Abiodun Adebayo Lawal is fulfilling his lifelong dream to live in Canada and practise his profession as a pharmacist. His path in pursuit of the dream started in Nigeria, traversed three continents and tested his ambition. There were times when he despaired.
“Sometimes late at night in the library, coming to Canada seemed like an adventure that should not have been taken,” Abiodun says.
In Nigeria, Abiodun worked for an international pharmaceutical company. He applied to immigrate to Canada, but the process proved difficult and long. He and his wife went to England where Abiodun studied for his Masters of Drug Delivery Science. While there, their immigration papers came through. Abiodun completed his studies and in October 2009 the family, expanded to include two children, headed to Calgary to begin their new life.
“We fell in love with Calgary,” Abiodun says. His wife had a job waiting for her; Abiodun took a part-time position as a customer service representative at Walmart and began pursuing his Canadian credentials. He found a bridging program for internationally trained pharmacists that he knew would be helpful to his Canadian career. But it was expensive and because his wife worked, Abiodun only qualified for partial funding.
“Even if you have a clear idea of how you can proceed on your path, if you have no funds you will not move from where you are” Abiodun muses. “And it is very difficult getting funds when you are new to the country. You have no credit history, no job and no guarantee you will pay back the loan.”
He heard about IAF through the bridging program. After meeting with a loan facilitator, setting his budget and determining the funds required, Abiodun secured the loan, which he used for living expenses, books and other training-related costs.
“The loan allowed me to focus on my studies without the distraction of a second job and financial stress,” Abiodun says.
The post Pharmacist realizes dream appeared first on Prepare For Canada.