- Add new comment
- 18002 views
A newly released documentary has revealed the silent challenges that Kenyan immigrants living in the United States go through.
'Diaspora Dispatches', written, produced and directed by Kaba Mbugua was released in Raleigh, North Carolina, and features confessions by a number of Kenyans who candidly narrate their experiences in the US.
Official data reveals there are about 130,000 Kenyans living in the US, although the figure is disputed, with some claiming there are at least 300,000 Kenyan immigrants in the country. Many have well-paying jobs or run successful businesses, while others are students.
The confessions confirm that Kenyans, just like other immigrants, struggle to make ends meet in the US, with the challenges at times leading to some, especially the youth, to resort to bad company, ending up in jail, shelters for the homeless, extradition or even death.
The film disregards the misconceptions held by Kenyans about life in the “Land of the free” and the subsequent effects.
“I was a criminal … I was arrested for illegal possession of a gun and cocaine,” says Mr James Njoroge who has since been deported.
“I smoked marijuana and was involved in many minor violations.”
Alice Raine, narrates on how she uninformed about life in the US before flying out. She said she found things were opposite of what she first anticipated.
“We used to eat from trash cans because we had no food and the restaurant where we worked would not let us touch the expired food,” she says, referring to the Food and Drug Administration laws, which are strictly observed by American eateries.
“Our first year was terrible. We had come on a one-way ticket and so we couldn’t go back.”
Another Kenyan says that many well-educated Kenyan professionals are forced to settle for demeaning menial jobs just to make a living.
“This is because they do not have the requisite papers to enable them compete on equal terms with others,” he says.
Ms Wariara Thuo recounts how she struggled get a car and a place to stay soon after she arrived in the US.
“Authorities wanted to see my documents everywhere I went,” she says.
Japheth Matemu, a US-based immigration says some Kenyans do not give up easily and opt for marriage.
“However, citizenship through marriage is not as easy as some think. It must be a one-woman-one man union and it has to be entered into in good faith in order to be recognised by federal law,” he says.
He, however, says that many Kenyans married in Kenya are denied an opportunity to review their status because they have no divorce records.
“They forget that there is a record trail from the time they applied for their visas,” he says.
Mr Matemu explains why the “Kenyan mindset” has landed many in American prisons.
“Some things not taken very seriously in Kenya are considered criminal in the US. Many Kenyans have ended up in jail for crimes like driving under the influence,” he adds.
The lawyer discloses that people who overstay their visas have it rough but they hardly talk about it.
However, life for Kenyans with valid student visas is relatively easy.
“You are allowed to work and sustain yourself if you come here on a student visa. Holders of other visas like the DV (popularly known as Green Card), are also good to go,” he says.
Matemu cautions Kenyan immigrants against “marriage for papers”.
A counsellor with Family Development Institute, Mbinjiwe Mwendwa says some Kenyans in the US have made business out of marriage. They tie the knot for papers and divorce as soon as the marriage “matures,” only to marry another “client” soon afterwards.
“One pockets about $3,000 (Sh320,000) every two to three years for marriages that have nothing to do with the bedroom,” he says.
Mr Joseck Asikoye of Jabali Africa gives reasons why he thinks cases of domestic violence among Kenyan couples in the US are high.
“Pent-up anger among Kenyan men is one of the reasons some kill themselves,” he says, adding that they find it difficult “to bring out the Kenyan men in them” due to the repercussions.
“You cannot physically discipline your wife here,” says Mr Asikoye.
Mr Justus Asikoye advises Kenyans who immigrate to the US to obey the law.
“There is no short cut. Many people are rotting in jail,” he says.
Comments
Life can be a challenge everywhere.In Kenya or in US.Same problems different locations.Be optimistic keep hope alive.challenges make you stronger
SIGN UP FOR A FREE EDUCATION ANYWHERE YOU ARE IN THE WORLD.Even if you are doing doubles or singles or menial jobs take time to earn your degree and start your business.
https://www.uopeople.edu/
She sure has! It sounds like her choices landed her in lots of trouble.
What many immigrants to the US should know is not take literally the American saying which emphasizes on "Freedom ... unlimited!" That's why the US has more people in jail than any country in the world.
What the new immigrants to this country should know is that, it is true there is freedom; but within the law. Get on the highway and drive at a speed of 90 MPH and you are caught by the state trooper, your freedom comes to an end immediately. And if you happen to be drunk, you will not even be allowed to drive your car.
My advice is simple my fellow Kenyans, " Freedom of ....... and ....... does not include freedom from the consequences."
