Staff writer - Nyasha Watson
It has often been said that the Caribbean is one of the greatest places on earth to live. If this is true, then why do so many of the Caribbean nationals migrate to mostly North America and Europe. Well, there are various reasons which often contradict each other, but the big issue is; Caribbean nationals who migrate are they abandoning their home country?
There is no easy answer to this question, but I will answer in the negative to this question. This is because the overwhelming reason why most people migrate is to better themselves whether financially, educationally and so on.
If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that opportunities in the Caribbean are limited; and with the exception of Barbados most of the Caribbean countries are developing. Therefore, the Caribbean countries do not have enough resources to support the entire population.
On the other hand, the major problem is that the majority of the population, who do migrate are those who have acquired higher education. Therefore, we are seeing where the more educated members of our population are contributing to the development of another while their birth country is suffering.
And this is precisely the argument of those who are declaring that Caribbean nationals who migrate are sell outs. This is because they are helping to build a foreign country “while dem yaad a mash up”.
Going on holiday or selling out?
But the simple fact is that most of them do not have any other option. And if we are to call someone sellouts then we have to be careful how we go around accusing someone of that dreadful act. Fine, if when a Caribbean national migrates he dissociates himself from the Caribbean. That is he never visits or calls his friends and relatives and he does not acknowledge himself as being from the Caribbean when asked of his origin by a stranger. Then yes, we can say that that person is truly a sellout.
On the other hand, if when someone migrates he continually keeps in touch with his family and friends and on a regular basis sends remittances to his loved ones. Then under no circumstances can we call that person a sellout. In life everyone makes their own decision and we must cease from judging if we don’t know all the facts. That’s my view anyway what do you think…?
