Skip to main content

Repats - African diaspora return home: rewards outweigh challenges


Approximately 8.8 million African migrants live in Europe, North America, and Australia, with some gradually moving to Asia (The African Report, July 2013, No. 52). Another 13.2 million Africans are migrants on their own continent, having moved from one African country to another to secure safety and/or employment (Global Migrant Origin Database).
Many are starting to return to their homelands. From July 2011 to November 2011, about 35,000 South Sudanese returned to their newly independent country, said the International Organisation of Migration (IOM).


But coming home can often have its own challenges—the changing country, pressure from relatives to support them with new wealth and new skills from overseas, and returning to a lifestyle in which poverty is a major problem. However, starting a new business, rising employment options, and returning to families are the greatest rewards. More and more Africans want to invest in their own country.


The term repats describes people who repatriate back to their homeland after many years abroad. They are the returning Diaspora. As one journalist in The African Report (July 2013) says: there are two camps of repats—the Temps who come for a short term often regularly—and the Stays—the people who have returned “for good.”
The African Report interviewed 10 repats who described some of the challenges in returning home: people say you are crazy for leaving a developed country to come back to poverty; low and irregular salary; bringing their wife and children to a country they have never visited; or long absences from people and new families left behind in Europe or America. Another challenge was finding medical care in their homeland, and the cost required to return to Europe for continuous treatment and surgeries. Others said that their own mannerisms, speech, and clothes had changed and they felt awkward at first when settling back home.
As described in my novel, The Sudan Curse (2009), the constant demand by relatives for money does not diminish once a person has returned home. The concept that a person must have acquired considerable wealth in their new country—whether actual or perceived—continues to place pressure on Africans leaving and returning. Added to this is the pressure of not letting their family down. But often they now have two families to support: one in their adopted country and the other in their original homeland.


With rising unemployment in the countries they migrated to, the option of returning home with new skills, new ambitions, and big ideas was an attractive option to the repats interviewed. And their desire to assist the country of origin was also strong. The African repats, especially young graduates, felt that they could accomplish far more in their own country than in the competitive environment of their adopted country. Most are returning to the private sector or to start their own businesses. As one interviewee said, “Africa is where the opportunities are.”
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing
1 comment
Read more