On Being a Young Returnee: Advice to Zambian Diasporans
Diaspora is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as “the dispersion of a particular group of people beyond their traditional homeland or point of origin.” We — Tamara and Janet — are young diasporans who were both born and raised in Zambia before relocating to the UK and US respectively in our early teens. After we moved away, we held onto our Zambian identities tightly. We felt connected to our country of origin and committed to building its future. We returned to Zambia to work as Global Health Corps fellows this part year, and our experience as “returnees” has been challenging, fulfilling, and surprising. We hope our reflections here will be a guide for young Zambians who have grown up in the diaspora and have wondered what it would be like to return to work in their native country.
Why did you decide to come and work in Zambia?
Tamara: That’s a simple question that requires a multifaceted response. I moved from Zambia to the UK when I was 12 years old, instilled with a strong sense of my Zambian identity. I was and remain proud of my roots. Over the years, my parents periodically reminded me and my siblings of the importance of one day using the knowledge and skills we had acquired in the UK to help improve our native country. Opportunities to do this whilst I was living away from Zambia were few and far between. However, during my first year of university I stumbled upon a society that was focused on improving healthcare at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka. I became heavily involved in the society’s activities, and I met a former GHC fellow from Malawi who strongly felt I could use my zeal and enthusiasm to go back and work in the public health sector in Zambia under the guidance of GHC. I applied as it seemed like the opportunity I had been praying for, and that’s how I ended up working in Zambia.
Janet: The quote that I live by that drives my passion is, “My people perish for the lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6) I have always known that even though I have been living in the US for the past 16 years, I would love to come back and work in Zambia. I have not only seen so many health-related problems in my country, but l experienced challenges in accessing quality health care services in my early years in Zambia.
Growing up, my dad always said to me “If you have a problem with something, complaining won’t solve anything. Try to find a solution to that problem so it won’t bother you anymore.” I always complained about the healthcare system in Zambia, but as years went by, I recalled what my dad always told me and decided to come back and see what I could do to change things. I believe that living abroad gave me great insight into health access and health equity which I am able to bring back to Zambia.
Has working in Zambia lived up to your expectations?
Tamara: Working in Zambia has been an experience with challenges and opportunities for personal development. It is definitely an experience I would not hesitate to repeat. At first, my biggest anxiety was whether my colleagues would view me as “Zambian enough.” Although I was always confident about my Zambian identity when living in the UK (largely because hardly anyone even knew where Zambia was on a map), I was acutely aware that my Zambian colleagues would be more critical. For example, I don’t speak any Zambian language fluently and 12 years of life in the UK has left me with a slight British twang which I often try to conceal. However, this proved to be a minor issue as many of the staff I worked alongside appreciated my positive attitude and simply encouraged me to try and brush up on at least one Zambian language.
As a young 20-something whose main foray into the working world has been in the British university volunteering sector, I had little experience of office dynamics so I was understandably a bit clueless about Zambian office culture. Getting into the habit of greeting everyone I met who worked for my organisation every morning and entertaining light chit-chat at several points throughout the day turned out to be a pleasant aspect of working in Zambia. People are friendly and they want to get to know you. The environment was not hostile and formal like many big organisations in the Western world, an aspect of working in Zambia which I have really enjoyed.
This friendly environment did not take away from the fact that many people worked hard and would often come in to the office very early in the morning or at weekends to complete their tasks. This completely debunked the myth of all Zambians not being hard workers as I saw many people, both young and old, working hard to ensure the organisation thrived. Many people’s hard work did not go unnoticed by their superiors. Working in Zambia has largely lived up to my expectations: the working environment I experienced was one that fostered connection and a spirit of hard work and encouraged people to tackle difficult issues head-on.
Janet: Yes and no. I share the same thoughts as Tamara. My biggest concern was whether my colleagues would view me as “Zambian enough.” I was always confident about my Zambian identity when living in the US. I do speak Chitonga, a Zambian language, fluently, but I do not speak Nyanja, the language mostly spoken in Lusaka, as well. When I do speak it, I am often told I have an “accent,” which some have suggested makes me less Zambian. I recall an incident when I and Tamara were both referred to as “fake Zambians” when I tried to justify that my organization does not only work with Americans but Zambians as well. Fortunately, not everyone thinks that way. I have a lot of other colleagues who are very encouraging and embracing. In situations where I need help, they are always readily available to assist without questioning my nationality.
