Interesting piece, thought I could share!

Interesting piece, thought I could share!

 Before coming to the United States of America no one

told you “life is hard in Yankee.” I bet no one told

you. And even if someone had told you, you wouldn’t

have believed his or her counsel. Would you? Indeed

for the vast majority of Africans, no one told us the

truth about how difficult, complex and discouraging

life in this country can be. No one told of how

America messes with people’s mind. No one told us how

this country tests ones faith. Of how this country can

transform one’s essence, for good or for bad.

We are willing to sell our soul to come to this

country. We are willing to fake this or that document

to come to this country. We are willing to commit

slight or significant transgressions to come to this

country. We are willing to leave our familiar lives

for the unknown in America. And those of us who were

“somebody” in our departing countries are willing to

come to America and start afresh as “nobody.” The pull

of this country is so great that the vast majority

can’t think of a life without living in the United

States.

A medical doctor in Lesotho would rather come to

America to be a Certified Nursing Assistant; a

Togolese trained lawyer would rather come to America

to be a paralegal; a Ghanaian trained bank manager

would rather come to America to be a grocery store

clerk or security officer; a Namibian trained

geologist would rather come to America to be a gas

station attendant. A Nigerian lady would rather come

to America to marry her dish-washing lover rather than

marry a promising civil servant based in Akure or

Enugu. Such is the lure and allure of America that

twenty percent or more of the continent’s population

would migrate to the US if allowed.

People come to America for different reasons. We

succumb to different pull-push factors that include

religious or ethnic persecution or displacement as a

result of war or natural disasters. Some came because

of the possibility of better education, employment and

economic stability. Some came because their home

countries offered no hope for a better tomorrow. And

indeed, the reasons for migration are endless. But

unfortunately, most of us leave home without knowing

what we are getting ourselves into; all we know is

that there must be a “better life yonder.”

Whether one fails or succeeds depends on several

factors, and some of these factors are, for the most

part, completely beyond ones control. There are those

who have tried and tried and tried without success or

success came at a painfully slow pace -- while some

seems to have the golden-touch, especially in the

acquisition of the Alien Registration Card (popularly

known as the Greencard). Life in America without a

Greencard? Ha!

I have witnessed grown men weep over Greencard. I have

witnessed grown men and women lose their minds after

being turned down by the immigration services. I have

witnessed men and women, who are otherwise intelligent

and rational, do the unthinkable over Greencard. The

Greencard process is akin to going to war: you must

“know thy enemy,” you must have a strategy, you must

be patient and at the same time be aggressive; and by

all means there must be no paper-error during the

entire process. All supporting documentations must be

“clean and clear,” and submitted in a timely manner.

There are those who stroll into the United States of

America with Greencard in their possession, i.e. the

so-called greencard lottery winners. How fortunate

they must be! While a great many Africans have to

suffer through years of immigration palaver, these

lottery winners just stroll into the country as though

they own America. How lucky they must be not to have

to go through some of the indignities and iniquities

that are associated with the process.

You weep when the immigration officers rejects your

application. You weep when the officer tells you “you

will be investigated.” You shiver when the officer

tells you your papers are not in order. You weep when

your significant other refuses to show up for the

joint interview. You weep when within a few days or

weeks before the interview your significant other

tells you he/she has had a change of mind or that

he/she suspects you are “no good and of no use.” You

weep when things that ought not to go wrong go

abysmally wrong. And you die a dozen times when you

get a deportation order.

In such moments you pray for seven days and seven

nights. You remember all the sins you’ve committed and

then go to confession. You fast for forty days and

forty nights. You give offerings and pray for

INS-mercy. Most people will suddenly become born-again

Christians and at the same time send messages to their

folks back home to consult with the Imam, the Babalawo

or the head of their alternate religious faith for

fortune to smile on them. They will give to God and to

the gods and to Caesar. Whatever it takes folks;

whatever it takes! War is war and you go to war with

whatever you have!

I have no qualms offending God. I really don’t; but to

offend the tax office, the police, or the immigration

folks? Please don’t! That would be suicidal. No matter

what you do, please be honest with those folks.

Otherwise, they will turn your life upside down. They

will make your life a living hell. Yet, they also

could be your best friends. And in fact, make them

your best friend. To start with, no tax frauds; no

trying to outmaneuver the immigration folks; and no

drugs, no credit card or insurance fraud or other

prosecutable offenses. And by God, do whatever it

takes to stay away from child support mess; otherwise,

your life will be on hold for 17-years, as month after

month, year after year 20-35% of your net income will

be withheld.

Some of the newly arrived Africans are taken aback by

the concept of tax and other deductions. A few will

resist the idea of going to work on Saturday and

Sunday and on public holidays; but with time, most

will beg to work on such days. Ha, the power of the

dollars! And then there are those things most Africans

back in Africa take for granted, for instance, how to

talk to and interact with women in the workplace

without running afoul of sexual harassment laws; and

when to stop when a woman says “stop!” even in the

heat of passion, without running afoul of rape laws.

Before the end of your sojourn in this country -- be

it five, ten, fifteen or twenty years be sure to

acquire an American education. If you are into the

social science, be sure to earn at least a master’s

degree or its equivalent. Otherwise, get a marketable

technical skill or natural/hard science education.

And please stay away from driving cabs unless of

course you absolutely have to (in times of financial

crisis). Why? Because driving cab is one of the most

addictive jobs there is in this country. Yes, some

cabdrivers own the cab they drive or own a fleet of

cars and are therefore businessmen. They have the

money and live a comfortable life. Generally speaking

however, a good number of those who drive cabs will

keep at it for upward of ten or more years without

evidence of financial mobility. Most cab drivers will

tell you they have a master’s degree in this or that

field and yet seem stuck driving cabs. It is a

dead-ender.

Don’t get stuck with life. Don’t get stuck in or with

anything. Live a wonderful life. And please remember

not to live and die in America. “But of course, not

everybody cares about how and where they die; not

everybody cares whether they die amongst strangers or

among loving faces; not everybody care whether they

die in a stormy weather or atop a mountain. Death is

death. But to the extent that you care, it is better

to die among friends and family. If you lived all your

productive life in this country, you are likely to end

up in a nursing home amongst strangers; you are likely

to die alone and lonely and be buried in a cemetery

with unknown ghostly faces. Even the earth and the

worms and the moisture will wonder about you. You will

not be acknowledged. You will not be celebrated. Your

life would have been in vain, meaningless. So, please

die an African death…with dignity.” 

May God help us all in our quest to achieve the American Dream.

Fronm Adeyemi Coker