Emigration, and then…

Blog Kelly de Vries

After living in Ghana for 2 years, it was time. Time to decide what my future will look like. Will I go back to The Netherlands and find a 9-to-5 job? Will I stay in Ghana with Meet Kate? Will I move to another country? So many choices and possibilities. For some people it is hard to choose between all the options, with a decision like this they usually focus on the obstacles instead of possibilities. For me, it was a decision that I actually made some time ago.

For the time being, I’m staying in Ghana. I feel at home here! But there were several things that I had and wanted to change this year. First of all, I realised that Meet Kate is doing very well. I can easily go to The Netherlands for a month and business continues as usual. Important issues that require a meeting of the entire board (Philo, Steve and me) were discussed via email of phone and the rest is managed without me. That has always been Meet Kate’s vision. Start a project together and slowly consign the full responsibility to the local community. So now is the time to actually make that happen. I am no longer needed every day. I will stay in charge of the financial checks and the communication between Ghana and The Netherlands, but I don’t need more than 2 days a week to do that. It is time to let go. And by letting go I mean professionally, not personally. Meet Kate is my passion, my family and my dream and I will always stay connected to that.

Second of all, it is time for me to learn new things and earn some money. For the past two years Meet Kate only covered my expenses (€500,- a month) and unfortunately that is no longer sufficient. I need a job on the side. Starting April I will divide my time between a paid (parttime) job in Accra and Meet Kate in Swedru. I will therefore move to Accra, but I’ll still be at Meet Kate’s projects for 2-3 days a week. I’m looking forward to this new period. A period full of gaining new knowledge, new experiences, new social and professional contacts and a period of letting go. Letting go of my daily dose of Meet Kate that I’ve had for the past two years, letting go of what I started 6 years ago. Letting go is part of our process and I’m glad it doesn’t mean goodbye for me. It’s a new step, whereby I want to focus on the possibilities. The possibilities for Meet Kate, my environment and myself.

In this way I would like to inform you – follower, donor and friend of Meet Kate – about my plans. Because that is what Meet Kate stands for: communication, transparency and honesty. But especially a future of independence, self-reliance and possibilities. That’s what Meet Kate and I will put into practice, together and apart.

Kelly