Learn The Secrets Of Thriving Expat Lifestyles! With @MelaninMigration

One lesson was that the scariest place you will probably be is the United States of America so leaving the United States you will find most places are much more safe much more welcoming much more respectful um of you and your Blackness than it will ever be in the United

States so I get that question a lot about uh do they like black people in you know like Indonesia do they like black there is it safe I’m like one of the most dangerous places on the planet is the United States so where you wherever you go most likely you’re going

To be more safe first of all second of All awaken with Mark is a channel that is charting the Journey of our family it’s what happens when an African-American family relocates to the continent of Africa and I’ll tell you tell you what happens we start winning that’s what happens so you can find out and go to

Our website and learn more information about that also to help others if you’re thinking about this particular type of Journey for your family we offer a free assessment something just to get you your juices flowing to get you thinking about what kind of uh things you need to do to

Prepare for this kind of a move for example in the assessment you’ll spend some time figuring out what is your why what kinds of things are you interested in and I’m really excited for her to be on to tell us about uh everything she’s been up to to also share her traveling

Tips and business practices with all of you who are uh aspiring entrepreneurs and also who want to travel outside of the country um who especially want to come to Africa afca so uh she goes by melanin migration on YouTube uh but her friends and family know her as Rukia

McNair and I just want to say thank you for coming on welcome Rukia H thank you thank you for having me you’re welcome um let’s jump right on in um can you tell the listeners okay a little bit about where you’re from just a little bit about where you stayed and what you

Do okay um I am originally from a small suburb outside of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania by the name of Oakdale um I am currently in aagana and I have a business called melanin migration um it started off as you know uh workbooks and then it just kind of evolved into Consulting and and

Some other things so nice um did you travel a lot growing up I did I I did actually my father used to work he retired from US Airways so you know when you have a parent that works for the airline you get to fly for

Free so you know we got to do a quite a bit of traveling um growing up we didn’t go like uh very far we did go to the islands you know Jamaica Bahamas like that kind of stuff um you know we did a lot of camping as well so yeah I had I

Had a variety of like travel options you know and experiences growing up yeah that’s that’s cool so it was already in your blood that’s great fun yes yes that’s cool um you had a lot of good things I think to say about Thailand is that right of course yes what was time like

There um Thailand was amazing and you know I I feel like had we not run into some Visa problems there we’d probably still be there okay um it was people were very we were in Northern Thailand so we were in changai um there people were very

Welcoming um very kind at that time the cost of living was extremely low uh so we were able to have you know a very nice house and you know you’re able to eat well and uh the food there is very healthy for you and you know it’s easy

To get around they have a train system system there so you can hop on the train for at that time it might have been like a dollar or two you know to get around Thailand so it was really really nice yeah it was really nice and how long were you guys

There uh I think we were there a little longer than a year maybe like a year and a half or something like that about a year year and a half okay yeah that’s cool wow and then and so what inspired you to move to the continent of Africa

Had you been there before or when you did move was it your first time it was our it was the first time uh me and the kids have been to Africa but that was always the plan after we got done with southeast Asia so I had lived

In um Indonesia for a while I was in Jakarta and Bali we had you know we’ve been all over some point we were going to end up on the continent and I knew once I got here that I was not going to want to leave so kind of saved it for

Last so so we went from Thailand to Rwanda um for a few months and then um after Rwanda I had to go back to Bali I used to have a business there a retail uh business so I had to go close close that close that out the plan was to stay

There for a year or so but due to the earthquakes I don’t know if you remember a few years ago there were some pretty heavy earthquakes in b um one of the islands um I think about 200 people died so we were there around that time and so

Yes so we ended up leaving a little early and we were the plan was to go back to kagali but I said well let’s stop in Tanzania on the way I want to see the coast you know kids haven’t seen the African Coastline anywhere so we ended up going to Tanzania and staying

For four years so that’s how we ended up in Tanzania so that’s cool yeah any what highlights of course you’ll find them on her YouTube channel guys but we’re here now chatting about it could you relive maybe a highlight or two that you remember living in Tanzania oh of course

Um I like which one uh I think one of the highlights was definitely Zanzibar um I’ve been there several times but gener generally speaking Zanzibar uh ston toown is just one of my favorite places yeah it’s really you know it’s similar to if anyone has if

