IS IT BETTER TO STAY OR TO GO?

Every year the amount of people leaving the country is increasing and they have many good reasons to do it. Migrants search for a better quality of life and more opportunities, but are these people hurting our country? Is it better to stay to improve our society and maybe have a better country and increase the chances for the new generation to have a better place to live?  Or is Colombia a lost cost? If the answer to the last question is yes, better to pack our bags and leave as soon as we can. I'm not sure what is the right path, however, these are the reasons I believe emigrating is not a good thing for our country. 

In the first place, many of those who emigrated from Colombia were highly educated middle and upper middle class population. Great professionals that work to improve and create better and more opportunities when away, moreover, mainly of those immigrants were in the working age population. Above all, numeros applied for scholarships that our own government offers, and all that investment got lost through the “brain drain”. As an example of this, I had a friend that I met at the time living in the USA, an excellent student from a very prestigious university. She decided to stay even knowing that she had to return all the money from the scholarship of Colfuturo plus Colciencias. she designed a new product for a company abroad that now is producing profit and benefits, sadly not on our land. 

Secondly, even though the biggest cause of the social cohesion erosion in Colombia is inequality and security, I believe Colombians living abroad can contribute a little as well to this issue.  A lot of people that emigrated can have a negative view of this land, raising a lack of collaboration and compassion for our society. Since they don't feel bound they start complaining and comparing this country with the one they lived in, creating opposite and helpless viewpoints that threaten and weaken our union and positive hopes  about the future. Moreover, people can feel like outsiders, not Colombias anymore. For instance, my cousin said that she wasn't unsure on what nationality she belonged to. Both of her parents were Colombians, but she was borned in Puerto Rico and raised in the USA. She was looking for a group to be part of, and for me she had Colombian blood running through her body, so it is sad that now her kids feel more Mexican and losing ties with all of us, an entire generation watched away. 

Finally, must people living abroad experience expat depression, one of the dark sides of migrating. Cultural changes and language barriers are some of the causes of  developing anxiety and depression. The 50% of expat are at high risk of mental health issues, mostly because of the loss of a support network and not being able to connect with their origin culture. I loved living in the USA, but my husband and I talked several times about how we felt not part of the culture, a horrible feeling of not belonging that stopped us many times to express freely and act as ourselves for the fear of the risk of being rejected or even hurt by someone. We had a lot of reunions with Colombians and even hispanics from other nationalities that had the same experience. So living abroad can be not a happy dream like most people believe. 

I understand all the reasons people decided to emigrate, but we need to think in a way we can help not other countries, that in my opinion will neve be ours. We have to transform this beautiful country into a better place to live with the knowledge of our bright citizens and brotherhood. We all together will help to create a great Colombia for our offspring to enjoy and feel proud of,even if they decide to leave for any reason. so , what choice will you make? Leave or stay?