Personal Narrative: My Profession Of Occupational Therapy

I immigrated from South Africa in 1991. My original plan was not really to immigrate, but to come to the United States for a couple of years to gain work experience and pay off student loan debt. The US government had a list of professions at the time, in which it needed professionals. They issued work permits and HIB-Visas to foreigners to fills these gaps in the states. My chosen profession of Occupational Therapy was on the list, which made the process much easier. I planned to return home to South Africa after two years. The value of the US Dollar at the time was about R3.00 and so earning money in dollars helped me pay off my student loans much more quickly.
After being here for those two years, I valued the ease of life here, the general

sense of safety and the things about America that most individuals take for granted! I also was offered a permanent job and had met the person who would become my husband.
South Africa was a stressful place to live at the time. I always say that most places in South Africa can be compared to living in the worst parts of some big cities in the USA. Crime rates were very high, and among other factors, world boycotts of South Africa had led to very high poverty. The country’s economic and political future was uncertain, and many professionals were immigrating because they feared that the opportunity for themselves and future generations was not being protected! Although Apartheid had officially ended, the effects on the people and the country remained evident. A lot of South African’s at the time spoke of a “brain drain”.