You’ve been to Old San Juan Puerto Rico it’s kind of has like that kind of vibe it’s like a Oldtown you know um VI it’s very nice yeah so I would definitely say all the times I’ve been to zanar were amazing and what else I think I would I’ll keep that I

Mean because just living in dark on its own was a a wonderful experience just being being able to have a house like right on the water you know right next to the water just it was just everything was just so it was just really beautiful really nice that’s cool yeah I that’s

Definitely I’ll I’ll add s you said San Juan I’ll add that to my bucket list yeah Old San Juan Old San Juan add that to my bucket list and of course Tanzania um my family had looked at that uh as well um and still definitely want

Want to visit but I do miss the coast because uh I lived in uh for all of for all of you who have who have followed your side’s voice for a while you know I lived in Los Angeles for pretty much 3 years and I was spoiled because I lived

Maybe 15 minutes from the coast from from the beach um I lived close to Dockweiler Beach um okay and then I grew up in Maryland prior to that so I was okay so I was used to going to like Virginia Beach but only every so many

Years so I didn’t see water a lot and so then moving to Los Angeles and just being there just three years being able to just drive up whenever I wanted I got spoiled very quickly yeah exactly so so I I I miss it so my family my dad also

Especially loves the ocean so I can’t wait to to go back so and also to visit the African West Coast at some point see it over there uh as well uh for sure was there anything else you think that gave you the adventurous bug because you

Could have easily just put it away what is it about traveling and being independent in that way cuz you’ve also traveled solo before haven’t you yeah yeah be before yeah before I had uh the kids I was in teaching English in Jakarta and Indonesia that was my first um solo living abroad

Experience yeah that was it wow so what do you know what it is that because everyone doesn’t have that what gives you that event spirit because that’s great you’ve just seen so many things and there’s so much more it sounds like for you to see yeah I don’t really know you know I

Really think that it’s just some of it I think that you just kind of born with this you know or not you know I really I saw that there was a study done um oh gosh it was circulating in one of my travel groups a few years ago on

Facebook and that they’re they called it like a Wonder lust gene or something like that that people who are like me who like to travel who are a little bit more nomadic um that there is actually a gene no way that differentiat us from others yeah so I don’t know because I

Just feel like I just you know because me and all my my sisters and my brother we all traveled the same you know growing up we all went on the same vacations together we all but I’m the only one you know that has really decided that you know living abroad and

Staying abroad and traveling uh you know throughout my adult life is something that I want to do even though my sister was a flight attendant and they still they’re all still back in the US you know so I don’t know I think you really it’s just something it’s just

Part of you know somebody either you got it or you don’t you know and there’s nothing wrong either way it’s just that’s cool you know how it is yeah and and so you clearly passed that on to your children what’s it like traveling with Youngs when the kids were smaller

Because I start we started this when they were about I think we went to Bali they may have been like four and five um that was when we first left the US um well you know we well no we lived in the Virgin Islands in Puerto Rico

When they were babies so like we left when my son was six months old okay um but left the the United States completely I think they were like four and five or something like that when they were younger it was a bit more difficult and it was really only the the

Only difficult part to be honest with you was the actual travel was like the actual airplane airport experience right yeah yeah um getting to somewhere new once we got there was actually you know it really wasn’t that bad because one of the reasons we left was you know the I

Left is because the kid’s dad at the time was working away in Afghanistan so I wanted to be able to have domestic help right with the kids and it’s and for me in the United States it was just too expensive got so I wanted and I

Wanted to be in the sunshine I want a Tropic climate I wanted healthier food so I knew from you know living in Indonesia before I had the kids that that was one place that I knew and that I knew the language a little bit and I

Was familiar with the culture so we just went to Bali and once we got there it was fine because I was able to have um you know a little bit of help with the kids help with the cleaning and that kind of thing um it’s easier to get

Around it’s you know the cost of living is less so once we got there it was fine and the kids were fine and happy to be there but with the children when they were smaller it was definitely the challenge was getting us through the airport through you know through

Immigration customs and all of that to the destination outside of that um my children are pretty happy to to to see new places you know and new things very happy actually my daughter already has she’s 12 she has a list of places that she wants

