♥Eliz Joseph♥

Way forward - 1) @FlyAirSenegal must provide sufficient warning about the "regulations" in Praia. 2) Cape Verdian authorities should not be allowed to apply rules selectively based on race and passports. They were not shy about it and it's not okay.

Also, dealing with Senegalese officials was so much better than the rudeness of the ones we met in Cape Verde. Made us feel like human beings and tried their best to help. They were empathetic and sped up the process of returning our passports. New appreciation for #Teranga.

We're learning from Dakar Airport officials that this has been a regular occurrence with @FlyAirSenegal and Cape Verde. They sell tickets everyday and return people everyday. The officials complained that Cape Verde is particularly problematic.

I've been having a lot of conversations with friends that have been unsuccessfully trying to convince me to "get a second passport". So this was a stark reminder about the reality of being a Nigerian in the world and in Africa. Good bye #CapeVerde. Shame on you.

Anyway, we're still at the airport waiting for our passports like criminals. Glad for the experience because pushing for ECOWAS is one thing, and seeing the reality of integration is another. I just wanted to check Cape Verde off my West Africa list and happy to stay in Dakar.

The only non-black person that was deported with us, a Jordanian, thinks he was lumped with us because he has Nigerian visas in his passport. Before we left this morning, my American friend was joking about her passport privilege. Who knew we were about to learn how true it was.

I guess the first sign that something was off was when my AirBnB host asked my nationality then told me to come with some evidence of funds if I was traveling with a Nigerian passport. Funny thing is the only thing they looked at were our passports. Didn't ask for anything else.

Why? That we were not allowed to visit because of COVID. Then we asked why the white people and my American friend were let through. They said they decided who could stay and who could go. So everyone with a Western passport went through. In West Africa. In #CapeVerde.