Oni Lasana, Thee Storyteller

Here's another true story I wrote for my non-storytelling friends. Who were so happy for me!  

Warning all Storytellers! Beware! WE storytellers are in demand…by SCAM!

Once upon a time.... I opened a e-mail, from Rachel Ray of Oxford Storytelling Festival in England...it was a lovely invite, she had reviewed my home spun website and was making a special request for me to perform at her marvelous festival in August 2018…(red flag, its 3 months away). 

In the e-mail, I noticed no typos, noticed round trip ticket, accommodations, and 2,000 GB for the honorarium…I figured...yes, I'm worth it! It can happen. I toured Germany, nice honorarium, full expenses paid to Virginia Tech. It didn't feel strange. I’m a professional storyteller, I can do this!

So I respond, I'm engaged that weekend…(Already had plans to drive to New York City with my hubby and some friends) and its also too soon. (I didn't mention I'm having knee surgery, nothing personal) 

But I'm available for August 2019, so my dear, please keep me in your resources for 2019.

I'm a professional storyteller and I know a story when I see one, and internet hip:-),…so I google the festival and lo and behold I see Rachel May...she's a "brilliant" storyteller and director of the festival, I write and tell her I can tell she’s a sensitive and caring person to also be a midwife. Her aura shined into my spirit from her photo.

The lineup for 2018 has some powerful storytellers who's names I recognized. My big headed EGO…figured maybe one of the features canceled and that's why they want me in 3 months time!

I tell my husband, Don, about my plans for August 2018, he smiles proudly to know I’m requested to tell at Oxford Storytelling Festival…you’d think I was graduating from Oxford University!… he offers to come with me, pay his own way and carry my luggage...we gonna visit his brother in Layton, England and our friends the Parker's who live in England's country side. Then we'll go to France, Italy and other nearby countries by train,…how romantic!  In my head I'm our own travel agent. I'm ecstatic as Mike Tyson! In 5 minutes…we got a plan!

I call my storytelling muse in Mississippi…Diane is so happy for me...how deserving I am...all the good stuff I need to hear ...I brag a little...to one of my favorite local storytellers about the festival ask her to keep it secret from the green eyed monsters, tell myself…don’t talk it....just walk it…by all means...I'm KNOW I'm GOING! 

I respond to the e-mail...Of course I inform Rachel how we are considering coming and will  use her travel agent to book an extended stay to spend at least a month! So this "Rachel" writes back and now she's "Mrs. May"...very stern in a no nonsense tone, insisting I contact her travel agent to get my work permit ASAP!

It's just not feeling right, she was Rachel two e-mails ago and now she's “Mrs. May” bossing me around? Still I’m clueless LOL! Thinking Rachel May has fabulous taste in storytellers…I proceed. I notice the travel agent is Jodi Egbo (Nigerian? who I know are infamous for online scamming)…. heck, I’m not prejudice - I'm going to England!!!!) @ Abotts Travel...in UK, etc…

E-mail the travel agency. She writes back the next day, so pleased to inform me the work permit will cost me $366 US taxes and processing included. I write back and ask how long is the work permit for, I’m not arriving until next year! 

I’m thinking NOW. LOL….if she's is paying that sweet honorarium, round trip ticket and room & board…WELL…she ALSO pay for the permit and I pay her back when I get paid! LOLOLOLO. Just have to figure out how to word it!

Mrs. Egbo sends the attached visa to fill in my information, passport number and dates of arrival and departure. The next day I tell Don something smells fishy...why do I have to have a permit ASAP....if I'm not leaving till August 2019?....and the visa with some blurry "official" stamp says I need the travel dates, leaving and returning, passport # (girl they would of taken my ID!)...so Don says contact the British Consulate in DC and find out how long a work permit last OR if I really even need a work permit to perform for a hour? He’s very handsome and smart too;-)

So I e-mail a query to the British Embassy in DC. Feeling like I'm Meghan Markle's cousin...later Don and I go out for errands, when I get back to my desk, something says...hey check out the website again...just to make sure...ok, everyone is still on the website…looking very legit…a storytellers dream festival!

I imagine my name on the list of performers in 2019. Still delusional:}…I hit the Face book button. To "like" them. They did request my presence! LOL…

Well, well, well the most recent post is saying some scammer are inviting storytellers to the festival and pretending to be none other than Rachel May and another fella who also works at the festival! They ask people to call some phone number in England to report it. 

OH my! My heart sinks! I knocked my crown off my head, put my passport back in my nightstand drawer, Don unpacks in his head. 

Back at Facebook I type in the e-mail of the scammers. Guess what...the real Rachel Ray apologizes and says I can apply to present next year...well she is NOT offering the first class package the scammers promised...so I doubt if we'll go.

Si la vie! or maybe I can set up a Go Fund Me for Storytellers Getting Scammed and desires to represent the USA in England?

Oh, and the Mrs. Jodi Edgo of the travel agency…who’s final demand was to tell me to file out the bogus work permit and submit the 366 US and let her know how to proceed.

Well, I let her know how to proceed….I wrote “YOU can proceed straight to…JAIL!!!!!” I haven’t heard from Mrs. Jodi Edgo of Abotts Travel Agency or the fake Mrs. Rachel May since. 

Good riddance!

Don’t you like happy endings?

(C) 2018 Oni Lasana