Hello everyone, my name is Mmeyene Joseph, from Nigeria and this is my first time participating in the Ladies of Hive competition. I must confess I'm really glad to be here, and I want to share my thoughts on immigration based on what I believe and the experiences of people around me.
I have never had an experience of migrating because I've never had to move from my country. But I've witnessed the people around me suffer negatively as a result of moving to other countries. Although, some have had good experiences. I'll start by talking about my dad. When I was a child, my mom told me about how my dad got deported from the United States of America. He had moved there to work and school as a young man. And because he had lived there for a long time, after schooling, he started working, so he didn't feel the need to renew his traveling documents at some point. Perhaps he felt he would never have to travel out of America. Then one day, something that required his presence happened in Nigeria, and he had to come home. On his return to America, his documents and Visa were checked at the airport and it was discovered that they had expired. So he was not granted entrance and was sent back to Nigeria immediately. He had to wait for a long time before he could step foot in America again.
This experience taught me that there was NEVER going to be a place where you would be as comfortable, free, or at liberty as your country. No matter how long you lived in other people's countries, you would always be an outsider, a foreigner, and an immigrant. You could never have the same liberty or treatment as the citizens.
Also, in recent years as an adult, I have witnessed my friends and high schoolmates move abroad for “greener pastures” because of the economic situation of the country. I have a friend who relocated to Ghana. He was desperate. Because he couldn't afford the flight ticket, he went by train. However, on getting there, he couldn't find a job, so he had to call my brother repeatedly (because he was my brother's friend too), to ask for money, so he could feed. After a while, he had to come back to Nigeria, it was too hard to survive.
Last year, a lady who attended my church lost a brother in Japan who relocated there to find a better life. According to her, someone from his workplace had called to inform her that her brother had not been seen for a week. Her family tried all effort to contact him, but couldn't. He was missing for several weeks. Then one day, his friend called from work and said his body was found at some place in Japan, that he had been kidnapped and murdered. Her family could not afford the travel expenses to bring his body back, so he had to be buried at a cemetery there. Which meant they would never get to see him again, nor his body at least.
Also, a guy I know got invited to a country for a job last year, only for him to get there and he was recruited into a gang of cyber frauds and dupers to work for the “boss” and gain his independence after making a certain amount of money for them. He kept calling his friends and relatives to ask for money so he could pay them and gain back his freedom. But the money required was a lot, and his relatives couldn't afford it. To this day, I do not know whether he has returned.
These and many more experiences from the people around me have taught me to believe that the grass is not always greener on the other side. And that one should not relocate to another country if one does not have the means to support one's self or have a relative, or trusted person over there to support. I've also learned that I can be anything in my own country! I can go to school here, make good investments here, and have greener pastures here if I am wise enough to know what to do. I believe that if I am offered a job opportunity outside my country, there are ways to thoroughly check if the institutions and opportunities being offered are legitimate and not just move blindly out of desperation and get into life-threatening situations.
I think that sometimes what people lack is contentment and patience, other times, I think what people lack is common sense, to analyze situations and simply know what steps not to take. Because our decisions as individuals either make or mar us. Migration is good, as long as the decision is made wisely with all the needed support available.
Thank you!
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