Coming to Canada: A Personal Odyssey

by Kevin Kingsley-Williams

Overview

What does it take to leave a good job, your community, your country, and even your continent, and move 4,200 miles away? As financial controller at a top-tier bank in The Gambia, Kevin Kingsley-Williams was provided a house, a maid, a car, club memberships, and other perks of corporate life. But after experiencing the 1994 military coup, he immigrated in January of 1997 to Toronto, where the thermometer registered minus 10 degrees Celsius.

Once in Canada, Kevin immediately hits a series of snarls as he attempts to build a new life. Getting a job requires an address, but getting an address requires proof of employment. He is found “lacking in Canadian experience” yet also deemed to be “overqualified.” Having misjudged the effectiveness of his footwear, he is forced to wander a shopping mall in his socks—yet the ski mask and parka he wears in a desperate attempt to stay warm cause potential employers, landlords, and bankers to view him with alarm.

Join Kevin as he adjusts to a new world, where apartments that were for rent a few hours ago are “unavailable” when he arrives to look at them and phrases such as “digging out” take on new meaning after the first snowstorm. Kevin offers, with his humor and perseverance, a fresh perspective on the challenges of the immigrant experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781475977189
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	02/25/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	222
File size:	2 MB

Read an Excerpt

Coming to Canada

A PERSONAL ODYSSEY

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By Kevin Kingsley-Williams

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2013 Kevin Kingsley-Williams
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-7711-0

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Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

I was born in Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone, a former British colony in West Africa. Sierra Leone is a nation endowed with an incredible richness of natural resources. However, in a trend similar to many post-independence African nations, the benefit from exploiting these resources failed to trickle down ordinary people and by the 1990's, Sierra Leone was ranked amongst the poorest countries in the world by the United Nations.

My parents moved to London, England soon after I was born, and, together with my older brother and sister, spent my first five years there. We returned to Sierra Leone in the early 1970's and I had a relatively privileged life growing up in the suburbs outside Freetown. My father was a surgeon specialist, but he also had a number of business interests including farming and importation of fruit juices. My mother was the owner and headmistress of a private elementary school.

I joined the accounting firm of KPMG in Sierra Leone in 1983 as a trainee accountant, and was transferred to KPMG in Nigeria in 1986. It was there that I earned my chartered accountant designation. In 1989, I returned to the KPMG office in Sierra Leone as an audit senior and was promoted to supervisory senior within 18 months.

My role at KPMG was performing statutory audits for large corporations. Around this time, the firm was entering into the burgeoning and lucrative area of consulting work with international agencies and NGO's such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS). These engagements were very different from audits of corporations; focusing instead on compliance with the terms of legal agreements between national governments and applicable laws and regulations. They involved writing fairly lengthy audit reports, which I happened to be pretty good at. As a result, almost by default, I became the go-to person for these assignments.

Most of the consulting work originated from The Gambia where KPMG had a small office of fifteen staff. The office was not able to handle these engagements from a resource perspective. This meant that some of the work had to be referred to Freetown. I had to do a lot of travelling which took me not only to the KPMG office in The Gambia, but also to several project locations in countries across West Africa, including Mali, Niger, Cape Verde, Chad and Cote d'Ivoire.

The growth in consulting work led the senior partner to make some management changes at the Gambia office which resulted in my being transferred there on a permanent basis in 1990. As audit manager, I reported to the Resident Manager who was British, and indirectly to the senior partner in Freetown.

Not being a Gambian citizen, I was given an expatriate employment contract which came along with several perks I did not have in Sierra Leone. I was installed in a furnished, air-conditioned, four-bedroom house that had extensive grounds containing several fruit and decorative trees. I had the use of an official car and day and night security guards at the house. I was also provided with a maid to cook and take care of general housekeeping. All utilities, gas and maintenance were paid for by the firm, as were memberships to sports clubs along with all the other trappings of expatriate life.

I loved my job and adapted very easily to life as an expatriate, attending cocktail parties on the diplomatic circuit as well as developing a wide circle of friends among the Gambian elite. My girlfriend, Sarah, who would later become my wife, moved from Sierra Leone to join me.