To go when she gets older so she wants to go to Mexico and Europe and all those things you know yeah no we didn’t that’s one thing we did not get to do in Tanzania I know we were there for four years we we didn’t go on Safari um when

We were there uh maybe we’ll go I’m definitely going back though but U we did not get the chance well I won say we had the chance we just didn’t do it so yeah they’ll be they’ll be waiting it’s okay I’m excited to uh to do it as well

On the list there there’s a lot to a lot to do I still want to see like like late Kevo up here did you guys do that when you were in Rwanda okay um we did you know I really that’s one of the reasons why we left

Why I um not level we why I prefer Tanzania is because it was near the water you know that was the one problem I had with kalii and Rwanda is it’s landlocked right and I’m a water very much a water person so we used to go to

Lake kefu like like I can’t even count how many times we’ve been there um multiple times so yeah we got to go it’s I definitely go check it out I think it’s like a two or three hours from Kali it’s really it’s a beautiful drive through the mountains too it’s really

Really nice so I I highly recommend going it’s beautiful it’s really nice thank you no okay I love to hear that and I you know I follow a bunch of you know accounts on Instagram that feature it or different tra you know what travel is like and we um did recently go to

Uganda for the uh you know to get the the stamp um we were there for like the weekend and to your point about traveling through the mountains and everything beautiful yeah it’s beautiful yeah when if you go to Uganda again you know we went we took a road trip to Lake

Mutanda um okay a few years ago for my birthday that was really beautiful as well it’s not it’s not far past the border so it didn’t take us that long to get there but it’s really really nice cool yeah we we went to I add that to

The list we went to Lake bani I think is how you say it ohani yeah okay we were at the bird’s nest Resort really nice if you had if you weren’t a aware of it at the time really nice I heard okay nice yeah I’ve heard of that

Lake before nice okay let’s go to business so you’ve it sounds like you’ve had a lot of interesting jobs you’ve been a a teacher what got you into teaching and what was that like uh it was fun you know teaching um really I really started teaching just as

A way to travel because you know when I was in the US I was working uh in Virginia in the D you know DMV area I was working at like Tax Administration and uh one of my co-workers was talking about traveling abroad and living abroad teaching teaching

English and I knew that you could teach English abroad but he was just helping me with like deciding which country because he was saying oh if you go to South Korea you’ll do you know you’re going to be doing a lot of work um you’ll get paid well but you know it’ll

Be a lot of work and if you go to Southeast Asia you’ll be able to work less so you’ll be able to travel around southeast Asia a bit more and you know the weather is better and all these things so I took that into consideration and and just started applying to jobs

Really just to see what would happen and I did I got hired at EF at English first in Jakarta um a lot of English teachers that’s their first job if you’re in these ases is English first they they hire a lot of firsttime uh teachers so they put you in a house with

The other teachers and you’re basically teaching like after school proog it’s like an after school program for the kids there so yeah and once I started teaching though I found out I loved it that’s awesome fun so yeah yeah so that’s how I started teaching it really

Initially started as me just wanting to travel and trying to find a way to do that right um and get paid to do it yeah what was your favorite thing about teaching when you discovered like you loved it it was a passion um it was I loved it because it was something new

Every day okay you know so I I can’t it’s very difficult for me to go into somewhere and be doing the same thing every single day so you know was different I had the same classes but depending on the day it was a different class you know you get different

Students personalities and different questions every day it was a lot of fun yeah that’s cool and so yeah what inspired you to transition to entrepreneurship or was that something you dabbled in or already been doing over the course of your life yeah I’d already been um like doing

That I’d already been like creating um when I left by that time was I making jewelry um yeah but I had already been you know painting or you know making jewelry selling it here and there you know so I had always you know that was

Always a part of you know me anyways so yeah that’s cool so what what’s that like setting up a business when you’re traveling abroad and it’s moving with you um now it’s much easier um than it was then I don’t think um when did I set up the

You know actually well I think yeah at the time um when Etsy came I don’t know if you know what Etsy is Etsy is like a like a website where you can okay okay so I started seriously selling my things on Etsy okay um I think when the kids

Were were babies and that wasn’t it wasn’t so bad you know and then it’s kind of easy it’s it’s just a little difficult you know you have to pack all of your you know whatever if you’re selling a product you have to you know take it with you where go and that that

