A new talk show has been launched in Regina, Saskatchewan. The show is anchored by four immigrant Nigerian women: Amarachi Ejike, Oge Anu, Tanwa Adanlawo, and Folake Shobamowo, and it is titled ‘Another View with Amarachi.’ The show made its debut on Access TV last month. The show is a window into Canadian immigrants’ lives and at the same time a platform to share inspiring stories.
Amarachi Ejike, an information security professional, conceived the idea for the show when she discovered she was second to none on local television programming. This discovery and a challenging life encounter gave her the inspiration to take action.
While talking about the idea, she said: “I heard stories of how people were actually struggling. The idea was actually conceived in 2018, after my family and I went through some things.
“It made us think about if other families were going through this, and who were they talking to?”
Ejike decided to pitch her tent with Access TV. She began to reach out to her potential co-hosts to see if they would love to be part of the show after the show got Access TV’s nod.
As far as Oge Anu, a financial advisor, is concerned, joining the show was a no brainer. The privilege of having informative conversations on television was one she could not afford to miss.
She said: “[Amarachi] said we’ll be talking about our experiences as Nigerians living in Canada, cultural differences, and I said, ‘You know what? We need to talk about all these things, let’s get it!'”
Though the women on the show have their roots traceable to Nigeria, they revealed the issues discussed are issues that affect all immigrants. Also, they said each of them offers a different perspective and life experience.
Adanlawo, an administrative assistant, is the youngest of the co-hosts and hopes discussing her perspective will help the older viewers to have a better understanding of their generation.
She said: “It’s been nice to share my feelings about certain things because I usually can’t.
“I’m still a ‘baby.’ I don’t have kids, so everyone treats me like one. So to be able to share as an adult has been liberating.”
So far, the show has covered many topics, like the challenges of fitting into a new community, bringing up children, romance and interracial relationships.
While talking about the impact of these topics, co-presenter Shobamowo who is a business analyst, said discussing these topics has taught her so much and she hopes it will be the same for others.
She said: “We’re hoping that someone will watch this and ask their kids, ‘Do you feel the way Tanwa says she feels when her parents shout at her?’
“We are hoping that this leads to change and transformation.”
“We decided to put the show out there to give us a place in Canada. Sometimes you look at the TV and you’re looking for something you can relate to as an Nigerian, an African,” Amarachi Ejike said. “We put this out there to make you comfortable and let you know you’ve got other people like you here in Canada.”
The show also features a segment titled “Charity Spotlight” where the hosts interview representatives of organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters, Regina Open Door Society, Canadian Mental Health Association, REACH, Transition House, Sexual Assault Centre, Habitat for Humanity, Cancer Foundation, Creative Options, Regina Early Learning Centre and so on.
The “Charity Spotlight” segment is a segment that the peoducer of the talk show, Victor Ejike, is very proud of.
Victor said: “The purpose of this is dual-pronged. One is to let our audience learn about the charity and the resources they provide and the second is to promote the valuable work charities do in our community.
“It is important for our audience to know how they can support the charities and also supporting our community who may not be aware of how to find these charity resources in this COVID era when many offices are closed to the public.”