In 1992, the Meridien International Bank Group won a bid to take over the former Gambia Commercial and Development Bank (GCDB) which was a badly-run government-owned bank on the verge of collapse. I was the audit manager on the GCDB audit and worked closely with the Meridien folks during the transition. Once the transition was completed, KPMG was appointed auditor of Meridien Bank and I was the engagement manager.

It therefore came as no surprise that when the position of Financial Controller opened up at Meridien Bank, I was one of the first people to be approached. It was an offer I couldn't refuse—a salary almost three times what I was earning at KPMG, a nicer house and car, less travel, and a lot more perks in terms of an entertainment budget and overall social status. I accepted the job, but the break-up with KPMG was not pretty. However, I felt that I was ready for a new challenge and a new phase in my life.

Following the move, our lifestyle changed significantly. We were able to take holiday and shopping trips in Europe; we were invited to all the best cocktail and dinner parties, and we attended many state functions the most memorable of which was a dinner held in honour of HRH The Prince Edward. My wife became close friends with one of the president's daughters and we often attended events at State House at her invitation.

We counted among our circle of friends the heads of diplomatic missions and NGO's, cabinet ministers, and CEO's of major corporations and state agencies. I was a member of the Rotary Club of Banjul, serving as Treasurer in 1996. We hosted a Christmas party at our house every year which was attended by many in the African expatriate community as well as by our Gambian friends.

We lived in the suburbs outside Banjul, close to the beach and tourist development area. This was where the British had built living quarters for civil servants during the colonial era but was now home to the Gambian elite and expatriate community. Most of the houses were large bungalows although there were a few mansions owned by business people or politicians. Boutique shops and an assortment of restaurants dotted the area.

With the beach and the hotels so close by, it was like living year-round on a holiday resort. It was a great way of life.

CHAPTER 2

This idyllic lifestyle was interrupted on the morning of July 22, 1994 when, soon after I got to work, rumours started circulating that soldiers from the Gambia National Army had taken over the bridge that leads into the city of Banjul.

The bridge itself is about 5 km from the city centre and is the only route to the suburban residential areas and on to the only international airport. The downtown area on the other side of the bridge is where the presidential compound, government buildings, and major corporations are located. The sea port is also in this area.

Initially, the management team at the bank did not take the rumors seriously, as the Gambia National Army was perceived to be largely ceremonial rather than combat-ready. In any case the president, who had been in power for the last 24 years, had tight control over all of the security services, including the military. As well, there was a US Navy warship in port on a week-long courtesy call to The Gambia. We assumed that the military movements being reported most likely had something to do with the American vessel.

But the rumors persisted and soon we had people coming into the bank with eye-witness accounts of armed soldiers at the bridge and more soldiers advancing towards the capital in trucks.

At this point, the management team gathered for an emergency conference and we decided to close the bank to the public as a precaution, and initiate our emergency security protocols. These included securing all cash from the tellers and shutting down the vault. The keys to the vault were under dual control, with me being one of the custodians, and the managing director being the other. The managing director at the time was a British national named John Donnan, and he appeared to be terrified by the situation. He felt that it made sense to hand over the second set of keys to the Executive Director Pa Njie, who was Gambian, just in case foreigners had to leave the country. In this frightening scenario, apparently, I was no longer considered to be a foreigner!

We contacted the Central Bank and they advised us to secure the building and remain inside. Moments later, both my landline and cell phone began to ring constantly with friends calling in from around the city and from the suburbs asking about developments. A friend who worked at the Justice department called me to say that the military trucks had reached her location which was less than 3 km from State House. Before that call ended, I heard sirens wailing outside and rushed to the windows to see what was happening. We saw what appeared to be a presidential motorcade speeding down the road heading toward the port.

We later learned that it was in fact the president and that he had boarded the US vessel with his family for safety. State House was now occupied by soldiers. Not long after that, the government-run radio station went dead, phone lines went down, and electricity power was cut off—all of which are the classic signs of a military coup d'état.

