How We Relocated To Australia In 2017, An Ebola Outbreak And Ban On Africans In Qatar.
This sounds like drama and unrelated!
Well it’s not a story line on Netflix, no – rather an eye opening, life changing experience we had that you just have to read about.
I moved to Australia from Kenya with my family in 2017 – we absolutely love it… loved it (past tense because we’re in Riyadh now – another story)!
A few friends in Nairobi were in touch once we moved to understand why. Yes, they acknowledged that it’s a great country, what they knew of it, but let’s face it – Australia is just jolly far from everything!
The other lot of friends just thought we were nuts and left it at that! All good.
I would invariably explain that the reason we chose to move to Australia was because of:
- 1) A blanket ban
- 2) Ebola
“I’m sorry, did you say Ebola?”
Yup. Ebola! And a blanket ban on Africans.
This is how the ‘drama’ unfolded.
SHOULD WE MOVE TO DUBAI?
As a family, my husband and 3 kids, we love to travel… who doesn’t right? We love going to new destinations and share new experiences. We traveled a fair bit with them from when our oldest was 9 months old and did so with the kids until COVID rained on everyone’s travel parade. Bygones.
The thing with travel though is that it made me restless with our status quo in Kenya and stirred discontent within me. We would travel, for example to Dubai, see how amazing it was/is, see the possibilities, then I’d get the blues when we travelled back to Nairobi. Why? I would compare the 2 and be dissatisfied with certain, not all, aspects of our living in Nairobi.
In 2015 after several visits to Dubai, a favourite holiday destination because it was a quick 5-hour flight from Nairobi and really awesome, we decided to move there. Radical, at the time!
As mentioned in a previous post, the main reason for us was safety and security – crime was much much lower in Dubai than Nairobi, a solid reason for wanting to relocate with our kids if ever there was one.
Alex started applying for jobs in Dubai and in the process of networking, found out that working in Qatar was even more lucrative (pre–World Cup). Awesome! It’s still the Middle East and quick research revealed that it was just as safe – so we went for it!
Within a fairly short period of time, he was offered a job in a multinational consultancy firm in Doha. Happy days!
Just as they were about to finalize on signing the offer letter, the firm’s HR department went quiet. After follow-up with them, they got back to Alex with the most shocking statement!
They could not continue with the job offer in Doha because, at the time, the government of the day decided they were not allowing any company in Qatar to employ Africans… because of Ebola!
Excuse me, ummm what?!
Ebola???????
WEST AFRICA IS NOT EAST AFRICA!
For those of you reading this who may not understand just how unbelievable their ‘reasoning’ was, I’ll tell ya!
The Ebola outbreak between 2014 – 2016 happened in a few West African countries.
Kenya is all the way over there in East Africa and not a single Ebola virus case, not 1, was ever reported during that outbreak (or ever!)
According to the stats from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), other countries affected during that epidemic, apart from the 3 main West African countries (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone), were:
- Italy (1)
- Mali (7)
- Nigeria (19)
- Senegal (1)
- Spain (1)
- United Kingdom (1)
- United States (4)
As you can see, there were a handful of cases (indicated in brackets above) and fewer deaths.
6 African countries had a case/cases out of 54 countries.
6!
Now of course a country has the prerogative of granting or denying entry to whomever they choose for whatever reason, but this blanket ban on other African passport holders was surprising, shocking and in my humble view, unwarranted!
As a result of that blanket ban that denied African passport holders the opportunity to work in Qatar, at the time, we decided to change our kids’ passports!
It was perfectly feasible that this could happen to them in the future, as professionals. The horror! I would rather they were NEVER denied an opportunity based on some arbitrary and capricious decision such as the passport they hold.
To our knowledge, the UK and US passport holders did not have a ban imposed on them (or ever!) at the time African passport holders were, despite there being actual recorded cases of Ebola in their respective countries, but I’m not here to argue the merits or demerits of that.
I’d rather try and change what I can within my sphere of control! Like my family’s citizenship.
TOO COLD AND WE DON’T SPEAK FINNISH!
We jumped on good old Google and started searching which countries were:
- safe (minimal crime)
- great environment to raise kids
- excellent educational system
- good career opportunities
- favorable weather (like Kenya’s)
- clear immigration and citizenship process for skilled migrants.
Our shortlist had Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Finland.
| Potential Country To Migrate To | Pros And Cons |
| Canada | Nope! Too cold for us |
| New Zealand | Great option – shortlisted |
| Finland | Excellent education but potential language barrier? We don’t speak Finnish so the learning curve would be steeper |
| Australia | Check, check and check – ticked all the boxes |
Australia it was!
We started the Permanent Residency for Skilled Migrants application process in 2015.
One thing I must point out is this process is extremely rigorous! If you’ve got a mind to move to Australia as a resident, well, you better have all your ducks in a row, every ‘t’ crossed and the dot balancing perfectly over the ‘i’!
There is no room whatsoever for an error in the application process for permanent residency. It’s easy to understand why.
The difference between an Australian Permanent Resident (PR) and Australian Citizen is that the former can’t vote nor get government jobs such as in defense. Apart from that, a PR would receive the same benefits and opportunities as any Aussie citizen.
Being granted permanent residency is a big deal, and it opened up a world of opportunities and possibilities for our family, more so for our kids and their futures.
I will write about what our application process entailed, from when we started till we were granted residency status in October of 2016. Get the popcorn ready!
Anyway, fast forward to 2022, all 5 of us obtained our Australian Citizenship and Australian Passports.
Mission accompli!
Side note – I have yet to read about ‘Western’ passports (so-called ‘developed countries’ and/or ‘first world’ countries) being banned from entering other countries (COVID times withstanding).
I figured… if you can’t beat them, join them, right? 😊
Luckily both Kenya and Australia allow dual citizenship for their people, so win-win for us!
CONCLUSION
Listen, God may cause a door to close but it is always for a good reason – he is God after all, and He only wants the best for you and me! He will open another one.
But sometimes we may stare at the closed door too long, either complaining or being mad, yet He’s already made a much better way! That was certainly our experience.
The Qatar door of opportunity was firmly shut in our faces but the Down Under door was opened and we ended up with a much better outcome than even we thought possible!
Australia – Adelaide, South Australia, is our 2nd home. We don’t live there at present but our kids will go back for their higher education and Alex and I will retire there, eventually.
Let’s hope those plans align with what God has in store for us! He’s opened so many doors for us, we’re just trusting Him.
A FINAL WORD
We didn’t move to Australia just for citizenship. We also knew and know that we have a lot to offer – as individuals, as professionals, as a family, as neighbours, as friends, as colleagues… we always make every effort to contribute to the various communities we are part of. We try and bring something to the table.
And we did, in the Australia that welcomed us and where we made a home. 😊
It all worked out in the end; thankfully it usually does.
