It looks like everyone is running away from Africa:
Kenya
every Kenyan is trying to get out due to high costs of living, high unemployment rates, a dysfunctional gov’t and all in all unreliable services
South Africa
all the whites are moving to Australia/New Zealand / Netherlands. It’s all they talk about in the r/SouthAfrica and r/CapeTown subreddits
all the blacks are also trying to leave South Africa because of all the load shedding
Nigeria
no comment here. These nincompoops can’t govern anything
In fact, the Kenyan sub on Reddit is full of people complaining about Kenya. Kenyans of Twitter are always rambling about how bad things are. Every young person is trying to leave.
Because of this whole “leaving” the continent thing, it is important for @administrator to add an emigration topic on Kenya talk where potential emigrants can ask all questions regarding visas, travel etc etc.
Niko kwa group ya wanderlust in FB. Kila mtu ana apply visa ya kwenda Canada. Kuna msee aliweka picha wakenya wakiwa wamelala kwa streets na ma luggage zao coz hawana hosts. Africa is shithole. Instead of leaders improving the situation wanafinya zaidi. Maumbwa sana
Only you can answer that question. However, this is always my advice for anyone trying to come to USA via the student route:
- Make sure that you’re coming to study a STEM field! I’ll say that again, make sure you’re studying something in STEM!
Why?
A stem degree allows you to get access to something called OPT. Other fields do as well but the STEM one is SPECIAL. How? It has an extension of 2 years after the initial one year. This means you’re able to obtain a work authorization document that’s valid for 3 years and you can therefore continue working and living in the USA longer. Ukikuja kufanya anything non-STEM you’ll only have 1 year of work authorization and that’s it, off you go.
This has several advantages!
If you join a solid company, the company has 3 TRIES to enter you into the H1B lottery. 3 tries! If you only have 1 year of OPT, and you’ll only have one chance at trying for the H1B (the H1B visa is a dual immigrant intent visa which gives you a maximum of 6 years to continue living and working in the USA. However, it’s a lottery and you need as many tries as you can get to increase your odds of getting it.
Some companies initiate your greencard process (the good ones) during your OPT. If you only have 1 year of OPT, that’s not enough time for you to obtain a green card and your time in the USA will come to an end before the process even gets quarter-way. With the 3 year OPT for STEM students, you’ll have all the time in the world to get an employer sponsored EB3 green card in time before your OPT expires.
Long story short, COME STUDY SOMETHING IN STEM. Don’t argue with me.
** Make sure you have enough funds **
Some people will tell you that you don’t have to because you can always work on-campus jobs for some extra cash (it’s allowed via a student visa to work part time). However, I don’t encourage this! You need all the time in the world to focus on your studies, network with students and professors, attend career fairs to network with industry etc. This ensures that you’re able to LOCK UP a job before graduation. Trust me, jobs are hard to come by especially ones that sponsor your immigration needs. So, study, network and also have fun!!! That will keep you level-headed and keep your mental health in good shape. If you’re always working, you won’t enjoy America that’s for sure.
All in all, I always encourage people to come to the USA as students first which is why I’m biased towards young men/women in their early to mid twenties. That way, you learn the system, make friends and interact with locals in such a way that you’re now AMERICAN by the time you graduate. It’s easier to assimilate when you’re young. People who come in their 30s have a really hard time because they’re so used to the African way of doing things and that makes it very difficult for them to even enjoy America. Exceptions do exist of course. These are the people making videos telling you how difficult things are abroad. It’s not true. It’s just because they don’t have a support system that is readily available for those that come here as young students. If you go to college for 4 years, you’ll come out of the other side with friends, maybe a girlfriend/boyfriend, a vast network, and most importantly AN AMERICAN MINDSET. This sets you up for success!
If you’re older, worry not. If you’re willing to quickly adapt, and immerse yourself into the culture, go outside and meet people, you’ll be fine. The problem is that most Africans are too egoitistic and hot headed to change their ways and adapt.
One last thing, AVOID AGENCIES. Use your brain and make use of Google and embassy immigration sites. Sio kulipa mtu 50k because you’re too lazy to read documents like a fucking idiot.
Shida ni most Kenyans in the US are close-minded shagzmodoz who are not willing to change and assimilate fully into the new culture. They are constantly looking back, yearning for the ghetto that is Kenya. They are like those rappers and athletes who make it out of the hood, but they are still constantly going back to their hood ways like Ja Morant.