Every colony humans or animal in the sea, jungle etc have rules in which they abide by and have to live by to successfully coexist and each has freedom to break rules but there are consequencies. You should watch the Meerkats or the gorillas on NatGEO and see this played out
" you cannot physically discipline your wife here". Does that mean that in Kenya one has the right to do so?
Anyway, If one came here for abetter future, they should not complain when things turn sour.You can always head back home.Having said this, I know most of Kenyans in USA would agree with me that, their are more opportunities for success here than in Kenya for those who will seize them.
I have also noted that its normally the folly of youth that puts alot of young Kenyans in trouble. They think that they are now free from the watchful eyes of parents ,friends,and relative,so they start doing things they may not have done if they were in Kenya; as mentioned in the article.
I have also noted that if you are prone to being a trouble maker in Kenya, you are bound to do same here in the USA.And what you might get away with in Kenya,could hand you the fastest way back home,jail ,or both.Like I have said before on this forum-You can live in the shadows(without papers) as long as you want,so long as you keep your nose clean.Of course with exception of working without papers,or with fake papers...,and that could only be trouble if an "enemy" turns you in.
For sure drugs destroys lives. Look at that lady and dude. They were very beautiful when they were young lakini sasa hawana sura
Hehehehe usa sodom n gormolla is the only country where u will find honey in deed.This has bin hogwash to many stupid African idiots who leave their jobs n beta life n move blindly coz nobody had told the truth about this country.N May who have gone always talk nice hiding the real truth about life in diaspora.As somebody said kila country had issues but to me the WEST issues r more if the real truth is given out.I have said here many times that u can succeed in Kenya n u don't have to go to majuu to succeed.Prostituion,Drugs,immorality,gaysm lesbianism n all sorts of evils r somehow legal or encouraged coz yes Wr have rights??May the God of gikuyu n mumbi protects gikuyus.Not that glitter is gold.I encouraged guys who have nothing in Kenya to go make money n come back home otherwise u remain a modern slave in this western world
Kila mutu aongee yake.My wife had stayed jobless for 10 years back home but she got a caretaker's(home for seniors)job the second day we landed at Washington DC even without the necessary papers.Mimi nilingoja makaratasi alafu nikapata truck ambayo jambazi Midiwo alikuwa na endesha before he was sponsored by his cousin,muuaji Raila to win an MPs seat.Just speak the truth-people stay idle at home for lack of jobs but complain about here due to HAZINESS.Why not take a flight back home ukasimame na vikingi ya maduka ukingoje nyumba na chakula ya mbule kutoka kwa muuaji RAO?
I do not get the target audience of this video. Yes if you are stupid and reckless and think you are above the law you will get in a lot of trouble because it goes permanently on your record if your are above 18.Is the lawyer who made this video advertising his legal services or what.Was it made to discourage those with visitor visas from coming or was it an opportunity for those who have been deported to vent?Obama was known as the deporter in chief and even if the number of déportations has increased it has not topped Obama`s numbers.It is not only in America where Africans suffer how about doing one about the maids in UAE where people get mistreated and die yet Kenyan celebrities fly to Dubai to shop with kina Churchill comedians going there to perform.How about setting up a rescue centre for women who find themselves in Dubai suffering aftr beig mistreated by their slave masters.
Anonymous, in reference to your last sentence, I might add that, the day an african/Kenya will truly be liberated is the day he or she leaves the country to go out and have fun in aforeign land,or work there if he or she wishes,and not because of lack of opportunities in the mother land.
With all these technocrats ,engineers,scientists,and researchers africans have been churning out since independence,cann't we be innovative,and supply the world with products,and knowledge"made in africa",instead of being just consumers of foreign goods and services?
We say africa is rich in resources,are we lacking brains to use these resources to our advantage so that we stay in africa instead of being slaves in foreign lands? If we can answer the two questions I have posed, we will have solved the problems that make africans run from the mother land.
Excuse me brother...I think you meant Riyadh,Jeddah,Maajmah or another Saudi city but not Dubai,Abu Dhabi or any other emirate in the UAE where such purported bashing of house maids is arguably more prevalent in Kenya than the former.
I have lived in UAE longer than in the USA and can state the UAE is not Kuwait,Qatar nor Saudi Arabia in how it treats its domestic servants.
There is the rule of law here and ruthlessly observed by the leadership.
No expatriate,native or royalty employer is exempt from it.
Mistreat a servant and the punishment falls on you swift.
