Delight left Nigeria in March 2025, not because she didn’t love home anymore, but because sometimes love is just not enough, and there comes a point where the hunger for more becomes so strong. Like thousands of Nigerians chasing the promise of “greener pastures,” her japa journey was a calculated leap toward a brighter future.
Many dream of relocating abroad and getting well-paying jobs. However, the journey to achieving this is often filled with ups and downs and so many rejections. In this interview, Helen, who left Nigeria in 2022 to join her husband in Canada, shares her experience of job hunting in a new country and how her skills created opportunities to earn.
For many Nigerians who have taken the bold step to move abroad, their first Christmas away from home rarely looks like the movies.
When Maureen Murugi Smith left Kenya for Philadelphia in July 2015 to join her husband, she arrived with the hopes familiar to many immigrants. She dreamed of starting over, finding work, and building a sense of community. What she did not expect was that the very organization that welcomed her into the city would one day become the place where she would help hundreds of others find their own voices just as she had done.
When a Nigerian packs their bags to japa (a Nigerian slang for relocating), they already have this dream of reaching the promised land, flowing with better opportunities, stable electricity, good jobs, and the chance to finally make enough money to be able to afford their wants and needs.
The story is unfinished. For many immigrants arriving in Philadelphia, progress is not marked by dramatic moments but by the slow, steady build of ordinary days.
“What if Africa’s single greatest resource isn’t buried in the ground, but lives and works in every corner of the globe?”
Africa, home to 18.83% of the total world population which translates to about 1,548,441,880 people based on Worldometers’ elaboration of the latest United Nations Data.
When people talk about immigration in the United States, African immigrants are often left out of the conversation or misrepresented entirely. While the national narrative tends to focus on Latin American or Asian migration, African immigrants make up one of the fastest-growing and most successful immigrant groups in the U.S.
For many refugees from Africa and the Caribbean, the journey to the United States begins not with despair, but with hope. Hope for safety. Hope for opportunity. Hope for dignity. But upon arrival, the realities of resettlement often challenge the very hopes they carried with them.
In driving their tourism fortunes, many countries shape and reshape their immigration laws to positively impact the industry and attract visitors who’s financial spendings contribute to boosting its economic projections.
