Every year Nigeria tops the list of countries whose nationals
apply for the United States Diversity Visa. Practically every Nigerian
youth is crazy about America. Even adults are not left out in this ambition to relocate to ‘God’s own country’ as people refer to the US.
But Olubusola Balogun, a Nigerian and social worker reveals that she would rather relocate to Nigeria with the next available flight if she could get a good job in the country. In this interview, she peels back the cover on the pains of her work, giving an insight on risks involved and the toll it takes on her personal social life. Excerpts…
What do you do?
I am a social worker and I live in The Bronx, New York City. My job entails helping parents meet the needs of children with respect to their education. I have to ensure that parents send their children to school by making them understand the underlying reasons why they should do so. It is not getting up in the morning and telling the child to go to school. If a child under 18 fails to go to school, the parents are held accountable. For such children too, the parents are expected to meet their basic needs that include food, clothing, shelter and of course educational needs.
Please paint a picture of life as social worker.
It is now challenging to be a social worker because of new legislation. No matter how well you do your job, if something happens to a child under your watch, you the social worker could go to jail. Let me give an example: let’s assume that you have a case and you visited the family without seeing the parents, you would not be able to prove that the children are not being properly cared for; you could close the case with the hope that somebody else would call and file a report against the family if anything wrong happens.
But with the new law, once a social worker has become involved with a particular case and something drastic happened to a child in that home, for instance, if the child died, the social worker would go to jail for not being alert to recognize the early warning signs of abuse, maltreatment or poor care. That would mean that you didn’t do your job well. When it comes to handling issues concerning other people’s children, you just have to be on your toes all the time. This new law even makes you more cautious in the way you treat your own children too because you want to make sure they are not lacking anything you ought to have provided to them.
Tell me more about the pains of being a social worker.
As in every professional calling, social work throws up some challenges though this depends one’s level. I am currently a supervisor. I could have moved higher to managerial level, but the snag is that social work is unionized. Supervisors are the link between the managerial executives and the frontline workers. You don’t have a friend because the frontline workers would assume you are not helping them.
The management on the other hand believes you can’t tell them what to do. The advantage of being a supervisor is that you have the support of the union. I decided to play safe and remain a supervisor because the managerial position is political. In other words, if a new boss takes over and he does not like me, he could call me into his office, have a handshake and say, “Thank you for your services” and that’s all.
What attracted you to social work?
I got into social work because of the opportunity it offers one to reach out to people, communicate and help them move on in life. As a supervisor, I still meet with families and have conferences with them though I may not be the person that would go directly to their homes to knock on their doors. The job comes with a lot of stress and racial discrimination.
We Africans are trained to respect our elders. Even if your supervisor is a 20-year-old, you must still say ‘Yes sir, Yes Maam’ to the person. When they say you should jump, you must jump very high – that is how you show that you are not lazy, that you are doing your job. Of as African, taking others from a 20-year-old is not pleasant.
But given the overzealous attitude of the average African working in America, these people tend to take advantage of us, whether they are Whites, African-Americans or Hispanics. job they take advantage of it, everybody white, black, Spanish, they take advantage of it. Even if we have headache we will show up at work; we are committed. But the Americans, Hispanics and people from other cultures will not show up on time. The commitment of the average African is our pride as a people.
People from the other cultures we work with always take advantage of this. They will say things like: “Oh, Olu is always consistent, don’t worry; Olu will be there, I don’t have to go to work today, don’t worry; she will case handle. Even when we are going home late and vent our anger on our family we will still do it. We won’t complain that the load is too much or too heavy for us to carry.
Are you saying that the system discriminates against Africans?
Africans are at the bottom rack when it comes to strata – at least when it comes to my kind of job. If you want to rise up in the hierarchy they don’t want you to grow because who is going to clean what they have messed up. Don’t get me wrong – one or two Africans do get to the top to become a director. I have been in the agency where I work for 12 years, and I have seen somebody become a manager on Friday and by Monday, the same person was demoted. I cannot remember any African has reached the level of a commissioner. It is not that we are not qualified for these positions; the fact is that we don’t even get the opportunity. Even if we go for the interview, nobody calls you back.
