Being an immigrant

Life as an immigrant is hard. You travel the world to the other side and if you don’t find your footing right, can suffer there. Migration is part of our DNA and all animals or most animals do it. But as human beings we have made it complicated. We always make things complicated. When you get the desire to move to another country, it’s not easy and straightforward. There are visas, police checks and whatever else involved. Not to mention that certain countries are using migrants as part of their economy. They put quotas of how many people have to get in and score points and whatever else. They take people’s money whether you get in or not. 

I have been a migrant for most of my adult life. I have loved it and hated it. It’s amazing in that you get to travel and experience new cultures and new countries. It’s bad because you get to experience new cultures and traditions. Some people you meet are narrow-minded, and truly believe that it’s okay to treat migrants as second or third class citizens. You get to a new place with high hopes and they are usually dashed in increments. Not to mention the daily little struggles of being told that your accent is funny, you can’t work that job and yadda yadda. You leave the familiar, your support network back home and you are alone trying to make it. You will always be a foreigner, an immigrant.

Who doesn’t want to live a better life where the basics of life like water, electricity, medicine and well-made roads are? It does sound like a joke to think that roads can be unmade but it’s a reality for people. You want certainty that your children will have a better tomorrow. That when they graduate from university, there will be jobs waiting for them. However, that is getting difficult everywhere in this world.

I remember living in Zimbabwe in the early 2000s and the economy had tanked due to sanctions and embargos. There was no food on the supermarket shelves. The banks had no money and a loaf of bread cost a thousand dollars. It was crazy. No one knew what to do. The sanctions are supposed to be against the leader of the country but the average person is the one that suffers. People from Zimbabwe left in their millions. There was nothing working in the country and I mean nothing. Even water was not coming out of the taps, no food in shops and no money at banks. If you got a chance to leave, you did.

This one goes without saying; if your country is at war, you will want to leave. War means danger, lack of safety and anytime, you can die. People will migrate to look for a peaceful country. Or a country where bombs are not being dropped at least. Becoming an immigrant seems like a safe passage of life.

Exodus 23:9 "Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

Sometimes we make a mess of life and want to press pause then a restart button in a different country. Have you ever made a mess of your life? Maybe you joined a gang in your naivety? You married some gangstar or were on drugs but trying to go clean but your community won’t let you forget about it. You might think it’s better to move to a new country and start the whole process from the ground up, with people who will give you a chance at the new identity that you are trying to forge. 

Some cultures and families are stifling. You grow up knowing that you are different and you don’t really believe what your culture is teaching you. You want something different. Maybe your family is very conservative and you just want a little room to breathe. Or they expect a girl child or boy child to behave a certain way that goes against your core beliefs. You have to migrate to a different country where your fundamental truths are allowed to shine.

Truth is, most migrants never truly belong to their new place. But you don’t belong to your old life either because from the day you left, people there also moved on. You become this person of two countries but belongs in neither. It’s confusing and frustrating. 

This one is huge! The countries will use you as a scapegoat. When they elect their bad leaders inside failing systems, they will not take accountability for that. No. They will instead use immigrants as the reason that their economies and politics are not working. It never has anything to do with the immigrants but they are used as scapegoats. It’s fun in a sad way because as long as countries are doing that, they will continue to elect bad leaders that will work in failing systems to continue the narrative that immigrants are to blame. If you are an immigrant, you will have to learn to be thick-skinned and ride the wave of political elections.

Leviticus 24:22 You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the Lord your God.

These are stories as old as time. People are tribal and racist. Are you willing to let go of what they say about you because of your race or tribe? Can you cope with people who treat you like you came from another planet just because you have different pigmentation to the locals? Being an immigrant means being different.

Being lost in transition is the feeling of disorientation, confusion or difficulty adjusting to a new situation during a period of change. When you get to a new country, it will be confusing. Maybe your fantasy and reality are clashing. You may get confused with the idea that you are different. It never occurs to you when you are surrounded by your own people that you are different. However, when you get to a new country, they will never let you forget how different you are to them. Like I mentioned before, some countries will tell you that you can get a job in the field you were working in your home country. But when you get there, they will say things like; they want people with local experience. That is disorienting. 

Well yes it is. But just be aware of all these factors I mentioned above. You have to have a reason to think and believe that migrating was your best bet. Just focus on your dreams and be aware that countries of this world are looking for scapegoats for their own dysfunctions.