23/06/2025
The Risk of Fleeing from Your Own Country to Another Country
By IBREEYING HUSEENG IDRAANG.
In the year 2014, I made a life-changing decision. Like many young people in my country, I was desperate to find a better life abroad. I had dreams of going to Europe or America β places I believed held more opportunities, success, and a future free from poverty. But I faced one major problem: I didnβt have the money to make the journey.
For months, I begged my parents to help me. I pleaded with them to support my dream, telling them that once I reached the West, I would succeed and change our familyβs life forever. After many painful discussions, my parents finally agreed to help me β not because they had the money, but because they believed in my future. To raise the funds, they made a huge sacrifice: they sold one of the only valuable assets we had β a piece of land we owned in the town. They sold it for $27,000, and they gave it all to me.
With this money in my hands, I began preparing for my journey. I managed to secure a visa to the United States, but it cost me $20,000 β a huge sum that went to agents and visa processing. I left my home country full of hope and dreams, imagining the success that waited for me.
When I arrived in America, life was not what I expected. I struggled. I worked hard, lived from paycheck to paycheck, and faced many challenges. Time passed. One year became two, two became five, and eventually, I had spent ten long years in the United States. But during all those years, I never truly found the success I was looking for. I didnβt manage to build wealth. I didnβt get married. I didnβt even save money. When I finally returned to my home country after a decade abroad, I came back empty-handed β no money, no family, and no future plan.
Back in my village, I was shocked to see how much things had changed. There was a young man I used to know before I left. At the time, he had only a small business, starting with less than $300. He was just an ordinary guy, struggling like everyone else. But he stayed. He worked hard. He believed in growing slowly. Today, he is a completely different man.
He is now married, with seven children β his firstborn is already 9 years old. He owns a large and successful business in the village, and he lives in his own house. He doesn't worry about how to feed his children or pay rent. He built his life patiently, step by step, while I was chasing dreams far away from home.
That comparison hit me hard. I realized that while I had spent ten years searching for a future in another manβs land, I had missed out on building a life in my own. I had wasted the money, time, and dreams of my family. My parents gave everything they had, and I returned with nothing.
This is the risk of fleeing your country in search of a better life. Sometimes, what you're searching for is already around you. Sometimes, the grass is not greener on the other side β itβs just a different shade of green. This experience taught me a painful lesson: dreams are not only achieved abroad, they can also be grown right where you are β with patience, hard work, and faith.
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Conclusion:
Not every journey ends in success. Sometimes the dream we seek far away can blind us from the opportunities around us. It's true that many people succeed abroad β but others lose everything in the process. I don't tell my story to discourage migration, but to remind people: every decision has a price. If you're leaving, know why you're going and what you're risking. And if you choose to stay, know that success can still be achieved β with patience, hard work, and belief in yourself.
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Moral of the Story:
βChasing dreams is not wrong, but forgetting where you came from and what you already have can be the greatest mistake of your life.β