All you get is a letter thanking you for your interest. If you see an African at the managerial level, its because somebody appreciates what he does, however, if the next person that comes along the line finds one fault in that person, he will demote him so fast. I have seen many Africans demoted for doing things that others could do and get away it; but if an African does the same thing, he gets the boot. I’m not a unionist but if I am one it will be my cause to fight because I have noticed the trend that we do not get fair treatment though its not openly reflective for all to see but there is discrimination going.
Don’t forget that we Africans don’t have uniformity; even when Nigerians from the different tribes work together in the same place, they find it difficult band together and write a petition to express dissatisfaction with the treatment they get. Instead they are so scared and would rather tolerate the rubbish. Even when we are being stepped on, we will complain to ourselves and not take it to the level where something can be done about it.
Would you want to come home someday to work in Nigeria as a social worker?
Everybody wants to come back home, especially if you were born and bred in Nigeria or spent your youthful years in the country before going to the United States. The culture is in you and anytime you come home you will relive those sweet Nigerian lifestyle, which we miss terribly in the United States. Yes, it’s basically different. We do go to parties over there but it’s not the same. If I find a job that is appropriate and fulfilling I would love to be back in this country this very minute.
I read Mass Communication at the University of Lagos before I traveled abroad; I also studied at Times Journalism Institute. After living overseas for so long, it’s a challenge for you to come back home and meet up with colleagues one left behind. You are coming from two different cultures now. Like the Yoruba say, the farm is different from the home. When you finish farming, you come back home. Ajo ni, ko si eni to fe gbe sajo. Everybody wants to come home.
What do you miss the most about home?
I have lost a lot of friends, connections and enjoyment because when you are overseas, you are really not living; you are just working, trying to satisfy the basic needs of your family. This is not the same. Here at home we have this luxury of human relations where we go to gathering, have people visiting and you also visit friends. Don’t get me wrong people do visit their friends over there, but it is structured in a way that you have to get an appointment first, you don’t see people as much as you see people them back here in Africa.
In the United States, you do most of talking on the phone or by emails – what I call computer talk and the people that are supposed to be your friends might be far from you like in another state but in Lagos, before you walk for five hours you have somebody to say hello to, even if it’s your mere neighbor. I go to work, sometimes I leave home at 6am and don’t get back sometimes till 9.pm. It all depends on the shift am doing, and I hardly see the sun. Leaving the office at 9pm and driving back home all I want is my bed.
But back here in Nigeria, there’s always something happening or somebody is visiting; there’s always something that makes you feel alive. In America, that thing that makes you feel alive in Africa is rare. You hardly have a good life in America where we are coming from. I spoke to my daughter and she said mom, you hardly go anywhere here all you do is am out, mum what are you doing outside, do you go visiting the zoo, do you go visiting amusement park, she’s a child and she feels the only reason you go out is to see these recreational stuff not knowing that you need to go see people you haven’t seen for a long time, reminisce on what you did when you were young. It gives you this feeling of being alive which you hardly get when you are abroad, all you do is work and go home to sleep.
Most Nigerian couples in the United States face marital challenges. But you look like your home front is rock steady. What is the secret?
I love my husband. They always say behind a successful man is a woman. My husband is the pillar behind my success. His name is Akinyemi Akinduro; I met him in the US and he is like God’s gift to me. If I am the right hand, you can say that he is the left hand. You know that both hands have to work together to wash each other clean. He’s a very supportive, loving and dedicated father to his children.
He is a social worker too. In fact, he recruited me for the job. He is so dedicated, encouraging and helpful, and that’s why you will see him helping families to move from depressive stage into a blossoming environment. This fires my passion to do the same. Incidentally, we have told our children that we have given enough to society – they should do something different and get into another career.
My husband kind of recruited me for the job because he’s so dedicated, encouraging and helpful, that you see how he helps families from depressive stage into a blossoming environment that he would want you to do the same. I went to school to get a degree in psychology and later studied for a Master’s degree in social work. Simply, My husband is very loving and I love him. I also have a license from the State of New York to practice as a social worker. What this means is that I can do therapy for people in New York State.
Source: The Sun
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