BTS Health Digest #15 - My Experience Living in Wales out in a New Book - Cymru & I

The Struggles, Discrimination, Victories, and Next Steps.

Living in another country for an extended period of time comes with its own unique set of challenges and is very much different from taking a two-week vacation and heading back to your country of origin, in this case, Nigeria.

I lived in Wales, particularly, Swansea for one year while I worked on completing my post graduate degree in Health Informatics, and I would say it was an amazing experience with its bag of good and bad experience. I have always been an advocate of telling our stories to help others make better informed decisions, and when I got the opportunity to share my story, I did not hesitate.

I am happy to say that I co-authored a book titled: Cymru & I where we shared our experience living in Wales. In my story, I talked about leaving Nigeria, getting to Wales, the struggle to find accommodation, no jobs, racial discrimination among other issues.

Here is an excerpt:

No Jobs

The first line of the email read, ‘We regret to inform you…’

I didn’t bother to read to the end because I already knew the contents. It was another rejection. Over my first few months in the UK, rejection mail became my breakfast, and it always left a bitter aftertaste.

Three months in and I was still jobless. This was not what I had expected. I had learnt that there were lots of jobs in the UK and that they were not difficult to get, especially care home jobs. At some point, I took a step back to question my skill set, qualifications and work experience. Back home in Nigeria, I had worked as a medical doctor and also ran a small business. On the side, I also consulted for health tech companies, particularly those who worked on digital health products and services. How, then, was I not fit for UK work? It baffled me.

‘You are here to study, not to look for jobs,’ Judy said.

She was one of our course tutors and the programme director for the MSc health informatics course.

‘Health informatics is very demanding. You will read until your eyes bleed. You’d better plan your time very well if you are considering getting a job,’ she added.

I took my job search a step further by requesting feedback from the companies that had rejected me. Some of them obliged but most told me they were unable to provide feedback.

‘Your resume is fantastic, and you have really got a wealth of experience that we could use but you don’t have prior UK work experience,’ the recruiting manager told me.

It was a Microsoft Teams meeting online and I listened intently. I held a pen hoping to take some notes as valuable feedback.

‘We found someone who has UK experience, and I would encourage you to keep applying for other roles,’ she concluded.

I told her I didn’t have any questions for her, and she ended the call. I wondered how I was going to get UK work experience if no one was going to hire me. Desperation and depression began to set in.

A friend told me that I could try the local pubs and restaurants just in case they had jobs that were not advertised. The next few days found me knocking at bars, restaurants and pubs looking for any type of job that was available. I applied for receptionist and sales roles. But it was all futile.

The book is available on Seren Books and Amazon for purchase as it has been launched.

You can watch the book launch here.

Some Pictures from the Book Launch.

Please support by buying a copy and I would really love to read your comments and feedback.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Dr. Ron

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