It’s possible you’re reading about me for the first time, well, I’m Isaac Odoma, an Aeronautical Engineering student and today is my birthday.

It’s my birthday and one word that describe how I feel is “Thankful” Thankful for how far I have come and for the things I’m learning. At first, I was hesitant to celebrate today, I usually don’t like parties but aside that I was wondering what exactly is there to celebrate, it felt like celebrating too early. Twenty-one through twenty-four have been quite some interesting and challenging years for me. But I realized there’s a lot to be thankful for, so here are a few things I’m thankful for, things I’ve learnt and I’m learning. Hopefully it’ll bring you some value.

What I’m learning.

From my very small experience I have realized that no matter how prepared you are, changing cultures, living in another country will always bring you surprises you never anticipated. It may even reveal a part of you you’ve never seen before. As you also get older, it becomes obvious that they will be a few (if lucky) unexpected things you never prepared for that you’d have to face. For this, it is very important to be well grounded and learn to trust God more. Interestingly enough, the more you trust God, the more you’ll have (learn) to trust him.

Kindness

Being kind from the dept of your heart is something that will bring you tremendous joy. And I mean kindness that’s not only shown to your friends or those you directly or indirectly expect to reciprocate. I’m learning that no act of kindness goes unrewarded, being able to put a smile of someone’s face. I have seen that Love and Kindness multiplies and I want to be a multi-multiplier of that. Perhaps you should try it.

Personal Encounter

Growing up in Nigeria it was easy not to have your faith challenged often, either by people or circumstances. Moving to an entirely different but very liberal culture, that was not the case for me. But one thing that proved very helpful was the place of an encounter. For lack of better words to explain; they’ve been times where I literarily was only standing on personal encounters that’ve had before. It was like my only hanging rope. But some experiences are too real to forget or deny. Nothing beats the place of a personal relationship with God, to my friends and readers I urge you to cultivate, build and nurture such a relationship with God as early as possible. And do some Christian apologetics.

What I’m thankful for

I am thankful for this “process”, although very different from what I anticipated, its been an interesting Journey with so much to learn and so much to look forward to.

Over the past few years I have come across the most incredible set of people which I will forever be thankful for. This reminds me of the time I was in Ghana for my Dutch visa, in the hostel where I lodged, I meet two amazing Dutch on vacation. We got talking and hearing that I was planning to travel to their country, they were super excited, we exchanged contacts and was told to reach out when I arrive. Little did I know this will be the beginning of a wonderful friendship. They happened to be my first Dutch friends, helping me navigate my way around a new country I just got to and continue to remain an incredible support for which I am grateful.

How I’m celebrating and How you can support me.

Thinking of ideas for celebrating my birthday, I thought what’s better than using this opportunity to raise more awareness for my gofundme campaign where I’m raising money for my studies. If you want to gift me a birthday day present, I would appreciate you to support my campaign here.

Like Mike Tyson said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” That’s a quote that summaries my story. On the gofundme page you can read more about my story and why I’m crowd funding my studies.

What I’m working on with Friends.

One of the great advantages of traveling is the opportunity to collect experiences. This sole opportunity makes a lot of difference, it makes you have a different perspective, helps you think differently, see more possibilities and further sparks you to connect the dots.

Next to my passion for Aeronautics is the passion to just solve problems. And for this, Nigeria is a bunch of opportunities. Me and my very good friend Victor Onoja have spotted a common challenge among Nigerian students that we have now found a solution to.

I am first passionate about Aeronautics and then Nigeria. I believe that the Nigerian people deserves more and waiting on only government policies or nationalization to cause the change Nigeria deserves will be waiting for ever.

Therefore, I have teamed up with some very brilliant minds, to solve the Student accommodation challenges as experienced by most Nigerian students in Tertiary institutions.

Imagine as a Nigerian student, you can just search for an off-campus accommodation of your choice right on your phone, or search for a roommate, someone to share a room with and split the rent. Imagine you don’t have to pay exorbitant agent fees to get an accommodation. Well, imagine no more because we will be launching an online student Housing website that solves all this problem soon.

Watch this space for more information about this.