Category Archives: Reverse Migration

Moving is one of the most stressful life events you can ever go through and when it involves moving to a completely different country the effects are felt even more.

I have met first generation Diaspora members moving “back home” to the land of their parents and having a happy and fulfilling life in the Caribbean. For many, simply getting away from their concrete birth land is a big enough relief.

In England we are raised to enjoy life on a “treadmill” that the government want us to follow.  This treadmill involves us going through education, work, marriage, loans, mortgages, insurance payments, kids, credit cards, more loans, before retiring, illness and death. This is the life for a large majority of people and some of us will never get off the treadmill.

So why do we stay?  While fear might be one major factor for keeping us stuck in our birth place there are also a number of things we will miss about the country we have grown up in and call home. Things like:

Family. The biggest reason to stay is family – but should life stop to accommodate others even if they are family?  Is it right to stay in England waiting for circumstances to become better before leaving?  Family will be the thing that makes our decision difficult for us and we will need to way up our desire for a change in circumstances against our commitment to family.  We will wonder if we should wait for the kids to grow up, or until they are settled and married but at some point we will need to question how much of our life must stop because of family.
Income. I have spoken to many Diaspora members who would LOVE to be living in Dominica but can’t because their level of income could never be matched. Our income has provided us with a certain standard of living and of course finding work that matches that level might be quite difficult unless one is already connected in Dominica. For those of us who are self employed or work freelance we will be used to having to find our income and starting a business will not seem too daunting but is still a major gamble.

Health service. Free health care has to be one of the biggest gifts the UK healthcare system has given us and being taken care of in this way makes it harder to accept that suddenly something that is available for free (all be it not as easily as it used to be) now has to be paid for via health insurance.  Some returnees still keep their citizenship open in England because they know if they become ill they can return and take advantage of the health service system.

Property. Without a doubt there is a great opportunity to own property that will grow in value as the years go by – many returnees to Dominica were able to build large houses because they owned property in England that they bought in the 60s and which is now worth 50 times the amount they paid for it!  For those of us far from retirement age who don’t want to wait another 20 years for our property to mature our only option is to rent it out while we are gone or sell it.

Those were the biggest objections I could think of for any first generation Diaspora member who really wants to move to Dominica while they are in their 40s and 50s and as big as these obstacles seem to be even they can be overcome with a little forward planning, imagination and determination. Property can be bought and rented, health insurance can be paid for, self employment/starting a business could be a real consideration and family can be spoken to on Skype and Facebook.  Thanks to the world wide web we are never really too far away from anyone. The world has become a smaller place.

In the end the only thing that will really stop us from making this move will be our own doubts, fears and excuses.  I know to make this move myself plans will have to be made and regular visits taken to ensure that this is really what I want to do but outside of that I can’t think of anything else that might stop that move happening. Can you?