Thinking of Living in England? Read on . . By our special correspondent from the UK
Being English, having had the benefit of a good education and being fortunate enough to be able to say that I have travelled to many places in the world it was very hard for me to understand what it must feel like for someone to come to this country of mine from The Gambia to start a new life which would be so very different from the one they had known.
I now have first hand experience of the problems and obstacles that this can bring especially for anyone who has never left their country before; to which English is a second language; who has very little knowledge of reading or writing but is full of optimism and ideas of leading a better life. So many Gambians that I have met are like this. Maybe some are better educated than others and are more likely to be aware of the fact that it is not as easy as they perceive it to be. Here are some of the problems that anyone contemplating coming here to live might find useful to know.
Having finally been granted a visa, for whatever reason, the first big experience for most will be their flight to the UK. Having flown many times I have to cast my mind back to my first flight over 40 years ago. I can remember finding it absolutely awe inspiring, if a little daunting. I really couldn’t get my head around the fact that I was thousands of feet above the earth and flying at speeds of hundreds of miles an hour yet I felt as if I wasn’t moving at all! I also was going to live in another country, another climate with a totally different culture but I would be living amongst people of my own nationality. How must it feel then for a Gambian arriving in England for the first time with maybe no-one around who speaks their language. Where everything surrounding them is alien and unfamiliar. The mere pace of life will confound them for a start. The speed with which we live our lives here compared to The Gambia is probably the first thing they will notice. The size of the buildings, the fast roads, the shops, the lights, the large supermarkets where people pile their shopping trolleys high with a month’s supply of goods at a time, the COST of everything. The fact that no-one speaks to strangers. The transport system. The complex rules and regulations of everything from getting a National Insurance card to applying for a job, or if you are self-employed, registering to become so.
If they are lucky they will have someone with them who will help steer them through all these things. They will need all the help they can get. Like everywhere else in the world at the moment the recession has been biting deep and finding a job is not easy. Anyone coming here expecting to find the dream job with dream pay to go with it will be sorely disappointed. Also, if they are thinking the state will provide them with money if they don’t get a job that also isn’t as easy as they think. If they are lucky enough to find employment they will also find that they will probably be on the minimum wage and by the time income tax and national insurance contributions are taken out they will have very little left. Rents are high, the cost of living rises from month to month and so their disposable income is almost non-existent. As most Gambians, like many other nationalities that come here, are expected to help their families out by sending them money, they will find it hard to manage without a great deal of support from those that have sponsored them. These sponsors are themselves probably struggling to cope, so will not take too kindly on having to support someone who is sending money back to their homeland. As for their religion, well unless they live in a big city or somewhere near one, they won’t always find it easy to attend a mosque regularly. They have to hope that whoever they are staying with will respect their beliefs and afford them the time and space to pray when they need to. Not everyone coming here will be in a community which is used to seeing people from different cultures. England isn’t just London, Manchester, Leeds or Bristol!! So even finding food which suits them might be difficult.
The other point worth mentioning is bad advice given by people who have perhaps come here to live for the wrong reasons. They may be the type who flouts the rules and tries to 'work the system', especially the rules on benefit claims. We have plenty of our own countrymen who do this and sadly get away with it. It is a great cause for concern for our Government and also the vast majority of law abiding citizens who are trying to keep OFF benefits and find work. It creates tensions and bad feelings. It has to be said that most legal immigrants are hard working and willing to do the most menial of jobs rather than be supported by the state and therefor the British taxpayer. Listen to advice by all means but don't believe everything that you are told. There are many myths around that are totally misleading and could get you into a lot of trouble. Our immigration laws certainly appear to be very lax and there are far too many illegal immigrants in this country. They should never have been allowed to slip through the net but there has been so much anger over this that the Government is tightening up the laws and making it harder for people to gain visas in the first place. There are also plans to implement stricter rules about gaining British Citizenship which enables immigrants to hold a British Passport and all the benefits that this brings. It will take much longer and cost a lot more, so only the people that are genuinely interested in becoming a citizen will pursue this. Hopefully this may deter those who enter into marriages of convenience in order to gain the right to citizenship.
Does this sound depressing and negative? Well it is not meant to be. Undoubtedly anyone coming here should be able to adjust providing they are open minded and willing to compromise. Their lives in some ways will definitely be better and if they are prepared to do any kind of job, they will probably be able to make enough money to improve the lives of their families back home. However, this comes at a price. The price probably being loneliness and homesickness. They will have to change their laid back way of thinking which may be OK in The Gambia but sadly does not fit in to the English way of life. Oh if only it did. Why do you think so many people enjoy visiting your country for their holidays or in some cases making it their home? Most English people would love to live life more simply but apart from a few isolated areas, it just isn’t possible anymore. Our country is so over populated and life here so hectic that the ‘living for today’ mentality just doesn’t work. There are lots of things that are very good about living in England and so much to see and do. The opportunities for learning and the access to knowledge is there to be taken if that is what you want but it doesn’t come to you. You have to seek it out. So even if your education has been limited or even non-existent you can improve yourself providing you get the right guidance and help. I hope anyone contemplating living here has someone who will be able to give them that. Good luck.
