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Nobody can prepare you for America

Published on 03/11/2009

Yearning to come to America? Think again

By Chris Wamalwa

Kenyan politics is not interesting anymore until "hurricane" Ocampo-Moreno lands at JKIA and we start seeing those ‘mother-freaking’ politicians who cooked and served death and destruction to their compatriots, stew in their own fat.

So, until then, I will discuss more serious issues. Recently, I received an email that read; “ Hallo Chris, my name is Esther Mwema from Machakos. I always read your articles in the Standard. I am 19 years old and just about to clear high School. I am thinking of joining a university in the US after high school and so I’d like you to advise me on how life is in the US. Here (Kenya) things seem to just get worse everyday. Prospects of finding a job even after university are very slim.”

Well, Esther, many Kenyans, and indeed Africans, have come to the US to seek education. When you speak with them, they will give you varied personal experiences. But the common theme is the life usually turns out tougher and worse than they had expected. Why? Because there is a big chasm between reality and fantasy when it comes to perceptions of life in America.

Many believe that the streets in America are paved in gold while others depict it as the land of opportunity that has drawn millions to its shores across the borders.
And so, with scanty information, young people, barely out of their teens, have arrived in American to be confronted by an overwhelming, mean and unfriendly environment.
Most of the new arrivals enrol in colleges and universities only to realise that they do not have adequate fund to sustain their education programme.

With middle level colleges charging not less than £5,000 per semester, few Kenyans can afford to keep their kids in college full time. So, they drop out of school to concentrate on work with the hope of saving enough to go back to school later.

Unfortunately, most students come to the US using restricted visas. This means they are supposed to have a specific number of hours of school. If you miss out on that number, because of work, you automatically fall out of status. When that happens, your world has turns upside down and the long nightmare begins.

Remember, too, if you find yourself in this category, the only opportunities available are menial minimum wage earning jobs that pay at best $9 per hour or what my friend Danvas Makori calls the official Federal definition of ‘below the poverty line’.

Most African American brothers and sisters are in this category. The only difference between them and their cousins back in Africa is that they walk and ride on paved highways and pathways, have clean running water, electricity and TV in their houses. What the state pays them is enough to buy food, cheap drinks and cigarettes and of course once in a while, a movie ticket.

Many of the Africans in this category are alcoholics, drug peddlers and users. Suicides, murders or manslaughters are common occurrences among these people. But they are not bad people.

Yet there are also some people who have made it beyond your wild imagination. They went to school, earned themselves scholarships and concentrated on their studies. After graduating they got good jobs that earned them high status. These are the ‘Obamas’ who will speak to you endlessly about the ‘American Possibility and Dream’. They have put up mansions and apartment flats back in Kenya, take care of their relatives and once in a while, do come for vacations.

Whichever way the pendulum swings, depends on the kind of information one had before coming to America.

The basic reality, however, is that, life in America is a mixed pack of the good and the bad. On the positive side, it leaves the feelings of excitement, freedom, opportunity, achievement and fulfilment. On the negative side, it leaves disappointment, hurt, anger and disillusionment in their lives. As for Esther’s  question, nobody can ever prepare you for America.

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