The 2 druggies seem like they went to U.S too young. It high lights parenting issues, they needed a strong parent with them to assist and navigate the system since they are easily influenced by their peers. We do not have all the facts but I cannot help wandering if they came from 2parents home or not. Alot of good parenting and luck is needed for one to turn up right. Good luck to them,they can still turn their lives around, never give up on a person so long as they're alive.God is Good!
Are you pointing out that single parent kids are ones who get in trouble?. Thid stigma has to stop. One parent can raise kids who excel. It is a matter of teaching a child that choices have consequences, i dont think this takes two parents. Anyway on that note, am a single mother raising two boys. The one in high school came here at a very vulnerable age, is a high honor roll student, an athlete, has several accolades for promoting a drugfree community and is expected to get afew college scholarships. So yeah stop the 2 parent mindset.
Very true don't give up.... Been there done that and God has blessed my life financially and spiritually and i am taking it one day at a time..
Omera...hongera, lakini you are an increasingly minority. shukuru. Hapo awali, kazi ilikua kama kuonkota with or without ma paper. Kama wewe ni wa enzi hizo, shukuru baba. Jaribu kuleta mtu sasa, iwe US amd Europe and see. Kumechacha. I for one never forget my roots and njia nimepitia, lakini I don't kid myself that it is easy. Mambo yamebadilika sana. Mzungu ni mzungu ata kama una paper or acquired citizenship,you are still asked to prove your ID even though you may have worked for the same employer for a number of years. Just because your name is different. I am living proof of this but my white counterpart with a white sounding name don't go through this....we! Maxiley, you are right, liberation comes with freedom to travel for luxury rather than looking for opportunities as we do.
As long as you are under the sun you will always have problems whether you are in Kenya, USA or any other country. The only problem is that people think there are no problems in USA. There are more opportunities in USA but that does not mean there are no problems. Hakuna mtu hana shida only a liar
What a mentality, discipline your wife? Who disciplines the husband? -The jail I guess.
Marriage is about respect. No one needs disciplining. Not even the children. Everyone is a family needs love, understanding, support and respect. Everything else in bulls..t. If you by nature thrives on punishing others, join the forces and go on combat missions when this option becomes available. You will learn a lesson to know the limits of freedom and human desire to preserve themselves.
Just be nice and caring, no need to be a bully.
I feel like most of the problems people have faced here are because of poor choices. If you went there on a visitor's visa and stayed then that is on you. It is illegal and you ought to have known better. Just because you can beat your spouse in Kenya and get away with it doesn't make it right and you're not being victimized if you get arrested for inflicting bodily harm on another human being. If you do things according to the law you won't get in trouble. You might bribe a cop here in Kenya for driving drunk but in countries where proper structures are in place and the law is followed you will be arrested, mediocrity might be tolerated in some countries but in others it's illegal. These are not superficial problems in the U.S.A simply because other countries don't take them seriously but a wake up call that proper systems do work and you don't want to be caught on the wrong side of the equation
This same documentary could apply too life in Kenya - Life is rough in Kenya too. A bad decision is bad irrespective of where you are and it is no worse in the US than it is in Kenya. It is true that it can be tough in the US without papers. However, i know many Kenyans without papers who are doing very well in the US. The problem is really not lack of papers, it is doing illegal stuff, which is made worse by lack of papers and which leads to a bad record that makes it difficult to get good jobs etc. If you are in the US and are focused on your goal, you will definitely be alright.
This video is a real eyeoner', there are very many challenges facing people in the diaspora that people back home would never understand or begin to imagine since one has to be on the ground to see for themselves..Families with young children especially go through very tough children and when the kids get to ten age hood they could very easily get into trouble/drugs because of peer pressure and the perceived "freedom and rights " to do what one wants to do...it's very sad..family's come as one and after sometime they part ways...in America things that are easy back home and that make the going easier especially for young families are vey expensive and complicated over here..for example cost of day care/nannies versus hiring domestic help in Kenya....spending relaxed laid back times/ evenings as a family versus wife and husband meeting at the door/car park while one goes and the other comes to take care of the children...and their never an end to this...People and especially young families need the right information to realize what they are getting into prior to their arrival here.
A honorable man/woman never leaves his home for a far land that has promise only for young men/women; and if he/she does it, it is temporarily with no fixed abode. Remember Joseph of the bible enslaved generations and generations when he made Egypt his fixed abode. After you pay your dues and make a little in the promising lands, take the exit to your roots to reclaim your otherwise lost glory.