We were now too frightened to turn on the bank's back-up generators, so we sat in the dark, stifling heat of the banking hall and waited for more information. Word came that the military were now allowing people to cross the bridge back to the mainland, but that senior government officials, or anyone in a vehicle with government license plates was being detained.

We decided to leave the bank in a convoy and head home as no one really wanted to be caught in a bank at night while there soldiers were marauding about the streets. There was also the distinct possibility of civil unrest after darkness fell.

I hid the keys to the vault in my car trunk for safety and prepared for the drive home. There was a huge traffic jam leading up to the bridge and each vehicle was being thoroughly searched. However, when the lead vehicle in our convoy arrived, our Executive director, speaking in the local dialect, told the soldiers who we were, and we got waved through without further delay.

I got home shortly afterwards to the relief of my wife. It was about 4pm and the electricity and telephones were still down. We were hesitant to turn on our back-up generator as no one else on the street had theirs on, and we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves. Two cabinet ministers lived on our street and it was no surprise when a convoy of military vehicles arrived at their homes and took them away.

Just before 6.00 pm, the government-run radio station came back on. Regular programming had been replaced by martial music, intermittently interrupted by a disembodied voice asking the public to remain calm and wait for an important announcement.

And so it was that Captain Yahya A. J. J. Jammeh declared himself Head of State, announced a dusk to dawn curfew, closed all land and sea borders and ordered all former cabinet ministers to report to the nearest police station.

Things settled down into an uneasy calm during the next several days, but it was clear that The Gambia had been irreversibly changed. Many of our Gambian friends had been imprisoned or lost their positions, people no longer felt free to openly express a political opinion, there were mysterious disappearances and "accidents" affecting journalists and opposition figures, and the public was subjected to almost daily rants over the radio from the new leadership.

But the "revolution" itself was immensely popular with the general population. From our privileged position, we had not realized the extent of resentment that had built up against the elites, or the undercurrents of xenophobia with regard to the expatriate community.

Almost all military coups in Africa follow a similar pattern. The new regime promises to clean house by firing or imprisoning members of the previous government. Commissions of inquiry and investigations are launched. Unqualified or inexperienced people are catapulted into senior government positions, and any critics are ruthlessly dealt with. It is only a matter of time before the original coup plotters fall out, and the leader consolidates power by eliminating or imprisoning his erstwhile comrades.

The response of the international community is equally predictable. They go through the motions of advising their nationals to leave the country, threaten to cut-off economic aid and impose sanctions—basically helping to make a bad situation even worse for the nationals of the country.

The July 22 revolution was no exception. There were rumours of armed revolts being put down at military bases, rumours of incursions of loyalist fighters in the interior and a general state of instability while the coup leaders consolidated power. In the meantime, the nation's external reserves were being accessed and wasted on showcase projects designed to portray the young leader as a savior and a larger than life figure.

* * *

I started thinking seriously about what kind of future we had in The Gambia and what our options were. Returning to Sierra Leone was not a good option because comparable job opportunities were not readily available and Sierra Leone itself was descending into a full-fledged civil war.

In early 1995, Meridien International Bank (our parent company) had its banking license revoked in the United States and a number of European countries due to violations of international banking regulations. The resulting freeze on the bank's activities had a cascading effect on all subsidiaries and branches, tying up all of our international transactions. An action plan had to be developed with the Central Bank and Ministry of Finance to save the bank in The Gambia from a run that would certainly have led to the complete collapse of the Gambian economy.

The governor of the Central Bank had been sacked by the military and replaced by his deputy who lacked experience and had a reputation for intemperance. The new Deputy Governor was a hitherto unknown junior banking officer that had been promoted several levels for no apparent reason other than hailing from the same village as the new president. It was these two individuals that we had to deal with in formulating a strategy for an orderly transition.

The transition plan was for the Central Bank to seize control of Meridien Bank Gambia Limited which would then continue its normal operations under Central Bank supervision. All senior management was retained to maintain an image of stability, while quiet instructions were given to government and quasi-government institutions not to withdraw their deposits. A senior official from the Central Bank was appointed as a co-Managing Director and had veto power over all management decisions.