Was the issue is is shipping and and that kind of thing U southeast Asia wasn’t so it wasn’t as complicated as it can be here sometimes on the continent to ship things right you probably know by now yes ma inexpensive so um yeah that that was really for me that

Was really the only really the serious complication I had was the shipping issue when I when I came to the continent but other than that it was pretty easy if you can if you can you know setting up a website these days is pretty easy um you know so

Yeah nice not not too difficult yeah what inspired the sound you’re come across as a very artsy Arty person very decorated you also you know feature a lot of art um in your videos going to different cultural either centers or um events people have like you like to

Showcase a lot of that have you always been a very artsy person at heart and is that where the idea to make jewelry come from yeah I’ve always been this way awesome I’ve always been yeah into the Arts and you know um my degree is in Pan

African studies and the focus is on Arts culture and literature so you know I’ve always been um yeah this has been a way of life for me so when I did have my business in Pittsburgh um it was called culture clause and it was a fair trade

Handmade community so I had when I was on Etsy I was a part of um a group of women called the handmade Collective of black women so they were all making their own clothing they were making selling it they were making jewelry Furniture anything you can think of so I

Thought well why don’t I just put a store together where people can come and buy these things like physically you know and so that’s where I started in Pittsburgh and then I moved that store to Bali so the physical location I closed it in Pittsburgh and reopened it in Val

Indonesia so yeah and so um no matter where I am I always try to make um the Arts and Artisans outside of myself I always try to focus on those things because I just I’m always just amazed by the things that people can create with their hands it’s you know so

Coming from the US you know where a lot of things are manufactured in in facilities and you know and stuff like that it’s just really amazing to me that people can create all these beautiful things um just with their two hands or whatever you know and whatever the

Creativity they have so yeah wow like we kind of take that for granted back in the St yeah well you don’t even know like for me I didn’t I didn’t even know that people like not that I didn’t know I guess I just never even thought about it

You know until I started making my jewelry on Etsy and seeing these women and then I came to the continent and you’re seeing people make you said Furniture shelving you know yeah so it’s it it’s um and I wanted to I like to Showcase those things you know if I can

Yeah so and so wow so you make everything by hand is that right me personally yeah no I mean I like to Showcase other people like I do things like I made you know these earrings um that’s cool I can’t do that but like there are things I do make

I know what I can do but the things I cannot do yeah I like to okay I like if I can’t have it handmade that’s what I prefer gotcha gotcha so you collaborate with with others or showcase their talents as well that’s really cool do

You have a is it meditative I want to say I know the answer is yes when you’re handcrafting what you make do you get into a Zone when you’re what’s what’s that the art of making that’s great um for me Lu you know since I’ve been on the

Continent I actually can get more into the design process because when I was in the US I was actually like earrings like this I would I would design it and I would make it by hand and all that I don’t what I do now is design I design

And I can find somebody I can collaborate with who can make it so I can actually design more uh elaborate items that I probably would be able to do in the United States because I just have access to people who are more skilled right at creating so

Now I can really get into my like my creative process that um always almost always involves music some music and some incense and um yeah that’s usually it and if I could get quiet time away from the children but uh that’s it I usually get music and incense maybe some tea or something

That’s aw and I usually just yeah sit there and just kind of zone out and draw what you know what’s in my mind you know wow yeah that’s cool and yet for all those listening the she can describe them a little better I’ll attempt to the earrings she’s referencing are these

Really cool black hoop earrings Is there any other did I did I cover that about right what are they made of um they’re made of ebony um wood so ebony eony wood wood like gemstones has kind of a spiritual uh meaning too so eony ebony wood some people call it mahogany um is

Known to be um like a protective energy right and these are Messiah this is Messi beading so these are Messi beads right here they’re gold and this is brass this every piece of this is handmade so this brass part was Handmade by a brother in Tanzania

Um the beating is the msab this was you know all of this was handmade every piece of it I drew it and designed it and you know and worked with the with the Artisans there to get it done what other pieces do you design that people

Can can find when they look you up um well I have some clothing I have some of the things are not on the website as of right now because they’re in the container on the way here so there you know between you know things coming from Tanzania getting to

