Seeking Greener Pastures Abroad

The questions examined by the authors are what happens to human mobility in a globalising world? How does globalisation impact on people in different regions of the world? How do people react to the differential developmental impact of globalisation? Is there a case of circular and cumulative causation which results in developed regions becoming more developed, and less developed regions losing out, even given the little development they have achieved? The first and second parts examine the long history of international migration in Nigeria, from the trans-Saharan trade and trans-Atlantic slave trade, to the later migrations to other parts of West Africa, the rest of Africa, and Europe and North America. The third part examines how migration is being managed in Nigeria and in the host countries; the fourth part considers the developmental implications.

Gladys left a comfortable life in Nigeria with family to study in England. Her husband, John, embedded in the traditional African culture, failed to adapt to life in England and left his wife to cope with the difficult lifestyle. Her marriage suffered and she experienced nostalgia and heartache. She left a collective society and found herself in an individualistic society where no one cared if you existed or not. This, to her, was a huge cultural shock. She was faced with racial discrimination due to the colour of her skin and accent. She witnessed first-hand, lack of respect for cultural diversity by the Whites. The plight of the ethnic minority, especially the Blacks, saddened her. They were always at the bottom of the ladder of preference. In a society where stereotyping and assumption determines acceptance or rejection, she questioned the greed of the African leaders, especially those in her country, Nigeria. These leaders make life at home difficult and unbearable for the people and they pretend all is well. Their citizens, in search of greener pastures, blindly subject themselves to voluntary exile and a new form of modern day slavery to the West, in the form of brain drain. Highly skilled and qualified professionals with University degrees from developing countries end up as menial workers in unskilled jobs like cleaners, care support workers, security guards, waitresses and check-out staff. They hardly get decent jobs because of their skin colour and accent. It is often difficult to retrace their steps and return home as all has been sacrificed for the sojourn. The role of the West in the indirect modern day slavery is also examined.

In this narrative non-fiction, the truth about the story of K. Tutu, the main character of the book, who left his African country so rich in both natural and human resources, to seek greener pastures in the developed country, has been stirred, mingled with humor, myth and a great imagination. The process of moving from a developing country to the First World can be expensive, laborious and long. Can the same energy , time, and money expended in seeking greener pastures abroad be used to plan for a decent life in Tutu's country?

In a world of border walls and obstacles to migration, a lottery where winners can gain permanent residency in the United States sounds too good to be true. Just as unlikely is the idea that the United States would make such visas available to foster diversity within a country where systemic racism endures. But in 1990, the United States Diversity Visa Lottery was created to do just that. Dreamland tells the surprising story of this unlikely government program and its role in American life as well as the global story of migration. Historian Carly Goodman takes readers from Washington, D.C., where proponents deployed a colorblind narrative about our "nation of immigrants" to secure visas for white immigrants, to the African countries where it flourished and fostered dreams of going to America. From the post office to the internet, aspiring emigrants, visa agents, and others embraced the lottery and tried their luck in a time of austerity and limits. Rising African immigration to the United States has enriched American life, created opportunities for mobility, and nourished imagined possibilities. But the promise of the American dream has been threatened by the United States' embrace of anti-immigrant policies and persistent anti-Black racism.

The EU is struggling to cope with the so-called “migration crisis” that has emerged over the past few years. Designing the right policies to address immigration requires a deep understanding of its root causes. Why do Africans decide to leave their home countries? While the dream of a better life in Europe is likely part of the explanation, one also needs to examine the prevailing living conditions in the large and heterogeneous sub-Saharan region. This Report investigates the actual role of political, economic, demographic and environmental drivers in current migration flows. It offers a comprehensive picture of major migration motives as well as of key trends. Attention is also devoted to the role of climate change in promoting migration and to intra-continental mobility (two-thirds of sub-Saharan migrant flows start and end within the region). Two country studies on Eritrea and Nigeria are also included to get a closer sense of local developments behind large-scale migration to Europe.

Life has thrown some hard knocks at Rev. Dr. Abimbola Adewumi Solebo (Nee) Jekayinfa, she was smitten with infantile paralysis 'polio, before she was two years of age, which resulted into a lifelong partial loss of the function of her right leg. According to her mother, it was a terrible time in the milestone of her life. And this was just the first in the series of positive and negative events of her personal journey in the first fifty years of her amazing life. Rejection, discrimination, adversity which came as a result of polio was one thing that she had to face. This harrowing experience with polio redefined her life and made her the 'wonderfully complex' person that she is today. At a very young age, she found solace in the word of God, in Psalm 27: 1-14 she learnt that you are who God says you are, and disability is just a thing of the mind, she also learnt that God is able to pick her up even when others abandon her and that God is able to keep her safe, and set her high upon the rocks of life.

A nameless, fatiguing unease is eroding Jennifer Hartley's seemingly idyllic life on a KwaZulu-Natal farm, one that her deep love for the land and her family cannot stem. She falters - socially, romantically, functionally - into an undefined isolation that those around her cannot understand. Until, one lazy Saturday afternoon, a swarm of bees attacks her and her children, precipitating her first panic attack. Other panic attacks are quick to follow, rupturing her exhaustion first with paranoia, then with terrifying hallucinations. Assaulted by symptoms she cannot control and admitted to a state psychiatric facility, Jennifer slides into a world turned inside out. One Green Bottle is an uncompromising account of one woman's experience of mental illness, its stigma, and the healthcare professionals whom the mentally ill entrust with the tightrope walk of their diagnosis and recovery. Above all, it is a story of resilience, of the quiet hope and renewal that the unlikeliest bonds can nurture.