Ironically, it was through these meetings that I became acquainted with the new Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, who would often call on me to proof-read and edit his official letters or provide advice on macro-economic matters that he had difficulty comprehending. This connection not only provided me with a measure of job-security, but also gave me a ring-side view of the systematic dismantling of the structures that had provided stability to the economy and foreign exchange rate over the years.

In my view, the economic decline that swiftly followed the coup was not as a result of a deliberate intent but rather it was a combination of well-meaning patriotism, grandiose ideas and incompetence. Unfortunately things would deteriorate much further and much faster as time went on.

CHAPTER 3

The declining economy and police state atmosphere only served to reinforce my desire to get out of The Gambia as soon as I could. My goal was to secure another job as an expatriate in Africa or the Middle East and I concentrated my search efforts in that direction. I scoured the classified pages of international news magazines, networked with the few remaining expatriates in The Gambia, and sent out cold letters to international institutions such as the IMF and World Bank. Some of these efforts resulted in telephone interviews but nothing worked out.

My older brother, Roxy who lived in Sierra Leone at the time, was also trying to get out and had a lead to a Canadian immigration lawyer based out of Montreal that claimed a high success rate in assisting people to immigrate to Canada. His name was Leonard Simcoe, and he charged a fee of $50 to perform an evaluation to determine a candidate's potential eligibility for acceptance as an independent immigrant, using the Canadian government scoring system.

My initial reaction was that this was a scam and that after the $50 was paid, one would never hear from this individual again. I parked this information to one side while I continued with other efforts. I did not particularly want to move to a western country as my conversations with friends in the Sierra Leonean community in England did not indicate that there were many opportunities for upward mobility for new immigrants. Given what I had achieved in my career so far, this did not look like a palatable option.

My wife, Sarah, had just completed her Accounting Technician examinations and was ready to move on to the ACCA (Chartered Association of Certified Accountants) program, both of which are based in the UK. We decided that it made sense for her to move to the UK and complete her studies while I remained in The Gambia and continued my job search.

Some changes had been going on with KPMG in Africa, and the UK based partners had taken a decision to transfer the oversight responsibility for the African practices to KPMG South Africa. A position opened up for a Regional Coordinator based in South Africa with responsibility to design and implement a system of peer reviews for African practices. This sounded like a great opportunity for me, given my experience in Sierra Leone, Nigeria and The Gambia.

I received an immediate and excited response from the South African practice and through several phone calls; arrangements were being made for me to visit South Africa for an interview. At the time, South Africa was still in the process rejoining the international community after the end of the apartheid era and many African countries still did not have direct air connections with South Africa. I would therefore have to fly to Europe first, and then catch a flight to South Africa via Kenya—a total of almost 20 hours flying including two overnight layovers.
(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Coming to Canada by Kevin Kingsley-Williams. Copyright © 2013 by Kevin Kingsley-Williams. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Author's note on grammar and spelling....................     ix     

Introduction....................     xi     

Prologue....................     xiii     

Book One—The journey begins: The winding road to Canada....................     1     

1 A look in the rear-view mirror....................     3     

2 A coup d'etat forces a decision....................     7     

3 Weighing the options....................     13     

4 It's Canada!....................     18     

5 An interview in Ghana....................     22     

6 A brief detour while we wait....................     30     

7 An immigrant visa is granted....................     36     

8 A whirlwind trip to Canada....................     55     

9 leaving it all behind....................     64     

Book Two—Journey's End: Arrival and assimilation....................     81     

10 Winter shock—First days in Canada....................     83     

11 Catch 22—no address? no documents!....................     90     

12 A roof over my head....................     95     

13 Becoming a permanent resident....................     102     

14 Looking for employment....................     109     

15 A few false starts....................     117     

16 A brief foray into the world of the employed....................     130     

17 Back to the job hunt....................     137     

18 Looking for any opportunity....................     144     

19 Discovering the Canadian workplace....................     149     

20 Its always darkest before dawn....................     158     

21 Summer, Fall and the holidays....................     168     

22 What a difference a car makes....................     187     

23 An emotional trip and buying a new home....................     194     

24 Closing the circle....................     201