Countless people not just in Kenya but most countries in Africa usually work and hard and fight to get themselves to countries abroad.
According to many, they believe while there, they can make a fortune and change their lives and those of their dependants.
While the aforementioned could be the case and work in favour for a number of people, others usually find it hard to cope and even survive in diaspora.
This was recently brought to light by a Kenyan lady leaving in one of the countries abroad, who claimed going and living in foreign countries is not always a walk in the park.
The lady who goes by Janet Bett, in a long heart-wrenching Facebook post sighted by Nairobi News disclosed that not everyone from Africa who is abroad is having it easy.
According to Bett, just like many Kenyans in diaspora she has undergone a stretch of mental stress which finally manifested through her physical health.
Bett revealed that her struggle to adapt to the new lifestyle abroad and everything that comes with it has torn her apart, pushing her to even more emotional and mental turmoil.
She noted that she has never felt fulfillment while abroad despite the fact that she thought all will be smooth upon landing in the foreign country she is based in.
Home sickness and the thirst to succeed in a short span of time to prove to people back home that all is well has been the end of most people living in the diaspora, at least according to Bett.
“I have lived in abroad for nearly two years now and i am not ashamed to say that i have been struggling mentally to adapt and it has really affected my physical health. I dont know why i have never been internally fulfilled. I have prayed for it to work, i asked God that this is what i wanted but i dont know why i feel so empty🥹💔. For those that know me, know how much i independently struggled to get here. There is a kind of emptiness, the yearning of being with your loved ones but you can’t, the self numbing just to show up to your daily activities and no syke for anything. Thats what abroad people call “maisha si rahisi”. I feel like i dont know myself anymore. I have tried my best to cover up, show up, go on holidays, be with friends to mask it but i feel emotionally isolated and emptiness is getting loud. I lost my spark. I said for the sake of people that supported me, for the sake of peope that i inspire, for the sake of family i support and siblings that i support in school please God let it work. But a voice came to me and said “how about for the sake of you🥹?”. I have watched myself fade away from the bubbly cheerful extrovert gal to a silent introvert sad gal😥. A year ago i started getting migraines that could not go away and numbness to most part of my body. I have had to massage my hands and my feet sometimes to get up😥. I have gone in and out of hospital for a whole year but i tend to think that this is a matter of “whatever your mind suppresses, your body expresses”. As the scripture says in proverbs 17:22 “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones”🙏. Instead of treating the outcome i want to look at the root cause. I want to come home for now,” Bett posted.
Bett wrapped up by revealing that she had settled on flying back to Kenya so as to put everything in her life into perspective and heal from the pressures of living abroad.
“Going abroad was brave of me, and also coming home for now is honouring myself and my feelings. I don’t know why i had to share this here but i had a feeling someone abroad could be going through the same. I feel like God is using me to raise this awareness to answer some of yall “questions ”. Please if you have anyone abroad, instead of asking “nifanyie favour” please try and see if you can ask them if they are okay🥹. Its not easy to be home away from home. I have been resilient all my life but now i know when i dont have to be🙏. “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand” Proverbs 19:21. For now i think i need my hometown, some rest and a therapist 💔. I need my cheerful self back. #notashamed #MentalHealthAwareness,” she added.
Her revelation was echoed by countless Kenyans with some even still living in diaspora rubber-stamping the same.
Others, however, bent on proving that flying abroad for greener pastures has been the best decisions many Kenyans have ever made in their lives.