Ghana all of my things should be here next week so within the coming weeks I’ll have everything back on the website um but I do for me personally um I have jewelry on the website like earrings necklaces um clothes all different kinds of clothing um I think and of course my

Book and workbook so yeah and there’s also t-shirts I mean you know I don’t I don’t handmade these These are obvious they’re they’re drop shipped but like I do design you know the t-shirts so yeah t-shirts and all that stuff yeah cool yeah she’s we’re on Zoom guys you know

How I do so she’s rocking a really cool dark Africa themed tea with the panafrican colors and everything and she that’s that’s cool so you can look forward to those on her store as well jumping right back in Rukia if you if someone were to be like just I don’t

Know hype up the art the art form what’s your favorite thing about artistic expression I I like the honesty in it you know yeah okay yeah so you know I kind of look at a lot of like just the Arts in general as um truth tellers you know yeah so

That’s that’s what I like about it that’s what I like and it’s because it’s very necessary yeah and like no go ahead yeah I mean you know in a in a time when the it’s so uh the media is so um like the news media is so prevalent

In people’s lives and a lot of things are not necessarily true and you don’t know but when you get to like these Grassroots kind of like Artisans and artists and musicians all kinds of different forms of art I think that there is a lot of Truth in in in a lot

Of it even if it’s not your truth it’s the truth of the time you you know so I see what you mean yeah your process when it comes to your business like a typical day you mentioned you gotta have your tea you gotta have your music what’s a

Typical day like for you as an artist and businesswoman uh that depends on the day you know I have two children too so I mean my day you know it’s I have to get them off to school first and there’s like a whole thing that real life things I have to do um

And then depending on the day there may be you know uh like this it might be an interview you know it just depends on the day you know I’m I’m working on a second book so sometimes it that you know it’s it’s a bit of writing

Sometimes it’s a bit of drawing out you know some designs with some of the new Artisans I’m going to be that I’m working with here uh it really the DAT it just depends you know on on you know if I have to go grocery shopping that

Day or not you know like what what happen you know so I try to do something every day though that is working towards melon migration that’s awesome what it is there’s like at least one thing every day that I that I can do you know whether it is you know just doing some

Promoting for the consulting or you know whatever it is you know if it’s something more artistic based just you know something every day that works for the business so nice does doeses discipline or structure play a ro Ro at all or as best as it can because you’re right every day is

Different it is um at the moment moment I’m just trying to survive and keep my sanity because we’re still in transition with this move got because I’m still not even in permanent housing so we’re not moving to our permanent house till next week gotcha okay right so um once I we can

Get to the permanent housing and get the kids um then we’ll be close enough to the school for the bus to come and so we’ll we’ll be able to get into a group the bus comes you know then the kids will be off and then you know we’ll get

Into a nice little you know routine like we were back in Tanzania and then I can get back to the you know the everyday the routine of things but right now I’m just kind of winging it a little bit until we can get you know more settled

Gotcha that’s good okay any advice to artists especially traveling artists like yourself is there any maybe one single piece of advice you’d give them as they try to get settled or find routines and still create um I have a few pieces of advice but one thing I would say is just to be

Patient with yourself I’ve been working on that with with myself you know because it is it is difficult for me to to not have a routine it was very nice in Tanzania when we were able to settle into okay you know this kind of everyday routine but it’s diff it’s been you know

Kind of difficult for me to wrap my mind around you know you know one day I may I have to go look for you know appliances to buy for the new house and the next day I have to you know drop the kids off and go to the grocery store the next you

Know it’s just it’s different because I have so many different things that still need to be done um outside of uh creating things at the moment so just trying to give myself some Grace and uh you know knowing that I’m still still trying to settle and we’re still still

In transition um here but as far as um being in artist goes and traveling the most important thing you can do is Network um I can tell you that I mean for me that’s how I was able to get this the jewelry done that that I was able to

Get done and to be able to um work with others which is something I did not really do in the United States um as far as my artistic process but I really learned coming to the continent that’s one thing that it has taught me is uh Community especially coming to Ghana um Community

Is um something that I really have to be patient with and I had to really learn yeah so you can’t be an island unto yourself or at least not for long you you can if you know but you will be much more successful um you know be much more