Mimi kwanza natafuta MTU naweza pata makaratasi na yeye. Any leads ?
Uko na $15,000 niku hook up?
Its sad
Ati ‘Discipline your wife!’ Kwani huyu anaishi enzi gani. Ita forithi. This is an enemy of the people.
Agreed with assessment up to the point where the author blamed suicide of Kenyan men for being deprived of their “Kenyaness” to discipline their wives. No spouse should discipline another in any country.
Good to show one extreme. Now go and talk to the engineers and get the other perspective. I have a couple of references for any interested person. Life anywhere is about your character and what you make of your opportunities. God bless all.
I think the documentary is a guise to promote the guys business. I am an engineers and doing just fine here in the US and he is free to talk to me. And most of my friends are highly qualified professionals in their field and they doing very well. so yeah, this is nowhere near balanced. And most of the Kenyans i know are highly motivated and very focused individuals
I live here in the US I met a guy and Christian dating from Kenya I’m white I’m old is young I’m going to help him come to the US because I’m in love with them and because he loves me I watched your documentary he says to me stop being so negative you have to think positive he has an inheritance over here mother and father were here in the country and were killed in a car accident when I read everything that you guys are telling me I told him about it he called fake news it said everybody makes their own destiny is 36 I am much older I am on Social Security and I work as a caregiver I lost my husband last year Anybody out there for the positive
This guy sounds to be ignorant
If you have question, you can find some answers here.. https://www.facebook.com/Wanjugutheglobalcitizen/
Yes, the hustle is real...
Are all Kenyans struggling per your title? Please review and improve it for accuracy...some of are doing just fine. Perhaps we should balance the good and the bad narratives.
how true europe is no different from africa ni vile ru hauwezi lala nja but kuna ata shida nyingi kuliko third world i live,in europe na nimejionea,the media only lies ti people, n most pple never say the truth about majuu.hamna kitu huku if ur rich kaa third world please.huku ni kwa maskini
The documentary is very one sided and not factual for a couple of reasons:
1. The social issues depicted would apply to any society,
2. Most people interviewed truly broke the law and have admitted as such,
3. There are humongous success stories for people who have walked the line as would be in any society and made it, where are their stories - I reside amongst them and see them daily
4. For what it is, folks interviewed here plus the lawyer come from specific part of the country. Don't blame me, African's names tells folk's locations.
5. The lawyer should use his position of success, pending your definition of success, to help others than just rocking the chair talking, what would he have done if he were in these folks shoes?
6. In the USA, it matters who receives you with regards to your success or failure depending on your host and what they are up to.
7. Fact, all societies have laws to be followed, if anything everything in life has consequences in kenya or abroad
8. Perspective if the narrator is very lacking
9. To all kenyan in Kenya, feel free to come to the USA. Work smart, study hard, follow the law, remember your roots, and you will be whatever you want.
10. Blessings & Peace!!!.
How can I come yo the USA
Kenyan men need to start embracing " Divorce ", guys if "she is not holding you down she is slowing you down". So many men are depressed and have even attempted suicide or homocide, but the kids end up suffering. I have noticed for many marriage or so to speak kenyan wives ending up with Nigerians after the husband supports them through nursing school. We need to embrace fatherhood and embrace the fact that you can be number one dad without living in a depressed/ oppressed state/ or soo to speak an emotionally abusive wive. Most guys negate their duties and give in to alcoholism and drugs. We need to learn that divorce is not bad for kids; what is worse is growing up in an environment where spouse are abusive and always fighting. I personally, decided i had to get my life together,and become the best father. It has worked out so well because i keep a parental relationship, where boundaries are respected. Who she is with is none of my business and who i date is none of hers. I really enjoy my freedom and even spend more time with the kids. We need to encourage strong families, but if people fail in marriage, we can have a paradigm shift from preaching against divorce to embracing it, instead of people resulting to permanent actions e.g suicide/homicide.
Congratulations. Accurate honest information. A wonderful piece of journalism. This is really a documentary that every Kenyan in the US and back home should see. Proud that this work came from a Kenyan counterpart. It is unfortunate this great work is reduced by unnecessary and distracting music especially in the first 5 minutes when you want to grab a viewers attention. The dialogue stands up for itself.
Gosh, the lady at 15:55! She has lived, all written in her face. Look beyond the flaws and one sees a beautiful sister. Happens the world over... survival bwana. Njia ndefu, milima na mabonde. Hope those who were calling for that artist brother to publish his immigration status are watching this - lest we forget.