-Mark-Shane Scale
A 2015 survey of international students by Student Center found that 80% of students from Latin America and the Caribbean agree that their Canadian education will help them to support the advancement of their home country.
In a few days I must say goodbye to Canada with the opportunity to advance my field of study back home. I leave for my native Jamaica to settle into a three-year contract, to teach at the university that awarded me my Masters and undergraduate degrees. As I prepare for departure from Canada’s London, I go through the mixed emotions and anxieties. On one hand, I am glad that I have completed my studies, have a job to go home to, and have a place to shine and contribute intellectually to the development of Caribbean libraries and librarianship. On the other hand, I feel the pain of leaving my adopted homeland of Canada, which nourished my family and four children (two of whom are natives to Canada and have never called any other place home). In addition to that, I am sad that I am leaving good neighbours, friends, and a great neighbourhood to uncertainty. Will I like my new co-workers? Will I like my new home in Jamaica? Will Jamaicans accept me as their native and homegrown returning son? Or will I be seen as a foreigner, someone who lost their heritage by going abroad, and wanting to change the Jamaican status quo?
When I first arrived in London in 2011, I entered my home with about four suitcases. It was a rented townhouse that was only furnished with a refrigerator and stove. I was overwhelmed. I had to take weeks to get it furnished and liveable to support my wife and children, who arrived a month after to join me in this strange land.
Mark-Shane Scale saying goodbye to Canada
Now that I am saying goodbye to Canada, I see the same townhouse returning to the state that I first occupied it in. Gradually, as we give away or ship and pack our stuff, the place is becoming more occupied by suitcases than furniture. I see my children’s sleeping bags, and I remember the early days when I toughed it out, sleeping on newspapers and a sheet on the floor. Indeed, the end of my journey brings back memories of the beginning.