1. Starting Life All Over
It’s when you travel to live in Europe or America that even big men become ‘small boys’; you have to start all over—and forget how much money you had back home. Because under the European and American systems, money does not always buy you everything—there are strict rules and standards you must conform.
Imagine having moved or smuggled yourself into any of the well regulated European or American countries without the needed permit, you will first have to try and sort your immigration status out. Back home, we don’t really have anything to do with the immigration offices. When you travel abroad, you would begin to appreciate the power of being a citizen.
You cannot even open a simple bank account without the right status, let alone find a job to make the much needed money which brought you abroad. When you move abroad, you have to start all over again—life starts for you on so many levels; you will even have to learn how to move around. You have to grab which bus or train goes where and where to even buy toilet rolls from.
It’s like you’ve dropped yourself on earth from a whole different planet. The starting over gets difficult if you find yourself in a non-English speaking country like Germany where I live or Netherlands… Now you are in for the real ‘shegay’ because you cannot even ask for directions as you cannot speak the language.
Don’t bother speaking English because most people don’t really give a toss about that in such countries—so you have to learn to speak theirs or just piss off.
There’s certainly no place like GHANA! The mere fact that we’ve emigrated from a ”third world country” – which i think is a fallacious term used to paint Africa in a bad light; to advanced nations in europe or usa doesn’t mean life has become better for us. Although the western world might be steps ahead of us in terms of technology, infrastructure, healthcare, education, etc.. living here can be quite hellish as compared to the warm and stress-free Motherland GHANA. Life certainly can’t be that monotonous where you must wake up at specific times each morning just to make money for old white oligarchs under very hard conditions, have no time for a proper and healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner, live in tiny appartments with lots of restrictions, pay unnecessary bills to multi-billion insurance and credit-card corporations who don’t have the customers interest at heart, live in constant fear of running out of money or losing a job, constantly crave for well cooked Ghanaian meals, constantly yearn for warm weather, family, friends and a less stressful life, comply with rigid and stupid laws, etc, etc, etc.. Can this really be life? It’s so heartbreaking to see the white natives toil effortlessly all their lives just to be ignored and thrown in care & nursing homes with little to no support from relatives whereas back home we take care of our own and make them feel respected. With all the sunshine, warm and friendly people, good food, natural resources, beautiful weather, why would we give up all this for bad weather conditions, unfriendly/cold people, tiny living space, fatty/unhealthy food, stress, stress and more stress for meager salaries? Unless you are filthy rich with millions stacked in your account then life in europe can be likened to a prison system with no shackles and guards, it’s just done systematically in disguise. So that leads me to ask the question: are we Ghanaians cursed with ignorance and hatred for our own whilst the old white capitalists take advantage of our weak-minded and foolish attitudes, loot our resources with impunity and make mighty fortunes out of them whilst we become poorer? How i wish like-minded Ghanaians across the west would wake up from our stupor and illusion of living in ”Abrokyire” just to impress the ones left back home, realize how we’ve taken our blessed country with all the good things the west lacks for granted, repatriate and take charge of our own natural and human resources, i can rest assure you GHANA will be paradise.
Hmm well said,this article is just like what I think abt everyday.nice one and realistic.abrokyiree no be heaven ooo our pple must know,stresssss!!! You nailed it,you almost said all my experiences,feelings…..crazy weather,crazy food,crazy jobs and crazy schedules.abrokyiree no know big man,I know some big fmen come here to work in restaurants,old peoples home,morgues….all bcos of d bucks.Its interesting to note that Ghanaians are among the most traveling citizens you find in e etv corner of the globe,a sure say Iceland sef.
Hmmmmm..no where cool
There is no perfect place here on this earth, Whether Ghana, Germany, Netherlands, UK,Nigeria……
What I can say is that one must make use of the advantages that these places have to offer. For example if u find urself in a certain area one must search for the opportunities that exist there.
Finding yourself in a non english speaking country can also be seen as an advantage as u learn a new language and broaden ur horizon.
Perhaps one could establish an export and import business between Ghana and Germany due to the fact that u can speak both languages.
So it depends how you see it.