When the City of Dreams Turns into a Nightmare

According to the results released last week, Kenya produces 80,000 youth into the work force annually but only 30,000 achieve some form of formal employment, that is only 37.5%. That is a HUGE disparity. Who is at fault is a discussion for another day although some will argue that the government should create jobs while others will fault our education system.

For many young Kenyans, their solution to unemployment is usually to move abroad but how effective has this been? Many young Kenyans spend millions of shillings annually on agencies that hardly know anything about the countries they send people to.

“No poor Kenyan moves abroad, all those who move abroad would survive if they returned home”

What do you think of this statement? Someone pointed this out during a recent discussion. Poor Kenyans don’t have €100 lying somewhere to apply for a visa they aren’t sure they will get. Poor people have no money to gamble with and most of these agents won’t work with poor people anyway.

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

To the young Kenyans thinking of moving abroad, please plan ahead of time. Google is your friend. If you have half a million Kenya shillings (€5000) to pay the agent, I’m sure you have a hundred bob (€1) to go to a cyber and just google about the visa laws to the country you want to move to. There are numerous Facebook pages with Kenyans from most of these countries, join in and read what their experiences are. Ask for advice.

And even if it’s your relative planning your move, investigate what kind of life they live here and do your own research to measure what they are telling you.

Numerous Kenyans live amazing lives abroad but also many others live devastating lives. You can make a choice what kind of life you want to live if/when you move abroad. Make a wise choice before spending ALL your savings, only to come and meet a rude shock.