Working in Zambia has lived up to my expectations in terms of hospitality and sincere relationships. At work, we call each other a family. Every morning we make tea in the kitchen, we greet each other, people ask about how the week is going and how family members are doing. This is something I hardly encountered while working in the US, as most people in the offices I worked in there did not take time to build relationships with fellow colleagues. For them it was just work, work, and more work. In Zambia, I feel everyone is intentionally aware of their environments and very respectful to one another and the communities that they work in.
What are the pros and cons of working as an “expat” in your own country?
Tamara: I wouldn’t really call myself an expat because I see myself as Zambian. To be specific, I am a Zambian national with extensive experience of life outside of Zambia. If I did consider myself an expat I would say that the biggest pro is starting out on a salary that was higher than my fellow Zambian colleagues and having my housing sorted for me. However, things have changed in Zambia and you can no longer expect special treatment because you’ve come from abroad. You have to prove your worth through your work and qualifications just like anybody else. On the other hand, a major con for me has been not having immediate family members close by. You might have extended family around but for the most part you have to rely on yourself to get things done and you may feel a bit lonely at times if your nearest and dearest are far away.
Janet: A pro of working in my own country as an expat is that I am able to understand the culture and can easily communicate with community members and thus build trust. A con of working in my own country as an expat is that at times I am looked at as an outsider simply because I have not been living in my country for that long. I hear phrases such as “she won’t understand that,” “she is American,” or “she thinks she is better.” I think people tend to forget that I am Zambian — I was born in Zambia, and I have just lived outside the country longer than I have been in it. That does not mean I am detached from who I am.
What would you say is the biggest difference in terms of health equity in the UK/US compared to Zambia?
Tamara: I would say the biggest difference has been accepting that although people have cheaper access to nurses and doctors in Zambia, that is undermined by the high cost of medicines and diagnostic tests. In the UK if you are sick, you will be seen, receive the tests you need and get the medication required in a timely manner without giving the cost of it all a second thought as it is taken care of by the government. There is significant health inequity in Zambia as the amount of money you have access to often dictates the type of care you will receive. However, the government is trying to improve this and it has focused on making care for the most vulnerable groups — including pregnant women, children under five years old, and people living with HIV — free. There is much to be done in order to improve health equity in Zambia. As citizens, both within Zambia and abroad, we can help bring about this change.
Janet: During my fellowship year, I have had the opportunity of working at the Mwandi Mission Hospital in the Western Province of Zambia. My time at that hospital made me realize the big gap in the healthcare system between the US and Zambia. Most of the time when I visited the clinic or hospital in the US, medication was readily available, equipment was always there and there was no lack of hospital staff. However, during my time in Mwandi, hospital equipment such as stethoscopes and weighing scales for babies were not available. At times, in some health posts and facilities, there would be a shortage of testing kits, and the saddest thing is that clinics in some communities are closed as there are no health professionals to serve the populations in those areas. Secondly, there is a lack of capacity to advocate for improvements to local and national healthcare systems.
What lessons have you learned during this fellowship year?
Tamara: Working in Zambia has taught me to follow my gut instinct especially when I have a good idea that could help make the organisation I am working for or the country I am working in better. It has taught me that Zambia has a place for all young people who are willing to work hard to improve their country and the rewards aren’t too shabby either.
Janet: This fellowship year has been a rollercoaster. Coming in, I had very high expectations of thinking that the “change” I wanted to see in the community would happen as soon as I started working on the project. However, it has not happened that way — change has been very gradual. Not only have I learned to quickly adapt to changing environments, I have learned that even if I don’t change a whole village at once, touching just one or two lives is as important. Through my experience of working in a very remote and impoverished community in Zambia, I have learnt to be very intentional about appreciating some things I take for granted in life. I have become very grateful and intentional about giving thanks in all circumstances.
Tamara Mulenga and Janet Choongo were 2016–2017 Global Health Corps fellows in Zambia.