Successful if you are working with others yeah for sure was that an easy thing for you to do like networking with different people in different countries when I was living in Bali you know if you don’t have a community where you’re at then start one you know

Like there was um you know if you look at if you’re on Facebook and you go to the groups um I don’t know how popular they are now but like uh if you look up brothers and sisters of whatever country it is whatever area it’ll usually pop up

Whatever the black people are in that area so I started the brothers and sisters of Indonesia when I was there and so I was kind of able to bring people to me you know what I mean I was kind of able to create that so that

Nucleus yeah so you know if if if if I can’t find it then I I’ll try and find a way to create it you know yeah for sure but it’s it’s definitely important to um I think you know your longterm success in in whatever new country you’re going

To just to find your people you know yeah that’s in fact look can we touch on that for just a little bit any how do I want to phrase it any highlights or Lessons Learned and encouragement to Black Travelers um one lesson was that the scariest

Place you will probably be is the United States of America so leaving the United States you will find most places are much more safe much more welcoming much more respectful um of you and your Blackness than it will ever be in the United States so I get that question a lot

About uh do they like black people in you know like Indonesia do they like black people there is it safe I’m like one of the most dangerous places on the planet is the United States so where you wherever you go most likely you’re going to be more safe first of all second of

All um you know the racism that we deal with in the US we’re so accustomed to it and used to it I feel like we don’t even realize that it is having the uh effect on us that it has you know emotionally and all of that until you

Leave you realize that a lot of people are not judging you off strictly off the basis of you know the color of your skin it is something to really get used to um and you have to be prepared for that also you have to be open to understanding that you’re going there’s

A lot of unlearning that’s going to happen when you leave the United States as well you know you’re gonna have to I remember I got pulled over by the police in Tanzania and I almost had like I almost just had a meltdown in the car

But the brother just came over to see if I was okay how are you doing today where you going are you okay okay have a nice day I seriously was almost brought to tears because I just in the united I didn’t realize how ingrained that experience is of being

Terrified of the police in the United States you know and then coming somewhere where you know you don’t you don’t have to live that way anymore just having just just that in that second I just finally had that realization and it’s just something that you have to be

Open to dealing with you know and to learning yourself unlearning those things you know additional um Gems or lessons that you learned while traveling black because we deserve to to see the world and I’m just so inspired to have you on the show to be here with my be in Africa with my

Family and my other friends and family who are also happen to be black and just living our best lives would you have any more you’d like to elaborate on with that um I think that’s it I think that you know um the unlearning and just being open

To change because it’s not always going to be easy it’s going to be up and down some days you have to be prepared for that but I think one of the biggest things people can do is um is to learn try and learn yourself and try and learn to listen to your

Intuition um yeah because that will take you very far in a new country when you don’t know the language you know so very good I think that’s it that’s cool and in fact let’s talk about that what’s your so far you’re still adjusting anything really stand out about now being in

Ghana oh so many things um you know that’s why that’s why I mov just here one thing that I guess it has been different from all the places where we’ve lived is that in Acra um English is spoken right it’s very easy for us to navigate that’s the

Wor thing it’s very easy for us to navigate um and because you know in Tanzania it was kah but I was learning kah that’s why I was there I was on a student visa to learn but you know it’s just it’s really nice to be here and to to be able to

Communicate with folks you know um how you want to yeah um although I’ll be learning a few different languages here soon my fiance speaks twe and he speaks house nice so I’ll be learning those things very soon but um I will say that one thing but just in general of like uh

The way that um the spiritual aspects of seems like on the West Side here on the West side of the of of Africa it is just more open I feel like on the East it was the traditional religion and spirituality was kind of you had to dig for it if you

Had to go out into the villages and you had to go you’re not going to go to DAR and see like here they have like herbalist traditional herbalist uh Clinic traditional medicine University here got you’re not gonna see that in you know what I mean so um here it’s a

Bit different in that way and I can feel it because I feel much more connected to here than I did to Tanzania in the east side go so just spiritually immediately as soon as I came here I visited in November and that was one of the reasons

Why I wanted to move here is because I just felt so spiritually connected to here so that is the other thing and the other thing just like the basic things food delicious you know the Jola fries and the the fish and the I got try and the

