Djisha Golden Maina, a young Kenyan living in Germany, has attracted considerable online conversations with a touching video clip on the painful reality of life abroad — and why he cannot come back home yet. In the short video, Djisha opens up about what he is going through in Germany, showing a face of diaspora life that few usually talk about.
Djisha’s migration was, therefore, driven by hope, a dream for better opportunities, stability, and the ability to take care of his family back in Kenya. Life has been quite different from what he had envisioned in Germany. He describes every day as a fight: tussling between hard work and cultural challenges with loneliness in a foreign land.
However, Djisha admitted that the thought of going back home is something he cannot think about now. “Returning to Kenya would feel like failure,” he said in the clip. Many people, he indicated, assume that anyone living abroad automatically lives a life of success, but the truth, he said, is far more complex. He still carries expectations from family and friends, people who believe he is living a perfect life because he is in Europe. “How do I return empty-handed?” he asked.
Djisha added that he is still trying to regularize his documents, stabilize his income, and build the foundation strong enough to promise him a better future; leaving Germany now would undo all the painful sacrifices he has made.
His emotional honesty struck a chord in many Kenyans at home and in the diaspora, who praised him for candidly speaking of a reality often masked by filtered photos and smiles.
While the challenges go on, Djisha pushes forward, hopeful for a chance to rise and rebuild, and one day to return home on his own volition.
By Nairobi