I remember those days back home when we used to see our relatives off to the white mans land with everybody beaming with hope for the future. All that we think about is what each and everyone one of us will be getting from our relative(s) about to travel. Usually the said relative is given a grace period of about 3 months after which the calls, the emails, the letters and text messages follows. Some relatives would not even want to know how you are doing, all that they are interested in is money mobile phones and those with business acumen brings suggestion about what business they think is doing well back home and would advise you as to where you should invest. Other will also advise you to purchase a plot of land and start putting up a building with the aim of becoming caretakers one day. (Their interest is paramount not yours). Those that we trust most end up disappointing us on several occasions. In a nutshell it become very difficult to trust your own brother, sister, relatives and friends with money and sometimes relationships. There have been a number of occasions where people entrust their girlfriends to their best friends who end up sleeping with them.
Most Ghanaians abroad are very industrious, some have between one to four different jobs and they work very hard to be able to remit their families and friends alike. Now a days things are becoming even more intricate for most immigrants not only Ghanaians. The influx of Eastern European immigrants has worsened things in most places in UK, these people are ready to accept any offer (in terms wages) however small they may seem, thus reducing the average earning of most immigrants.
In a bid to pleased people back home some Ghanaians (a small percentage) have resorted to so many ways of acquiring worth through illegal means. Some wait when their visas were about to expire and go for big loans, credit cards and store cards and buy loads of goods which they shipped back home, and everyone who sees them think they have really done well and hail them as heroes in the community. Other bring drugs, other steal people cars, some embark on credit card fraud, other steal from their work place etc. I am not saying all this to discredit most hardworking Ghanaians abroad, but just to tell our families and relatives that all that glitters is not gold. My biggest advice to all families is not to compare their son/daughter/relative with any other people. Some Ghanaians are doing marvellously well; some have very good jobs earning thousands of pounds a month, but it’s just difficult to distinguish between them and the bad nuts. I must admit that it is not only Ghanaians who are guilty of such crimes, other West African immigrants have even worse records when it come to fraud in the foreign land.
Life is becoming more difficult here, there are students who keep renewing their student visa just to be in the system and they keep doing one short course and another which they do not actually need only to keep them in the system, some pay so much money to other EU nationals just to get the necessary papers through false marriages (which does not even guarantee a better job) in order for them to have indefinite stay. This applies to all nationals in UK not Ghanaians alone. What bothers me most is that we do all this only to look good in the sight of our families and friends, which should not be so.
My humble advice to all families is to stop pressurising their children and relatives as to what they should do or amount of money they should send for big funerals, parties and weddings. We must stop comparing other people to our own children and relatives. Life is very tough in UK and it is going to be extremely difficult for those of us outside the EU. I must also advise Ghanaians never to pay any connection man to acquire a UK visitors visa, because they will be very disappointed and frustrated upon arrival in realising that they cannot do any work with such a visa. The best visa you can acquire as a starter is a working holiday visa. This will make life a bit comfortable for you in terms of looking for jobs. Now a day no one employs an immigrant without checking your immigration status, thus making it very difficult for people with visitor visa to work over here. All that I want to tell Ghanaians is that life is very difficult here and we should be suspicious when people return home with so much money after a short stay abroad. These are some of the reasons why no one should envy any Ghanaians abroad.
Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.
