BN Hot Topic: UK Delivery Mother of Quintuplets at Risk of Deportation

If you’ve ever lived abroad, discussions about the length of stay given to foreigners must be one you’ve heard only too often. I certainly had my fair share of listening to arguments in the press about migrants who become a ‘burden’ on the purse strings of the tax payer. Never mind that a good handful of these migrants, are in most cases, legitimate Visa holders who are in employment and thus tax payers themselves. However, I do agree, that examples exist where immigrants have overstayed on their visa or defaulted on the legal requirements of the right of abode.  But some times we hear of cases where it becomes altogether to difficult to judge.

One of such cases is that of Bimbo Ayelabola, who according to the UK Newspaper, “The Sun”, has given birth to quintuplets. According to the media source, Bimbo had been taking double the required prescription of a highly potent fertility drug, because she had suffered miscarriages in the past. When she learnt she was pregnant, she obtained a UK Visitors Visa and went to London to ensure she had adequate rest. It was during the scan in a UK hospital that it was discovered she was expecting 4 babies (a fifth baby was later discovered). Following emergency care given by the National Health Service, Bimbo’s estimated hospital bill is now placed at around £200,000. Her husband, who had visited earlier, is now thought to have fled back to Nigeria after discovering the conditions of her birth.

Bimbo is now seeking to extend her visa which expired in June by another 6 months because she believes she has an insufficient “support network” of family and friends left in Nigeria to help her bring up her kids since they are all in the UK. She is also arguing that the babies are too fragile to fly home. She also insists that at the time of applying for her UK visa, she had no idea she was expecting more than one child.

As you can imagine, this case has gathered a lot of media attention and comments from various arenas. A spokes person for the UK Home Office has been quoted as saying “The NHS is a national health service, not an international one. We expect those with no right to be in the UK to leave, otherwise we will remove them.” Conservative MP Chris Skidmore has also said that “It’s not acceptable for health tourism to continue in the way it has done”. Officials are also considering asking Bimbo to pay for the costs of her care which according to the hospital includes treatment by consultants, paediatricians, nurses, midwives, social workers and back-up staff.

There is however a human element to this situation which should not be overlooked. Bimbo Ayelabola must doubtlessly feel overwhelmed by her situation, especially since her husband has allegedly abandoned her. Looking after one child is enough for any new mother to contend with, let alone the nuances involved with taking care of 5 children!

What do you all think? Has Bimbo Ayelabola legally faulted the terms of her Visa and should thus be asked to return to Nigeria. Should she be asked to pay the hospital bill, since she is not a UK citizen and therefore has no legal right to free health care? Or should the UK government extend her stay for the period required?

Maybe there is also a bigger question to ask here, what is our government doing about our health care in our own country? Nigeria has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world, what is the Nigerian government doing to improve infant mortality rates and the general level of care in our hospitals? Surely if we had a better health care system, women like Bimbo might not feel the need to travel outside of the country.

What do you all think? Let’s discuss!!!!

Photo Credit: www.naijapals.com

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Love And Money: Apply for visa one year before travel, says US emb...

Love And Money: Apply for visa one year before travel, says US emb...: "Abuja-Mr Stephen Frahm, Consular Chief of the U.S Embassy, Wednesday, in Abuja advised Nigerians wishing to travel to that country to ap..."

Apply for visa one year before travel, says US embassy

Abuja-Mr Stephen Frahm, Consular Chief of  the U.S Embassy, Wednesday, in Abuja  advised Nigerians wishing to travel to that country to apply  for visas at least a year ahead  of  time.
He said this at the  embassy’s monthly briefing  which had consular operations  as the focus.
 Frahm said the number of   applicants  outnumber those that can be accommodated daily, noting that  this  contributes to delays.
 “ In Nigeria,  there are a greater number of  applicants than we have the ability to process. The number of people that can be processed in a given day is finite and that’s why it takes a long time in many instances to get an appointment.
 “ Here in Abuja,  we are able to schedule about 200; in Lagos they do about 350 to 400, so that’s about 600 a day.
“ We know that the demand is higher than that but we just don’t have the logistics to do more than that right now, so that’s why the delay.
“ The visa process should not be that last decision you make before you travel. It should be the first decision in planning. This is critical to making it possible for us to provide that service to the applicant,’’ he said.
He  said applicants should make their visa applications online and ensure they visit  the website for clarification if they had to.
Frahm also advised  applicants to fill out their applications correctly and give information in line with what they provided to make them qualify for the visa.
“ Most people are bad liars.  With the way our law is written, if you misrepresent the facts then you are not credible and we are forced to refuse.
“You may be a legitimate traveller, but because during the interview you did not present yourself correctly,  then we have no alternative but to refuse,’’ he said.
 Frahm urged  those who wished to apply for visas to the U.S not to be deterred by the processes.
The processes,  he said, were to ensure that all visa applications complied with the Immigration Nationalities Act of the United States.
He said the immigration activities were of  important commercial value, noting  that Nigeria has the highest number of applicants among the ECOWAS states with 60 per cent to 70 per cent of visa applications approved this year.
Also speaking, Deborah Maclean, Information Officer in the U.S embassy,  called on applicants to be truthful about their reasons  for travelling  in order to get a positive response from the embassy.
“You must be prepared and that includes planning in advance for your interview, having the information available for why you personally know you are going because each interview is a personal interview.
“What the consular officer would be asking you is based on what you present for information.
“If you are truthful about why you are going, the outcome is most likely going to be a positive one,” she said.

