leaves are turning reddish brownish. If you happen to catch the sunlight on your way, it adds a special filter to the view. It’s really beautiful. 

We spoke to Rolake a day after Halloween, her lovely landlord and kids came trick-or-treating at her apartment on Rolake’s request. They brought her a gift too. One of the many joys of PEI is the people she has crossed paths with that make her feel like she belongs. Rolake smiled through our conversation, there was always a joke at arm’s length to layer her story. The instinct to always recline into some form of joy makes sense in a place like PEI.   

Rolake is super optimistic about the future, in her words, ‘there are bigger things to come,’ and hopefully, her journey towards bigger things is lined with her all-time favourite thing about PEI: Cow’s ice cream.

Healing on the Island is the latest feature in our "Letters from the Diaspora" newsletter. It's our fourth published story, and you can catch our third story here. It’s about how Ijeoma bagged a role as a Theatre Analyst without any industry experience.