Stories of new migrants

There are a lot of misconceptions about migration and new countries. We often imagine the new place to be better in every way, from career to quality of life, to financial situation of the family, to almost anything and everything else.

Reality is often crueler.

We have not been here long - less than two months, and we have heard many stories of new migrants. The commonest problem is job.

We know of dentists who works as student dental nurses, just to scramble enough money to sit for the incredibly expensive dentist qualifying exam. The annual income of a student nurse is about 24k, the cost of the exam and its accompanying course is more than 40k. Often husband and wife, both dentists, have to work for years to save up enough money for one of them to sit for the exam. The passing rate? Less than 20%. Be prepared to work for a few more years and come back the next round.

There is also a thoracic surgeon who is working in the country 4 hours from here just to qualify as a general practitioner. Even after that, he cannot claim medicare rebate for 10 years - meaning he can't have his own practice but will have to work for an institution.

There are also doctors who work as medical laboratory technicians.

There are high level managers and successful businessmen who have their family here but they would keep their business at home and fly in and out monthly, often for years.

There are many more engineers and managers who have to study to become teachers, insurance agents or simply remain unemployed for protracted period of time.

I have yet met someone who is doing better here than in his/her home country.

Why, then, do people still come. Perhaps they didn't know better before coming. Perhaps what drove them away from their home country is worse than what they face here. But many of them come not so much for themselves, but for their children. They come for a dream.

For their hardship and their sacrifices, I pray that their dream will come true.