Fuu all that yeah it’s delici so good here sorry sorry real quick the fuu is is that the um the white dish that you pull apart for like sauces and things yeah so there’s different so there’s there’s bonu and there’s Ki there’s there’s like three different ones there probably more than that it’s

Similar to like um and there’s ugali in Rwanda yeah yeah that’s yeah you have ugali there I think we have that here I’ve had that okay because it’s like made from powder and water or that’s one of the ways anyway yes gotcha okay yes yes so that’s how

The ugali is made here is Banu is like it’s like it’s the same thing actually it’s just fermented a little bit okay so nice Okay but you were okay sorry to interrupt you were different options for that yes yeah so that so the food the you know um and there is just a

Liveliness here that I didn’t really um that I didn’t really um experience so much in Tanzania like it’s hard to explain so it was kind of like Kali is very calm and Serene and then you get to Tanzania and it’s a little bit more life you know a little bit more things

Going and then here is just um it’s it’s it’s it’s reminds me of a you know at home black folks in the states kind of you know we’re very Lively people we like to laugh play and joke and you know and have fun and you know work hard and

That’s kind of that’s you know how I feel about here so feel I feel very at home that’s good I’m I’m I’m glad that’s that’s great and so the and then the transition the kids really like it as well does it really really agrees with them as well especially education wise because you

Were talking about and things yeah so the schooling here is much for for for my children I found that the schooling here is much uh better for them um so they’re really enjoying the school that they’re at um they’re at an international school a pretty large international school so they’re they’re

Adjusting because the school they were in in Tanzania was a little small a lot smaller um and I did an interview with with the principal of the school they were at in Tanzania that was on my YouTube channel actually I saw that so that was really cool yeah so brother a

Brother from from the from California actually principal now um yeah it was really good interview so the school I’m at now the kids right now they really enjoy it um they like it here though because you know they’re almost teenagers so they want to go to the mall

Not that there weren’t malls and dar but you know here it’s a bit more they’ll find more things that are um similar to the US right so the malls uh that is one thing so there’s more malls here and there’s more stores in them that they kind of are familiar to

Them more restaurants here that are more familiar to them you know so um they really do love it here they really like it here that’s good good for them that’s so they’re finding they also yeah they missed the beach you know the beach life

In in Dar but you know there is Big City life now so they’re they’re getting used to it and yeah they’re they’re liking it a lot that’s good yeah that’s good any advice you would give people people starting B whether it’s whether they have overhead such as

Yourself or whether maybe it’s remote or anything maybe it’s as simple as do your research to see like how easy is it to start a business do you need uh a work permit do you need maybe sorry like more details that way so yeah so all of those

Things are important but I I always encourage people to go to whatever country you’re going to and get settled first you need to get settled and and learn that culture and the people where you’re going to be living first I don’t recommend anybody starting a business before the first year you know because

You really need to learn people especially if you’re hiring people to work for you you need to learn how don’t people work you know because it’s different everywhere you go you know every country I lived in people have different ethics when it comes to working you know and so you need to be

Aware of those things and you only learn those things through time time it takes time and to and to build the relationship you’re going to need for the business that you want it all that takes time so first don’t worry about business so much get save your money get

Yourself settled you know learn the culture you know learn what’s needed what’s not needed as far as business but that’s not something I ever encourage anyone to rush into unless you’re coming to a place where you already have a business business that is online or something like that you know

That’s already been established but if if you’re coming somewhere and starting something new take your time it’s not a rush you know yes yeah I I was watching One video where someone um I forgot who it was but the advice was great they said settle you know go at your own pace

Because some people um they’ll move to another country be it somewhere in Africa and they might not do anything by that anything they mean business or something for maybe six to eight months everyone’s pace is yeah yeah different yeah it’s it’s different um and that’s assuming you know you your

Savings were on point or whatever the case exactly so that you weren’t stressed and weren’t strapped for cash or something like that um as soon as you as you landed but it’s very important to get settled and not rush um was it easy for you and your children to do that

Coming I mean like me you grew up in the States you traveled more than I did but you still you know your point about the police and just some of those anxieties did you feel that anxiety to you know okay I gotta be doing something I gotta

