1.You are tired of racist microaggressions

 

According to Psychology today, a microaggression is “ a subtle, often unintentional, form of prejudice”.

For example: “Wow, you speak *insert host country language* so well”. Or “Can I speak to the pharmacist/ doctor/ manager/ owner? Oh! That’s YOU! *insert surprised tone*”.

So, if you’re tired of getting those little subtle insults, related to your race at work or in everyday life, repatriation is for you!

Go back to a place where you are respected, considered and fully loved.

Now if you are a woman, you still may get sexist microaggressions back home. But that’s a topic for another day.

 

2.You are tired of being considered a minority

 

You are tired of being the reference for everything African or black or minority. For example: you are from Cote d’Ivoire? I have been to South Africa, so beautiful/ What’s your thoughts on the crisis in *insert random African country*?

You are ready to be in a place that gets you, where you don’t have to explain your identity all the time.

 

3.You’re over the rat race

 

You’re tired of the hustle culture. You’re tired of the endless cycle of commute, work, commute, sleep, repeat. You want more flexibility in your life. You want to live in a culture that values family time.

You want to be able to take more than 2 short weeks of vacation a year. You want to be able to spend time with your newborn and actually have a decent maternity leave, and not have to go back to work after only a couple of weeks – ‘Merica, I’m looking at you.

Although labor laws are not consistent and reinforced throughout the whole continent, as  a repatriate, you may have more flexibility that you had in your host country, more support from family or paid help, more room to design your life as you want it.

 

4.You want to have more opportunities for entrepreneurship.

 

There are so many entrepreneurship opportunities in Africa. That’s the benefit of being a developing continent. Many things are still yet to be done or improved.

There are opportunities in: commerce, e-commerce, information technologies, hospitality, real estate, marketing, healthcare, education; to cite a few.

And the cost of entry can be very low depending on what you chose to do.

Granted, you still have to jump through all the hoops, create a company – which depending on which country you move to can be a hassle-, deal with taxes, red tape, corruption and all that.

But even with all the challenges, Africa is an entrepreneur’s dream place.

 

5.You are raising little Americans (Europeans, Asians…) but you also want them to have a strong African identity

 

You had your kids in your host country and you want them to learn more about you and/or your partner culture. You want them to know the foods, the tastes, the smells of your home country.

You want them to understand the language and talk in your native language without any accent.

You want them to feel completely at ease in both their birth country and your home country. You want to raise multicultural kids. Beyond the language, you want your kids to completely get your culture, the customs and the humor.

 

6.You want a better quality of life with more bang for your bucks

 

Like I said in a previous post, Africa can be expensive if you want to continue the same standard of life you had in the west – e.g.: live like an expat.

However, your money will definitely go further if you live like a local by doing things like:

• Going to the market for your produce. You find all kinds of multinational grocery chains on the continent. And those are very convenient to buy imported products – at a premium price of course. But you know your plantains, okras and all other food staples will be cheaper at the local open air market.
• Renting or buying a house in regular folks’ neighborhoods – not expats’ ones. Taking Abidjan as an example, your money will go further living in newer neighborhoods like Angre 7e tranche or Bingerville, than living in neighborhoods like Zone 4, which is basically expat-land or established neighborhoods like Cocody or Deux Plateaux Vallon.
• Eating local food in local restaurants: African metropoles have a lot of options in terms of restaurants. You will find European, Asian, and American restaurants – among others. But these options are more expensive than local places serving local foods – obvi!

 

7.You’re tired of paying an arm and a leg for a decent hairstyle

 

You’re ready to be pampered without having to pay an astronomical price. You miss having your braids done for $10 instead of $300. Or you’re tired of having to do your hair yourself.

You look forward to getting everything done – All the works: hair mask, shampoo, deep conditioning and let’s not forget manicure and pedicure – but cringe when thinking about the price you would have to pay for all that in your host country.

In Abidjan, you can get your hair done for as cheap as a few dollars to as high as few hundred – depending on the hairstyle. There are options for all wallets. Same for facials, nails and everything beauty related.

 

8.You’re ready to slay in your wax outfits

 

Well, technically you don’t have to be in Africa for that. That said, where are you going to find amazing tailors who can create the most original, custom-made outfits for a tenth of the price you pay for clothes in the West? Thank you!

And where are you going to find designers that are leading the way, reinventing traditional African clothing but are still affordable enough that you don’t necessarily have to drop two months of rent to afford a beautiful fashion piece? You’re welcome!

 

9.You want to reconnect with your roots

 

You’ve been away for too long, and 2 weeks of vacation don’t cut it anymore.

You want to be closer to family again, be part of big family events and not just follow them through Instagram or Facebook pictures. You want your new nephews and nieces to actually get to know you and their cousins – if you have kids – and develop deep lifelong family bonds.

You want to spend time with your parents and/or other older family members and listen to their stories and learn yours.

 

10.            You want to travel inside the continent

 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Europe, Asia, America and all other popular destinations are all cool and dandy. But now, you are ready to learn more about the continent and go deeper. What better place to be than Africa itself?

Even if you don’t get to fly across the continent because air travel can be expensive, you can still drive or take buses to visit around.

In Côte d’Ivoire, several bus companies offer regular trips from Abidjan to many other Ivorian cities or even other west African countries.

You can go on trips that you wouldn’t be able to plan in a two weeks’ vacation from the West. You can discover areas in your own home country that you didn’t know of. You can visit neighboring countries.

 

 

Can you think of other reasons to repatriate? Do you even need a reason beyond: just because!?

See you next week friends!