A married couple who have left Nigeria to pursue a postgraduate and a new career in Edinburgh have been taken aback by the difficulty in finding an affordable home to rent.
Oluwaseun Ayodele Kolade, Seun for short, 26, left his home in Ibadan, Nigeria this summer in order to study as a postgraduate in digital campaigning and content creation at Queen Margaret University (QMU).
His wife, Peace Esther Kolade, also 26, has remained at home whilst Seun searches for a one bed flat or studio where they can both stay. But he has found great difficulty in securing a home within their budget and a location that would make commuting to QMU easy.
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At the moment he is staying with a friend but is desperate to try to secure a place so that Peace is able to travel over from Nigeria to join him. So far Seun has described hunting for a flat as a “daunting experience” and said that it was sobering to find out that he would have to almost double his budget for monthly rent in the Edinburgh housing market.
“It's a daunting experience. I think this is perhaps due to a series of factors including the number of people looking for a house to rent”, he said.
“There are far more people than there are available houses to rent. Problems also arise from the high cost of rent and also our unfamiliarity with the landscape is not helping.
“But I think we are having trouble, especially in our case, because of our budget. Our initial budget was in the range of £350-400 but we had to adjust this due to the reality on ground.
“There are one-bedroom apartments and studios that are being advertised for £850-900 but my budget is now between £500-650 so it is hard.
“Ideally we would like to live anywhere from Musselburgh to Edinburgh's city centre for at least one year. As long as I can commute to school via an easily accessible bus stop then I am happy but it is proving difficult to find somewhere.”
Seun and Peace met each other in November 2018 when they were both working at a school in Nigeria. Back home, Seun worked as content manager for Text Thought Web Technology whilst Peace worked as a marketing assistant with Sabi Programmers.
The couple will use up their savings relocating to Edinburgh or East Lothian with the hope that Seun can continue his educational and career development. He decided to go “back to school” in Scotland because he is interested in a career in strategic corporate digital communications and the Nigerian education system is experiencing difficulties.
Seun said: “I decided to relocate to Scotland primarily because the education system back home is in a dilapidated condition. The Academic Staff Union has been on a long strike since February and tertiary education is at a stand still.
“There's a challenge with the educational system back home at the moment and I wouldn't want that to deter me from pursuing my personal ambitions. That's why I decided to pull all my savings and invest in getting my education from a stable system
“Hopefully after I graduate I will be able to establish a career as a corporate communications manager or director.”
Seun added that it is not easy to relocate to a new environment but that both Peace and himself are looking forward to exploring Edinburgh and Scotland as well as getting to meet new people.
He added: “Edinburgh is a fantastic place. The people are warm, friendly and really helpful.
“I am enjoying my stay in Edinburgh, a pleasant multicultural city. Since my arrival, I have visited the National Arts Gallery where I was impressed by the fascinating art collection.
“And I have also spent some time enjoying the scenery of the gigantic Walter Scott monument, and have visited the National Writers Museum.
“Among the fascinating items I discovered included the lock of hair of the three famous Scottish writers (Walter Scott, Robert Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson), a shoe worn by Scott, a stool that Burns sat on and Stevenson's boot.
“Inscribed on the ground outside the building were quotations from the works of famous Scottish writers. And my favourite was a quote by Naomi Mitchison that emphasised the interrelatedness of all races: ‘go back far enough and all humankind are cousins.’”
If you are able to help Seun and Peace find a home to rent in Edinburgh or East Lothian then please contact the couple via their email address here: legitkoladeseun@gmail.com
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