To Leave or not to Leave: That is the Question
It appears to be Kenya’s official policy to export labor abroad by advising more youths to seek external opportunities. As you’d expect, however, little time is spent discussing the implications of such policies or whether the country loses or wins in the long term. The most obvious point is that brain drain is an issue for most African countries, and the long-term effects are yet to be understood. However, considering I have already written about it here, I won’t belabor that point. Worth discussing currently is whether individuals win or lose following such policies. I believe it’s one thing discussing brain drain and another discussing the personal lives of those leaving or staying behind. One might ask, should one leave the country, following the ubiquitous suggestions from the government and other pundits online?
It’s worth noting that I’ve used brain drain in the previous paragraph, even though it’s clear the government of Kenya isn’t necessarily exporting brains. The government seeks to offset the youth unemployment rate by offering labor (of any kind) to foreign nations. It’s only brain drain when the highly skilled and mostly smart residents leave their home country for another. This class of experts doesn’t need to be told to leave or seek opportunities elsewhere, and a person can hardly be called smart, experienced, or skilled if their biggest problem is unemployment. Therefore, while the country has a substantial brain drain, there’s a yet-to-be-discussed phenomenon of the unskilled, inexperienced, and relatively not-smart individuals leaving the country. What could go wrong?
Skills
First, most developed countries will screen out these individuals, and few will make it there. No government wants to import another country’s underclass. Given the option of a smart engineering student from Kenya and a high school graduate, a country like the United States will only pick the engineering student. Furthermore, suppose the high school graduate is selected. In that case, chances are they’ll end up in low-paying, unskilled jobs where they compete with Mexicans and Caribbean immigrants for scruples. In terms of remittances, you’d need many of these to match the amount of money a skilled immigrant might send home.
Second, since most of these individuals will get rejected by most Western nations, there’s a high likelihood they’ll end up in the Gulf countries where the human rights track record isn’t very high. As we’ve already seen, many become victims of sex trafficking, prostitution, and abuse. Currently, most of those who go to countries like Saudi Arabia from Kenya work as house helps and home managers. In these jobs they get abused sexually and physically, with little reprieve having lost access to their passports and visas. The pay isn’t particularly lucrative either, and the question here is generally one of risk appetite rather than economics. This explains why European and American countries are desired, and most Africans would rather drown trying to cross to Europe than find themselves in the Middle East. However, the recent spat in anti-immigration rhetoric across the West is bound to make it harder for Africans to go to Europe and America.
Age
To the individual seeking to go abroad, age is another important yet less talked about reason that needs to be factored into decision-making. The early to mid-twenties is what should be called the critical period for risk satisfaction, considering it comes with very little responsibility and time costs. In the “Curmudgeons Guide to Getting Ahead,” Charles Murray advises his elite and mostly wealthy readers about the importance of taking a one-way flight ticket to a remote destination, ditching all parental support, and living among the natives there for an extended period. Murray argues that this improves resilience in a way equal to joining the military. He also observes that this can mostly be done in the 20s, and while it can be time-consuming, it doesn’t have any time costs, and one can catch up with colleagues who went straight to their careers before 35.
Murray’s advice was meant for wealthy and smart American students, and while most of it does not apply to poor and not-so-smart people from countries like Kenya, the age factor indeed applies. The time to leave your country for another is the early twenties, when you have much free time and less responsibility. Doing that at an advanced age can be disastrous, ruining your career, delaying or messing up one’s marriage and family, and in the long run, turning out to be not as financially beneficial. To frame it differently, leaving your country during your late twenties and thirties is a gamble on your happiness, career, family, and social life. It is worth noting that these are the things that matter in life, most of which come during middle adulthood. That’s when we love and seek to settle; that’s when we get our firstborn, and that’s when we start getting job promotions. We also become valuable members of our church, community, and other organizations. Importantly, we develop a concrete definition of life and our purpose in it. If you think that’s a worthy gamble, please take the plunge.
