Kofi Kinaata’s “Behind the Scenes,” says it better about the struggles of a foreigner in another man’s country seeking greener pastures:
“We hustle from dawn to dusk.
Here we do not sleep.
As there is no time for the black man,
And a hand that does not work does not eat.
But in our hometown, they think we live in luxury.”
As an international student, I have interacted with many of my college friends who have shared personal life experiences on their journey to Canada. Some of the commonest issues raised include taking loans and selling off properties to make it to a land of unending opportunities.
Records from the Canadian Bureau for International Education revealed that over 640,000 international students are studying in Canada as of 2020, becoming one of the most preferred and leading destinations for international students seeking higher education.
Having a preconceived idea of Canada being a utopia filled with opportunities for me, I decided to pursue my higher education here.
My decision was based on the information obtained and the perception projected by many on social media and study consultants who earn money from attracting international students to Canada. When you settle into your changed reality, you realise that perception is far from reality.
You “may” have been better off staying in your home country. The “stress” starts from the school application through visa application and immigration regulations for third-world countries. The first thing you realise when applying to schools here is the “exclusion” criteria most third-world schools face.
Even though the university you attended may meet all the criteria and you may qualify for higher education. Sometimes one must write English test scores (even when the application process states that English-speaking countries are excluded from that process), and pay extra money for educational credentials to be vetted and approved before one can qualify to apply to some schools.
After being accepted, the immigration process usually feels like an invasion of privacy as it asks for personal and financial information. Then there is the traveling process, in which you may be denied transit through certain countries due to the lack of transit visas (especially when your transit is just an hour or two). Despite these challenging experiences, international students brave it and relocate to Canada for higher education.
Once you “settle” into your new country, no one talks about how lonely it gets, with some having no relatives in these new locations, the difficulty in coping and adapting to this new lifestyle and drastic weather changes, the lack of friends, the lack of local foods and the high cost once available, along with the difficulty in finding a job. The job search for international students is an eye-opener experience when one realizes that some organizations do not value any experience aside from the “Canadian Experience”.
One would think that with the various efforts by the Canadian government to attract immigrants yearly, efforts would be put into educating immigrants coming into the country. This is especially from third world countries on the harsh realities that they may face.
However, “fortune favours the bold”. One thing that keeps us forging ahead is the promise and hope that things will improve in the long run. Who knows?
Will you relocate abroad?
BY Victoria Woode