Love And Money: MY BIRTHDAY WISHES

Love And Money: MY BIRTHDAY WISHES: "Gods Grace, blessings, favour, prosperity, ability to do the right things, long life, financial breakthroungh, success in my exams, joy; pea..."

MY BIRTHDAY WISHES

Gods Grace, blessings, favour, prosperity, ability to do the right things, long life, financial breakthroungh, success in my exams, joy; peace wisdom and mercy from above........................

Thanks and God Bless
T-boyswags

A Word of Knowledge: Don’t Look Back

Don’t look back: Three words that together make up what I believe is a timely prophetic utterance for the Body of Christ in this hour. Let me write them again: Don’t look back.
Many are carrying hurts and wounds from the past. We don’t shake them off and come up higher because we keep looking back to the people and circumstances that crushed our hearts. Instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to use the injustice to propel us to places of greater authority in the kingdom like Joseph did, we rehearse our past in our own minds like a scratched CD. Out of the abundance of the bitterness and resentment in our hearts, our mouth speaks poison that defiles us. And we remain less-than-effective in proclaiming the kingdom of God because we won’t bury the dead and say farewell to the past. The good news is, Jesus is our past, present and future healer.
Others are paralyzed by the past. We’ve become spiritual paraplegics, so to speak—unable to move forward because fear of an unpleasant history repeating itself has gripped our souls. We’ve given up on the dreams that God has put in our hearts because of a traumatic life event arranged by the evil one who comes to steal, kill and destroy. We are afraid to pursue the prophetic promises the Lord has spoken over our lives, sometimes more than once. Like Lot’s wife, we continue looking back at the death and destruction and figuratively turn into a pillar of salt, frozen in time. The good news is, Jesus came to loosen us from our spiritual paralysis.
Then there’s shame, a spiritual disease that’s running rampant in the Body of Christ because of past sin. Because we don’t understand the heart of the Father, we wallow in a stew of guilt and condemnation and feel unworthy to move out into the things of God. When Jesus said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62, ESV), I don’t believe He was condemning someone who looked back. I believe He was warning us of the danger of looking back. Why? Because looking back makes us spiritually unfit for kingdom work. By looking back, we are essentially putting God’s kingdom off until tomorrow. Faith is now. The good news is, Jesus bore all our shame and all our sin so we can repent and move forward in the grace of God.
Yes, there is such a thing as looking back to past victories to encourage ourselves in the Lord like David did. But other than for purposes of glorifying His name, looking back has little value—and it can rob our peace, our joy and even our destiny. I’m reminded of Kathryn Kuhlman’s teaching on the Beatitudes. She taught that when God created man in His own image and after His likeness, He created man with a forward look, with a pair of eyes that would constantly be looking forward and not backward.
“By looking backward instead of forward, we bring on ourselves much of our distress, our unhappiness, our frustration, our confusion, our lack of peace. … It seems the easiest thing in the world to do is to live in the past,” Kuhlman said. “When we live in the past, there are and will be regrets. We see the nurturing of hurt feelings. There will be thoughts of injustice, there will be memories of things that should be buried and forgotten. We are reluctant to loose our hold on the past and hesitate to start living in the future. As a result, instead of joy and adventure, we know only the pangs of remorse, and we never have peace of mind.”
My past has seen plenty of heartache and sorrow, and I am sure that in your own life you’ve experienced some of the same. I have had to learn by the grace of God to let go of the past—to walk toward the future by the power of God. I can tell you that I would be living a life of defeat if I did not resist the temptation to relive the abandonment, abuse and losses I’ve experienced. I have made many mistakes in this life, and I have received many wrongs by people who were as close to me as anyone could get. I had to make it my determined purpose to move on. The secret to moving forward is to repent, forgive and press on.
Again, the Lord is saying to you, “Don’t look back.” It’s not only prophetic; it’s scriptural. In closing, consider the words of Paul the apostle, who had to forgive himself for religious mistakes and forgive others for trespasses against him:
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12-14, NKJV).
Receive this insight today, and run the race toward your prophetic destiny unburdened by the past. When you cross the finish line, Jesus will be there to reward you as a good and faithful servant who spent your energy building the kingdom instead of allowing the devil to destroy your peace. Amen.
***The intention of this article is not to suggest that we should bury pain or that it is wrong to revisit the past to receive healing from emotional wounds as led by the Holy Spirit in His timing. The point is that many are wallowing in the past, wallowing in self-pity, guilt, and shame, and experiencing unncessary pain that prevents them from moving forward in God's will. The latter does not help us get free from a painful past.
Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including The Heart of the Prophetic. You can e-mail Jennifer at jennifer.leclaire@charismamedia.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit her website here.http:www.chrismamag.com

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Study Food in Italy, for Free?

Who wouldn’t love to study food in Italy?  Better yet, how about for free?  Today’s featured scholarship is the Tuition Waiver for the Master of Management in Food & Beverage at SDA Bocconi School of Management. One of the oldest business schools in Italy and located in the dynamic city of Milan, SDA Bocconi offers a compelling opportunity for students interested in food and beverage.
With a value of 29,000 euro, and available to students from around the world, these tuition waivers are offered to the top applicants to their program for the 2011/2012 school year.
Visit the SDA Bocconi MFB Tuition Waiver page on InternationalScholarships.com for more information.
http://www.internationalscholarships.com/Master_of_Management_in_Food_&_Beverage_Tuition_waivers