Murray advised his readers not to go to a different state since that would not be enough to develop the resilience that those rich kids need. That advice would be the most appropriate for unskilled poor Kenyans who want to go abroad. Instead of going abroad, go to a different county and see if things work out. Leaving your home sometimes is what it takes to start seeing life from a different perspective. Opportunities that once seemed scarce might be abundant. For those with entrepreneurial minds, it’s hard to find a problem that needs solving if that problem has been with you since birth. Going to a different county exposes you to different problems you might be more sensitive to. You can read more about that in this short article about Mark Twain here.
Western Meritocracy
The West is the land of opportunity, and most Kenyans see it as such. Unfortunately, Kenya and most of Africa aren’t, so we try to seek opportunities in the West. Kenya is corrupt, and getting jobs can be challenging. The avenues of getting wealthy or even a stable career appear shrouded in corruption, politics, and noise. One might wonder then, in which among these regions is someone of low to average intelligence, skill, and experience likely to become wealthier quickly? Africa or the West?
This will sound counter-intuitive, but my answer is Africa. In the West, meritocracy is more pronounced, meaning people are more likely to be paid for their intelligence, skills, and experience. Furthermore, you will be paid more if you have more skills and knowledge than others. If you don’t have any skills, chances are you’ll get stuck in the lower wrung of society forever, until the day you upskill or go back to school. That’s how the West works and is the reason behind high-income inequalities. The smart and wealthy will always have their way, while everybody else gets stuck with two jobs, living hand to mouth.
It’s very hard to rig such a system. Americans and Europeans do it through social welfare and other progressive policies. Basically, food stumps tell you that some people in the United States will never escape poverty. These people have nothing going for them and must be fed by the government. Such a straight system would typically be called the “level playing field.” It’s level because there’s almost nothing the junkie on skid row can do to become a millionaire other than compete in the same game everybody else is. He has to compete with the Harvard graduate for the same piece of the Cake. Will he top the Harvard graduate? No. The problem with level playing fields is that the spoils go to those with heritable advantages. These are the smartest and the most attractive. Evidence from Scandinavian countries has already proved that higher environmental equality only widens the inequality of heritable differences.
Non-skilled and not-so-smart Kenyans who want to go to the United States and Europe must realize that they’ll be competing with everyone else in the country. They can only earn as much as they are worth. If you are highly smart, these countries reward you with much money. If you are of little value, almost no one looks your way. In Kenya, however, there’s no level playing field. While the arc of the good things to come usually tilts toward the smart, educated, and skilled, it’s not uncommon for the unskilled, uneducated, and inexperienced to win against their counterparts. We can name people who became rich without any elite credentials. Some of our politicians are not skilled or educated. Yet, they either get lucky, get their windfalls through corruption, or follow other backdoor processes.
There are very few heritable differences among Kenyans because the playing field has not been leveled. The genius might as well be standing on a ditch as he tries to measure his height against a midwit on top of an anthill. The genius gets frustrated when he doesn’t get the high-paying job the midwit bribed his way into. Kenya has a lot of noise and environmental differences, which makes it likely that underqualified, unskilled, immoral, and stupid people will become lucky. (Environmental in this case means not genetic or heritable). Therefore, if you are in any of these categories of people, you have better prospects in Kenya than abroad.
Conclusion
To leave or not to leave, the decision is yours to make. Earning dollars is quite promising if that’s the only view you take when deciding. However, there are several issues that we ought to think about as a nation and as individuals. The government should worry about brain drain while individuals worry about their lives, careers, families, and communities. I’ve made a case for age and offered advice on changing counties rather than countries. Nairobi is said to have many opportunities, but that may not be the case if that’s where you were born. Leaving for a different town or county may open unimaginable doors. So, think county first before country. For those born in the countryside, try Nairobi first before New York. Nairobi might open more doors than New York. It’s all a matter of perspective.
