Vida Gyamfi, a Ghanaian who lived in the United States for two and a half years, has shared her experience about life abroad after returning home. Speaking with DJ Nyaami on SVTV Africa’s Daily Hustle Worldwide, she revealed that her expectations about life overseas did not match the reality she faced.
Before traveling in 2024, Vida had worked with Fidelity and Madlock in banking, later venturing into business by selling clothes and shoes. She explained that her travel opportunity seemed like a breakthrough, but what she experienced in America was far from what she had imagined.
According to Vida, securing accommodation was extremely difficult, and she had to rely on someone else’s documents to work as a home care aide. While the job paid and provided food, she stressed that the health risks were high. “You get exposed to patients’ illnesses, and some workers even get harassed or abused by patients’ relatives. Yes, I was making money, but I wasn’t happy,” she said.
Vida emotionally recalled how she left behind her husband and two little children—one three years old and the other just nine months. Although she regularly sent money home, she felt the absence damaged her bond with her children. “My child once said I wasn’t his mother. He even called the nanny ‘mother’ instead. That broke me,” she narrated.
She added that the glamour associated with living abroad is misleading. “People think abrokyire is heaven with nice houses, cars, and money. But the truth is, if you don’t work, you can’t survive. The expenses are high, and the jobs drain you physically and mentally,” Vida explained.
She recounted one scary experience where a patient she cared for—who had been jailed before—threatened her life by attempting to attack her at night. In pursuit of regular documents, she was charged as much as GH₵240,000 for marriage-related papers. “People pay millions just to secure documents, yet when you tell them you want to return home, they get upset. But life means more than money,” she emphasized.
Vida admitted that at some point she cried at a train station out of loneliness and missing her children. Listening to motivational speaker Obeng Darko also made her realize that Ghanaians should not enslave themselves abroad if they can build something for themselves back home.
Now back in Ghana, Vida has no regrets. She has established herself in business, supplying wholesale provisions, and finds fulfillment being close to her family. “The day I reunited with my child—whom I left at nine months old and met again at three years—I couldn’t hold back my tears. Today, I live comfortably in Ghana, and I am at peace with my decision to return,” she concluded.
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