Having finally been granted a visa, for whatever reason, the first big experience for most will be their flight to the UK. Having flown many times I have to cast my mind back to my first flight over 40 years ago. I can remember finding it absolutely awe inspiring, if a little daunting. I really couldn’t get my head around the fact that I was thousands of feet above the earth and flying at speeds of hundreds of miles an hour yet I felt as if I wasn’t moving at all! I also was going to live in another country, another climate with a totally different culture but I would be living amongst people of my own nationality. How must it feel then for a Gambian arriving in England for the first time with maybe no-one around who speaks their language. Where everything surrounding them is alien and unfamiliar. The mere pace of life will confound them for a start. The speed with which we live our lives here compared to The Gambia is probably the first thing they will notice. The size of the buildings, the fast roads, the shops, the lights, the large supermarkets where people pile their shopping trolleys high with a month’s supply of goods at a time, the COST of everything. The fact that no-one speaks to strangers. The transport system. The complex rules and regulations of everything from getting a National Insurance card to applying for a job, or if you are self-employed, registering to become so.
If they are lucky they will have someone with them who will help steer them through all these things. They will need all the help they can get. Like everywhere else in the world at the moment the recession has been biting deep and finding a job is not easy. Anyone coming here expecting to find the dream job with dream pay to go with it will be sorely disappointed. Also, if they are thinking the state will provide them with money if they don’t get a job that also isn’t as easy as they think. If they are lucky enough to find employment they will also find that they will probably be on the minimum wage and by the time income tax and national insurance contributions are taken out they will have very little left. Rents are high, the cost of living rises from month to month and so their disposable income is almost non-existent. As most Gambians, like many other nationalities that come here, are expected to help their families out by sending them money, they will find it hard to manage without a great deal of support from those that have sponsored them. These sponsors are themselves probably struggling to cope, so will not take too kindly on having to support someone who is sending money back to their homeland. As for their religion, well unless they live in a big city or somewhere near one, they won’t always find it easy to attend a mosque regularly. They have to hope that whoever they are staying with will respect their beliefs and afford them the time and space to pray when they need to. Not everyone coming here will be in a community which is used to seeing people from different cultures. England isn’t just London, Manchester, Leeds or Bristol!! So even finding food which suits them might be difficult.
The other point worth mentioning is bad advice given by people who have perhaps come here to live for the wrong reasons. They may be the type who flouts the rules and tries to 'work the system', especially the rules on benefit claims. We have plenty of our own countrymen who do this and sadly get away with it. It is a great cause for concern for our Government and also the vast majority of law abiding citizens who are trying to keep OFF benefits and find work. It creates tensions and bad feelings. It has to be said that most legal immigrants are hard working and willing to do the most menial of jobs rather than be supported by the state and therefor the British taxpayer. Listen to advice by all means but don't believe everything that you are told. There are many myths around that are totally misleading and could get you into a lot of trouble. Our immigration laws certainly appear to be very lax and there are far too many illegal immigrants in this country. They should never have been allowed to slip through the net but there has been so much anger over this that the Government is tightening up the laws and making it harder for people to gain visas in the first place. There are also plans to implement stricter rules about gaining British Citizenship which enables immigrants to hold a British Passport and all the benefits that this brings. It will take much longer and cost a lot more, so only the people that are genuinely interested in becoming a citizen will pursue this. Hopefully this may deter those who enter into marriages of convenience in order to gain the right to citizenship.
Does this sound depressing and negative? Well it is not meant to be. Undoubtedly anyone coming here should be able to adjust providing they are open minded and willing to compromise. Their lives in some ways will definitely be better and if they are prepared to do any kind of job, they will probably be able to make enough money to improve the lives of their families back home. However, this comes at a price. The price probably being loneliness and homesickness. They will have to change their laid back way of thinking which may be OK in The Gambia but sadly does not fit in to the English way of life. Oh if only it did. Why do you think so many people enjoy visiting your country for their holidays or in some cases making it their home? Most English people would love to live life more simply but apart from a few isolated areas, it just isn’t possible anymore. Our country is so over populated and life here so hectic that the ‘living for today’ mentality just doesn’t work. There are lots of things that are very good about living in England and so much to see and do. The opportunities for learning and the access to knowledge is there to be taken if that is what you want but it doesn’t come to you. You have to seek it out. So even if your education has been limited or even non-existent you can improve yourself providing you get the right guidance and help. I hope anyone contemplating living here has someone who will be able to give them that. Good luck.
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