Building Home, From Lagos to Peterborough
Kolade Adewumi shares his story about moving from Lagos, Nigeria to Peterborough
“My journey to Canada feels like a full circle moment, one that began long before I was old enough to dream or imagine leaving Nigeria.
In 1993, a year after I was born in Northern Nigeria, my parents (from the Western and Southern part of Nigeria) made a difficult decision. They had met and married in Kano city, where I was born, but growing religious and political tensions forced them to flee south to Lagos, Nigeria’s financial center. My mother was pregnant with my sister. They had to rebuild their careers almost from scratch, starting over in an unfamiliar city for the sake of their young family’s safety and future.
Thirty years later, history echoed in an unexpected way. In 2023, I married my wife, who was born in Southern Nigeria, just as my parents came from different regions of our huge multi-cultural country. And like them, we found ourselves planning an escape, not from one city to another, but from Nigeria entirely. The same insecurity and political tensions that had displaced my parents decades earlier were now driving us toward a new life in Canada.
Arrival and First Impressions
We arrived in Peterborough on July 25th, 2025. I thought I was somewhat prepared. Friends who had immigrated years earlier shared their experiences. We had watched loads of movies growing up, done extensive online research and followed the news. I had what I believed was a well-informed picture of what awaited us.
But there’s a vast difference between knowing about something and living it.
We were fortunate in ways many newcomers aren’t, a friend generously agreed to house us until we find our footing, which we’re honestly still working on. Within a few weeks, we both secured part-time work. I’m currently an Executive Assistant at a manufacturing company in Lansdowne, though my background is in Public Relations and Communications, where I worked for over five years in Nigeria. My wife, a trained pharmacist, currently works from home. The income helps offset bills, but it’s not the same as full employment, and we’re actively hunting for permanent positions through LinkedIn, Indeed, and local job boards.
Living in Peterborough has been surprisingly comforting. We’ve explored the city together; gone on dates, visited parks and gardens, caught an OHL game, played volleyball at Beavermead Beach. We’ve attended services at the Cathedral of St Peter-in-Chains on some Sundays, and I even checked out the Thursday night meetup at Boardwalk Board Game Lounge once.
What has struck me most about Peterborough compared to Nigeria? The kindness of the average person. People follow rules, are honest, and are remarkably comfortable sharing their interests and identities. There’s an ease here, a variety of resources available at your fingertips. We do miss the cultural authenticity of certain foods from home, the substitutes don’t always do justice but discovering new things has been its own adventure.
Our Unexpected Turn
Then came a discovery that changed everything: we were expecting.
Suddenly, all our fun exploration plans shifted into baby-planning mode. Our focus expanded from just the two of us to thinking for three. Settling down became less of a casual goal and more of an urgent priority. We initially struggled after learning the news because we hadn’t yet received our health cards, which limited how quickly we could access care and understand what was happening with the pregnancy.
Our baby is due in mid-April 2026, and that timeline has sharpened our focus considerably. We need to secure full-time jobs and find an apartment of our own before then.
Adapting to the weather
The weather, especially now in winter, has been quite the “discovery”. Nigeria’s temperature ranges between 21°C and 35°C year-round. Here, we’re experiencing something entirely different. Like a scene from the movie Riddick, we’ve been slowly building our resilience by deliberately exposing ourselves to the cold, bit by bit. It’s been harder on my wife, juggling pregnancy while working from home, compared to me getting out to an onsite job.
Finding Support
What has helped us navigate these challenges? Family and friends back home provide crucial emotional support, even from thousands of kilometers away. Ontario Works has offered essential financial assistance during this transition period. The New Canadians Centre and Employment Planning & Counselling-Peterborough (EPC) has been invaluable in providing job recommendations, reviewing our CVs, advising on certification pathways, and offering counselling when we need guidance.
The whole process has given me profound insight into what my parents must have experienced thirty years ago, restarting their lives with a baby and another on the way. My wife’s parents and my mother continue to send their best wishes and encouragement from Nigeria. And I hope my late father is looking down proudly from heaven, seeing us walk a path similar to the one he and my mother courageously took.
Advice for Newcomers
To anyone starting their life in Canada: information is your most powerful resource. Seek it out relentlessly. Organizations like the New Canadians Centre and the Employment Planning and Counselling office are there to help with counselling and community connection. Don’t be afraid to ask people around you questions, Canadians are, at least based on my experience so far, some of the nicest people on earth.
Research everything you can before arriving, but also stay flexible. Your expectations won’t match reality exactly, and that’s okay. The gap between expectation and experience is where growth happens.
Moving Forward Together
The Peterborough community can continue to be allies on this journey of welcome and inclusion by creating meaningful bridges between newcomers’ international professional experience and local opportunities. Mentorship programs that connect immigrants with established professionals in their fields would be life-changing. Employers recognizing international credentials and experience rather than requiring “Canadian experience” as a barrier would open doors for skilled newcomers eager to contribute. Even simpler initiatives matter too: neighborhood welcome programs and community events go a long way. These efforts help newcomers feel they truly belong here, not just survive.
As we actively search for full-time roles and prepare to welcome our first child, we’re hopeful about becoming fully contributing members of the Canadian economy and community. Peterborough has already begun to feel like home not because it’s like Nigeria, but because it’s given us space to build something new while honoring where we came from.
This journey is just beginning, and we’re grateful to be walking it here.”
Thank you Kolade for sharing your words of wisdom. We look forward to celebrating the new chapter of your story in April 2026!