News Explains the World

Biography tw: parent death, dementia

Ejike was born to Nigerian diplomats Nnenne and Chidi Abara while they were stationed in Toronto. The family stayed there while Ejike was in elementary school and later moved to Ottawa when he was 13 and his parents were requested in the nation's capital. He was bullied for his "unusual" name all through school, but he didn't let that get to him and used it as fuel to well at everything he did. He was a captain of the speech and debate team, high performer in model UN, and, at the urging of his parents and English teachers, the editor of the school newspaper.

After graduation, he went on to get a Bachelor of Arts in English from University of Toronto. At the time, moving 5 hours away was all his parents would allow him to do. They had always been a close family, but there had been several (not too credible) threats to his parents lives and they wanted him close should anything happen. Bachelors complete, his parents got him a job at a well respected paper while he tried desperately to get out from under their thumbs.

Following a fight with his parents about his life, his lack of relationships, and his career, he moved to the other side of the country to get his Masters in Journalism at UBC. He was able to secure a job with AP and began a beloved career as a traveling journalist centered primarily in Africa.

He rarely spoke with his parents, instead deciding to hear how they were doing from his family in Nigeria that he was newly connecting with. It was from them that he heard his mother had died while he was covering Boko Haram. Despite having not spoken directly to his parents in almost 10 years, he flew back to Canada to attend her funeral and possibly rebuild his relationship with his father. The homecoming was strained and they struggled to bond after so long apart.

Ejike decided to relocate to NYC to be in the same timezone as his father. He still traveled often, but maintained the weekly phone calls they had agreed to. Chidi retired to Starlight Oaks a few years later, having visited several times over the years. About a year prior to his own move during one of their calls, his father mentioned he'd been feeling unwell himself and was undergoing various tests with his doctor. He was told not to worry, but having already lost one parent he couldn't pass up the opportunity to help.

He moved to Seattle and helped wherever he could. Eventually, his father was diagnosed with Dementia. Ejike went into a semi-retirement and moved into the home in Oak Grove to care for him. As his father's condition worsened, he started describing siblings he didn't have and trips they never went on. When pressed, he swore they were real and eventually he found photos to prove it: his father had had several affairs and somewhere out there he had 2 siblings.

Not long after that revelation, he received a phone call from the police while out covering a story that his father had somehow made his way to Seattle and had no recollection of how he'd gotten there. After talking with his doctor, he decided to move his father into a nursing home so he could be better monitored.

An empty home, a father in a nursing home, half siblings he'd never met, and a looming early retirement. What will he do now: go back to traveling the world to report the news or stay in Starlight Oaks and see where this leg of his life will take him? Only time will tell.

Wanted Connections

Colleagues: He's been a journalist for 25 years; there's got to be former or current journalists he knows.

Neighbors: He's only been here a year, but in that time he became close enough with the locals to ask their help in keeping an eye on his father while he's gone.