She did not realise how stressed she was until the day she sat down to help her son with his homework… and burst into tears over a maths problem.
Not because of the maths.
They met at an IMMOWA support group in 2019.
Amaka from Anambra. Fatima from Kaduna. Blessing from Rivers State.
Three women from completely different backgrounds, cultures, and languages…
Officer Adeyemi got posted to a new state on a Thursday.
By Sunday, his wife Kemi had packed the children, sorted the house, and was already on her way to join him at the new posting.
She almost gave up on her business idea.
The numbers weren’t working. The customers weren’t coming. And her confidence was at its lowest.
She mentioned it casually at an IMMOWA gathering… not even expecting a response. Just needed to say it out loud.
She walked into her first IMMOWA meeting nervous.
She didn’t know anyone. Wasn’t sure she belonged. Sat near the back and told herself she would leave early if it felt awkward.
She stayed for four hours.
There is a moment that most immigration wives know.
It usually comes in the middle of an ordinary day.
The children are fed. The house is clean. Everything looks fine from the outside.
But inside… there is this quiet ache.
She used to wait.
Wait for the salary alert. Wait for her husband to sort the bills. Wait for someone else to make the financial decisions.
Not because she was incapable. But because nobody had ever taught her she could do it differently.
She never thought of herself as a leader.
She was just a woman showing up. For her family. For her chapter. For her sisters.
But somewhere along the way… people started following.
They came to her when they needed advice. They called her when things got hard. They looked to her when the room needed direction.
It started with a pot of soup.
Ngozi had always been a gifted cook. Family and friends said it at every gathering. But she never thought of it as anything more than a hobby.
Until the day her IMMOWA sister said… “Ngozi, have you ever thought about selling this?”
People told her she had to choose.
“You can’t build a career AND support your husband’s service.” “Something will suffer.” “One of you has to sacrifice.”
She heard all of it.
And then she went ahead and proved every single one of them wrong.