Or was it easy to kind of settle in no I mean I mean that whether no matter where I’m at I’m always like I have some kind of anxiet char out producing and creating things you know and I don’t know you know I I follow this account on Instagram called

The nap Ministry and it really got me to thinking if yeah and that got me to thinking is that the capitalism that’s been ingraining me to feel like always need to produce even if it is something creative you know so that got you know so that I’ve been rethinking that so

Since I’ve been here I’ve been trying to uh make it an intentional effort to do nothing sometimes you know but I do put that pressure on myself like I need to be creating something I need to be writing something you know like why am I

Like this like why am I putting this own press this pressure on myself you know and just creating anxiety for myself like why am I doing that and I think a lot of that is ingrained As Americans we are ingrained to be always producing and working you know

So um I do I do do that quite and I’m trying to stop so you’re on YouTube we’ve touched on it uh melanin migration when the world inspired you to put your life on YouTube uh I don’t know I asked myself that question all the time H goodness I think it started I

Don’t know why you know it’s because you know when we were in Thailand we were on House Hunters International when we were there oh that’s right and yeah and it was after that that I started thinking like maybe you know when we do get to the continent at some

Point I will start my YouTube then because I really wanted to inspire us to just like I have been I’ve been inspiring and helping us you know helping us to get wherever we wanted to go at that point Bute people were just contacting me mostly because they wanted

To go to Thailand and Val because those are the places that I have been um but when I get to the continent you know after this episode you know that was when I released the book and that is kind of how it started with the book and I said

Well you know I really want people to see what life is like on the continent and maybe it will inspire some people to come and that’s how it started yeah Ria this this has been great um can you guys you can follow her on YouTube at the melan migration um can you share

Any of your other socials where people are welcome to follow your website things like that yeah sure um yeah melanin migration. comom you can find uh me there you can find if you look under the news section there you can find some of the other interviews and you can find

The link to my HGTV um the House Hunters episode we did some years ago you can find the BBC um documentary that did that I was part of to this is all there under the news section on my website there are some things left in the store

Um again I’ll have more things in the store one of my container gets here next week but you can get all the t- all the logo items you know t-shirts sweatshirts that kind of stuff is all there um for right now uh what else Instagram melore

Migration for that and I think that’s it yeah awesome this has been a lot of fun Rukia thank you so much um thank you you’re welcome and guys uh to every when listening I hope you took uh some gems I hope you took some much needed advice um

You know take what works leave leave what doesn’t everyone’s artistic entrepreneurial and traveling Journey will look different and that’s that’s totally fine but I hope you enjoyed um listening to what worked for Rukia and if you find some overlap more power to you um hope you’ve enjoyed this

Interview guys uh I’ve enjoyed talking to Rukia and uh if you like this uh stay tuned for more so it’s coming soon until then I’ll talk to y’all later peace the

The secrets of thriving expat lifestyles abroad is the focus of today’s video!

#blackdiaspora #blackexpat #ghana #businessinafrica

Josiah interviewed fellow expat and artistic entrepreneur @MelaninMigration about her experience going from a solo traveler to traveling with two small children and taking her business across the world.

Contact Rukiya McNair a.k.a. The Migrating Mom:
💻 (Website): www.melaninmigration.com
📱 (Instagram): @melanin_migration
▶️ (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/@MelaninMigration
Full Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdUTUkcI4xY&t=16s
Spotify Travel Series – https://open.spotify.com/playlist/51cEZaXacGCVS4JX4PkoIz?si=8a0bda07e20e4b29

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00:00 Introduction
02:28 Who Is Rukiya McNair?
03:00 Traveling Growing Up
03:46 Life In Thailand
04:50 What Inspired the Move to AFRICA?
06:31 Life in Tanzania
08:58 Wanderlust – Travel Gene
10:58 Traveling With Children
15:21 Teaching English Abroad
18:10 Running a Business Living Abroad
19:59 The Artistic Journey
22:21 Running Her Art Business
26:29 Favorite Thing About Art
27:37 Entrepreneur’s Day In the Life
29:49 Advice to Artist’s Doing Business Abroad
31:59 Networking Advice Living Abroad
33:06 Encouragement for Black Travelers
36:30 Life In Ghana
41:58 STARTING A Business Abroad
44:27 Living Abroad & Hustle Culture