“What do you want to with your life?” It’s a question many of us have asked ourselves at some point in our lives.
If you’ve not yet asked yourself, it’s almost certain that your parents would have done the honour and if not them, perhaps a teacher (or two).
For young people with dual nationality, there is an added layer to that all important question. From an early age, many not only find themselves asking what it is that they want to do but also where they want to do it.
The mind begins to weigh up the pros and cons of staying in the UK before comparing them to the pros and cons of moving overseas.
Since the UK is one of the most powerful countries in the world and is seemingly bursting with opportunities for young, educated British people – it seems the answer would be easy.
But City News has found that more and more millennials are turning their back on the country that they know so well. They’re beginning a new lives in Africa, the continent that up until very recently many wouldn’t have even thought twice about using up their holiday leave to vacation to.
This wave of young Brits are born and educated here. Many of them have barely spent longer than a few days in the countries they’re deciding to move to. They know very little about life outside of the UK yet are all choosing to leave everything they know behind to start a new life over seas.
Are they crazy? Or are we the ones who are missing something? We spoke to the people making the move to find out.
Rica is a 24-year-old PhD student from London. She decided to move just three weeks before we interviewed her and was packing to leave the weekend after our meeting.
We asked why she was so adamant that life in Britain was no longer for her.
“In the UK being two things at the same time there isn’t space for it – for that duality. There just isn’t space to be one thing and the other.
“Whilst in Sierra Leone, there are a lot of millennials moving back to do things. I have a friend who is a lawyer and a rapper. That’s just not something that is possible in the UK”
But could there be more to the story? We spoke to Dr Rubyan Ling, an expert in the London based Sierra Leonean diaspora.
According to him, racial tension could also have something to do with the increase in people leaving the UK
“There is a sense in which race constrains the possibilities of black people in this country and if you don’t have to deal with that it’s a wonderful liberation. Maybe we should just go back to Africa and we won’t have to deal with all this crap anymore”
We wanted to speak to the people who had actually made the move and get a full picture of what exactly was going on.
So I travelled to Sierra Leone to hear the stories of the British millennials living their new life there now.
Yasmine and Yasmin have more than just their names in common. One an American citizen and the other British, they run a podcast together in Sierra Leone called “Y squared pod” where they talk about the positives of moving countries and the challenges faced. Yasmine who moved 6 years ago had very different reasons to Yasmin who moved 6 months ago.
“Here we have different experiences and perspectives as Sierra Leoneans but I don’t feel so much of an outsider as I do in the west,” says Yasmine.
“We’ve seen a lot of people relocate and I like the idea of using my skill set that I’ve learnt overseas and putting it into somewhere that actually needs it,” Yasmin adds.
Africa is becoming increasingly more fascinating to those in the west.
For some it holds the promise of a fresh start, for others the chance to find love and though it’s still a difficult place to live, the reality is it’s countries like Sierra Leone are offering opportunities to Britain’s young people which many seemingly, just cannot refuse.
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Standfirst
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HeadlineCity Investigates: the British millennials moving to Africa in droves
Short HeadlineThe British millennials moving to Africa
StandfirstMore and more young British people are packing their bags and moving to Africa.
“What do you want to with your life?” It’s a question many of us have asked ourselves at some point in our lives.
If you’ve not yet asked yourself, it’s almost certain that your parents would have done the honour and if not them, perhaps a teacher (or two).
For young people with dual nationality, there is an added layer to that all important question. From an early age, many not only find themselves asking what it is that they want to do but also where they want to do it.
The mind begins to weigh up the pros and cons of staying in the UK before comparing them to the pros and cons of moving overseas.
Since the UK is one of the most powerful countries in the world and is seemingly bursting with opportunities for young, educated British people – it seems the answer would be easy.
But City News has found that more and more millennials are turning their back on the country that they know so well. They’re beginning a new lives in Africa, the continent that up until very recently many wouldn’t have even thought twice about using up their holiday leave to vacation to.
This wave of young Brits are born and educated here. Many of them have barely spent longer than a few days in the countries they’re deciding to move to. They know very little about life outside of the UK yet are all choosing to leave everything they know behind to start a new life over seas.
Are they crazy? Or are we the ones who are missing something? We spoke to the people making the move to find out.
Rica is a 24-year-old PhD student from London. She decided to move just three weeks before we interviewed her and was packing to leave the weekend after our meeting.
We asked why she was so adamant that life in Britain was no longer for her.
“In the UK being two things at the same time there isn’t space for it – for that duality. There just isn’t space to be one thing and the other.
“Whilst in Sierra Leone, there are a lot of millennials moving back to do things. I have a friend who is a lawyer and a rapper. That’s just not something that is possible in the UK”
But could there be more to the story? We spoke to Dr Rubyan Ling, an expert in the London based Sierra Leonean diaspora.
According to him, racial tension could also have something to do with the increase in people leaving the UK
“There is a sense in which race constrains the possibilities of black people in this country and if you don’t have to deal with that it’s a wonderful liberation. Maybe we should just go back to Africa and we won’t have to deal with all this crap anymore”
We wanted to speak to the people who had actually made the move and get a full picture of what exactly was going on.
So I travelled to Sierra Leone to hear the stories of the British millennials living their new life there now.
Yasmine and Yasmin have more than just their names in common. One an American citizen and the other British, they run a podcast together in Sierra Leone called “Y squared pod” where they talk about the positives of moving countries and the challenges faced. Yasmine who moved 6 years ago had very different reasons to Yasmin who moved 6 months ago.
“Here we have different experiences and perspectives as Sierra Leoneans but I don’t feel so much of an outsider as I do in the west,” says Yasmine.
“We’ve seen a lot of people relocate and I like the idea of using my skill set that I’ve learnt overseas and putting it into somewhere that actually needs it,” Yasmin adds.
Africa is becoming increasingly more fascinating to those in the west.
For some it holds the promise of a fresh start, for others the chance to find love and though it’s still a difficult place to live, the reality is it’s countries like Sierra Leone are offering opportunities to Britain’s young people which many seemingly, just cannot refuse.
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