My father cleared his throat and swallowed the phlegm and said, “I know how to speak big grammar as someone who had been in abroad for years, I have the American accent and the slangs like; “pardon me”, “I’m gonna”, “excuse me”, “yeah man”, “yap”, “yep” etc. but I will speak with simple and correct English so that you would understand me very well”.

It was October 22, 1990 at 2.00am midnight, I was eighteen years old then, my father woke me up and led me into his room and said; “Lawrence sit down, after telling you this story which is a little bit part of my life you will understand and learn”.   I sat down with my dad on his bed, my dad continued and said to me, “Lawrence, close the door behind you and sit beside me so that your mother would not eavesdrop on my discussion with you“, I reluctantly closed the door.  “Lawrence, I know that you and your mother are angry with me because I advised you not to pursue your education in America, and I know that two of your friends are already studying in abroad……..”  I did not allow my father to continue before I interjected, I said, “daddy, please tell Uncle to sign the Guarantor’s Form for me, I will do part time menial job to support myself and more so, I am not asking you to give me money because the scholarship given to me would be used”.   My father did not say a single word as he pulled me towards himself rubbing my head. 

I was born into an average family home; my father was a Magistrate and my mother was a chartered accountant working in an Oil Company.  After my School Certificate, the Federal Ministry of Education awarded me scholarship to study Law in a University in America, my mother supported the idea but my father was against it,  the reason I did not know but got to know later.

The day I was leaving for abroad, my mother cried like a baby being the only child and travelling out and she kept telling me to be of good behavior.  My friends begged me to ensure that I did not break my communication with them to see if luck would smile on their faces sooner or later through me.   Queen who was the lady of my life then bought me a Holy Bible and a card as parting gifts  to solidify the relationship, she wrote this statement on the card; “My only Lawrence, forget me not and I will wait for you”.  My son, hmmm, my father sighed, he looked at me, his eyes watered, for the first time in my life I witnessed my father shed tears like a student who lost the money given to him to pay for his Examination Fee on the deadline day.  My father looked up at the ceiling and called my name three times, “how many times did I call your name?” Before I mentioned three, my father said three in our local language.   “Well, Lawrence, travelling  abroad is good but it is a tough place, tougher than what I imagined before I left, if I had known I would have listened to my father, truly  I came back with a degree   but America is meant for the strong not the namby-pamby. 

Things are not perfect as people think, majority of the immigrants seeking for greener pastures  were disappointed, immigrants came looking for Golden Fleece but did not see silver fleece  before they fled.  Remember the story of the hungry lion who pretended to be sick and all animals went to pay him visit to empathize with him, but when it was Fox’s turn, Fox refused to visit Lion saying that, he only saw the footprints of those who went into lion’s den but did not see the footprints of their return, same goes for some people who travelled abroad.   When people were leaving for America the whole world knew but  nobody knows what is happening to them one by one in abroad right now.

In abroad, some people are jobless because they have no work permit. Some have been in abroad for the past ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five even thirty years they have no citizenship certificates.  While some are suffering from inexplicable ailments because of frustration, others are in jail.  Some are unable to leave the country because  they have nothing to show for their being in abroad.  Some bad  immigrants in abroad are credit card fraudsters, some would rent expensive cars and ship these rented  cars to their home countries to sell,  and people at home are not aware of that.   Some of these bad immigrants would come home to build customized houses, spend money at parties, call musicians to play for them and they would spray money.  No honest income earner in abroad would spend  his or her hard-earned income like that.  Some of those people coming home to build houses, spending lavishly and behaving as if there is nothing like tomorrow are fraudsters, while some are rotting in jail some are still wanted to serve their jail term.   

Not many people living in abroad are bold enough to tell you where they are working or tell you the type of job they are engaged in.  You will be surprised to know that some of those who left the shores of our dear land with good education are doing survival jobs.  Abroad is a challenging country for immigrant Lawyers, medical doctors, pharmacists, engineers and other enviable professionals, don’t be surprised that some of them are doing menial jobs which I will  mention to you later.  Majority of immigrants are frustrated and some are into criminal activities but back home their friends and family members are happy that their children, wards, friends or colleagues are in abroad.    Imagine some immigrants during summer they wear winter clothes, during winter they wear spring jackets. 

America is a country of freedom where children can call Corps (Police) to arrest their father if they are admonished, a country where wives have the authority to send their husbands to jail for minor domestic disputes that are considered normal in our country.  What is considered as nothing here in our country is something and a big thing in abroad and what is considered as non-sense here makes sense in abroad.  Your children are  government children and  you are now ruled by the law on care of the children.

In America animals have rights, you dare not punish or kill them.  There is what is called three Ws  that affect men in Abroad one of them is  work.  What are the remaining two Ws that people experience in abroad? We already know one of them which is work.  In the part Two of this story you will find out the remaining two Ws. 

To be continued.

This is a true life experience sent to us by one of our readers.  If you have any genuine story, please send to us.  Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.