Mi nikiwai jikuta Yues, I will assimilate so hard. I will dump my whole Kenyan identity and adopt an American one. I will stop following Kenyan news, stop texting Kenyan friends, stop talking with a Kenyan accent, stop following Kenyan sports etc etc. Ata kurudi Kenya I will never. Lazima watu wangu wanitembelee huko Yues. Nazaliwa upya from the ground up
There’s nothing wrong with the leaders. Low IQ ya general public bonobos is the problem. Imagine kupigia kura people who have been involved in massive corruption and having faith that they will help the economy to grow.
I’m of the opinion that not all Africans should be allowed to vote. Especially mama mboga who have no information on the current happenings in the country. Nimekuja kujua most regular folk don’t know that their leaders are hardcore lootres. Sasa wakikipipinywa ndio wanaanza kulia…
Someone like you would fit in perfectly huku USA!
A lot of Africans allow their identity to hold them back which puts them at a huge disadvantage.
In undergrad, I saw Africans trying to sit in a corner together during lunch, joining African oriented clubs like that African Students Organization or the Nigerian Student Organization etc. It’s not bad every once in a while but these students would desperately clutch into their Africanness like their lives depended on it.
As a result, most of them only made African friends and their experience was such a waste. They would rather have stayed in Africa. On the other hand, some of us joined clubs with other domestic students, interacted with people from diverse backgrounds and I can tell you for sure that we turned out better for it than our “Africa is my life” counterparts. Some of them still have their thick accents but some of us have American accents and you’d only know we’re from the fatherland if we told you so ourselves.
The difficulty with assimilating is that you now have to code switch while interacting with other Africans. If you don’t, they start making fun of you for becoming too westernized. I’d rather avoid this drama so I stay as far away from Africans as much as possible. There’s that crab in the bucket mentality among Africans such that when they see you detaching from the African way of life, they start pulling you back. If you want to fit in, you need to get out of the African bubble. In Kenya for example, I only stick to other Africans because I’d rather speak Kiswahili/Kikuyu while in my homeland. Lakini USA, I speak English and don’t entertain stupid African bullshit.
A lot of people fail to understand that you can’t be in two places at once. You’re either present or completely absent. However, it’s always your fellow Africans that try to tell you how to behave because somehow, they don’t want to see you embrace a way of life that’s incongruent to the one they’ve chosen.
It was always weird in the dining halls when I’d go sit with people on my floor who were mostly Americans and other international students and not the designated “African” table where docile Africans would sit, afraid to interact with everybody else. It was so fun to watch. A lot of them would ask me why the other Africans segregated themselves because they just didn’t understand how you can go to a new country and try to desperately cling to your roots like a chimpanzee.
Good times! You have to go out their and be seen. Be confident. Don’t hide in your cocoons. You’re not a caterpillar. Break free and fly like a butterfly.
Wewe ndio unaingia US weeks mbili unarudi kenya na accent. Bure kabisa. If i go to US or Europe i make sure i maintain my Africanism. Hao wazungu wanakuchekesha but wanakuona kama baboon
Also, if you think people are just randomly laughing at you, just stay back in Africa. Somehow, you’ve internalized your inferiority as an African in a way that you can’t believe other humans possibly see you as a person worth interacting with.
You’re one of those Africans who bow down to white people in Kenya because you somehow think you can’t be equal to them.
Most people are just going about their day. Nobody is thinking “aaah, African ….disgusting”. Wewe ni Mafi ya kuku. Jump off a bridge tafadhali. Your insecurities will be the death of all Africans. Wewe ni wale watu if you’re in a school full of white people unaenda kujificha kwa corner instead of introducing yourself to your classmates and making friends like a normal confident person.
Waafrika ni Mafi ya kuku kweli. Bure kabisa. Don’t infect your kids with such a backward mindset. I curse the day you were born. No wonder our leaders are fucking the continent up by agreeing to disadvantageous treaties because they’re docile like yourself and don’t have the confidence to speak up.
Starting this year I’m applying for the DV lottery every year till I get it. I might be in my 30s but I think I have the right mindset to conquer that country if I ever make it. And yes, like you said I will definitely go for STEM and make sure I have the funds to allow me to focus on studies 100%. From my research, in the US a green card and a STEM degree are the keys to financial freedom. That’s another thing that pains me. Seeing all these Kenyans getting that precious green card and then settling for blue collar jobs. Talk about a wasted opportunity!
