Category: Immigration Matters

Moving to a new country, culture shock, what to look out for, thriving in your new home

Money Matters – Part 2

Welcome back to our blog.

If this is your first time on our blog, we suggest that you you visit our previous blog posts on this link Previous Blog Posts

Apology

Apologies, we had advised that we will be sharing “30 lessons” we have learnt as we approached our 30th wedding anniversary. However, as we wrote the blog we saw that the lessons learnt so far will be way more than 30. We hope you don’t mind us going past the 30 limit! 😉

Now back to Money Matters Part 2

Indeed we entered the UK completely debt free – that included mortgage free.

As mentioned in a previous blog, I was blessed to get a job very soon after arriving in the UK.

Lesson 27 – We underestimated the cost of settling in the UK.

We were not prepared by what financially awaited us. We had not fully anticipated what was likely to come our way. Whilst we came debt free, we didn’t have any meaningful savings to help us settle. As I moved from London to Preston, thankfully my sister and brother-in-law were on hand to provide some financial support to help us settle.

Firstly, we needed a deposit for renting a house, which was more than a month’s rent – my sister and brother-in-law were on hand to help. Then there was the true cost of housing – rent, gas, electric, water, broadband, telephone and council tax.

Secondly, my job required me to travel and I needed a car urgently. Yes, you guessed it, my sister and brother-in-law lent me money to buy my first car in the UK – a red 1.2ltr Ford Fiesta; so modest compared to the company car, Nissan Hardbody Twin Cab (Yellow Flower) with 3.6ltr petrol engine I had back in Zimbabwe. Then I started to fully appreciate that the cost of owning a car is more than the cost of the car itself – fuel, car tax, insurance, MOT, service etc. In Zimbabwe my company would take care of all that.

When Wim and the kids arrived, we needed another car as Nomsa’s school was a long distance away from our house and was not on a direct bus route. We secured a bank loan to buy another car – thankfully my car allowance at my new workplace was enough to cover the loan repayment.

Generally, one area that took us some time to adjust was moving from a hyperinflationary environment to a place with low inflation – coming from a place where the interest on bank loans were around 150%, 19% looked like a bargain! It took us time even to appreciate the value of £1.

Another area where we had not fully appreciated the cost was Immigration Costs. From the time we came to the UK until we got settled status we parted with several thousands of pounds. We couldn’t believe the total amount when added everything up. We were not budgeting for these but putting them on credit cards.

Lesson 28: Review housing situation

Twelve months after renting our house, we were given notice as the landlord wanted to sell the house, he said. After mentioning the issue to our church pastor when he had visit us, he then suggested why we had not thought of buying our own house, rather than spending “dead money”, as he puts it. (This was the first time we had heard this term – which meant that by renting you are paying in money and that you will not have anything to show for it by the end of the tenancy).

We reasoned that we have just been in the UK for a year and we had not built up any credit history to qualify for a mortgage. He gave us contact details of a fellow church member, whom we didn’t know was a mortgage broker.

After some initial checks, the good news was that the mortgage broker, who has since become our very good friend, confirmed that we would qualify for a mortgage. We quickly looked for a house within our price range. We needed deposit – you are right again, we went to my sister and brother-in-law who made provision for us. Six months later we had moved into our own house in the UK. We thank God for His blessings – it happened a lot quicker than we had anticipated.

We know our situation was different from what others face. However, we encourage that you look at the options that are currently available, especially for first-time buyers like UK Government’s Help to Buy scheme etc. We also appreciate that in certain places like London, renting may be the most viable option as someone settles due to the astronomical cost of housing; but the bottom line is, review options available to you.

By the end of 18 months since arriving in the UK, we had built some substantial debt – car loan 1 (my sister), car loan 2 (bank), house deposit (my sister). Thankfully, our income was decent, and the loan repayments were not a problem.

Thank You

We feel that it may be an opportune time to publicly say Thank You to my sister and brother-in-law for the support they gave us to settle in the UK, as they have been part of our journey we are now sharing publicly. We continue to show our appreciation to them in private. They are a generous couple and their generosity continues even to this day.

After a couple of years since coming to the UK, we visited Zimbabwe and we had a wonderful time with family and friends. We had saved for this trip, so everything was ok.

Then tragedy struck. Within three months of our return from Zimbabwe, Wim lost her younger sister; less than 12 months later, we lost our nephew whom we used to live with (some people thought that he was Tim’s elder brother); a further 12 months, I lost my sister. We had to separately go back to Zimbabwe for the funerals – Tim went back with Wim for our nephew’s funeral.

Flying to Zim is not cheap and last minute tickets are even more expensive. We were not financially prepared for this. We put these costs on credit cards. Fortunately, we managed to secure 0% balance transfers which helped for limited times. Thankfully, I was getting promotions at work with associated salary increases and the repayments were manageable.

At one time some years later, we were planning to visit Zimbabwe for holiday. We bought our tickets directly from Air Zimbabwe. The airline office insisted on using debit card and not credit card (didn’t understand at the time why). A month before the trip, the airline went bust, stopped all flights from London and we lost the money. We had to rebook alternative flights and put the costs on credit cards again.

We were comfortable with the debt as it was manageable.

Lesson 29 – We needed an Emergency Fund

Another example showing the need of an emergency fund would come a couple of years later. We felt that our car still had a number of years of life left and we had just finished paying off the bank car loan. After MOT and service, the garage advised me that brake pads had worn out and were approaching legal limit.

In order to ensure that the car was safe and could last until the following year’s MOT and service, I arranged to have the brake pads replaced. After confirming that the work could be done whilst waiting, I took car in and waited for it to be fixed, as I had to attend an afternoon meeting in Warrington. As I drove out of the garage after the work, the car started sputtering, smoking and losing power. I even struggled to get home – just over 1 mile away. It could not be explained how work on the brake pads triggered such a serious engine problem. Unfortunately, the car could not be repaired – so we had paid for MOT, service and new brake pads and then scrap the car. Ouch!

Lesson 30 – Avoid Unnecessary Purchases

In our life in the UK, we have bought a number of useless stuff that we would regret later. We think the worst one was when scanning in an Argos catalogue we saw this on special offer – Cross trainer and Treadmill offer – pay nothing for 6 months etc. After discussing on why we needed this, we went for it – I think I was a little bit pushy on this one and Wim gave in.

This purchase caused us more problems than benefitted us. When the items were delivered, where would we keep them? From the photos in the catalogue, we had not fully appreciated the actual sizes of the items. You should have seen how crowded our dinning room became when they were delivered. This was by far our worst purchase ever (fortunately it was not very costly, but the mindset was in a wrong place). We eventually had to give away the equipment after they had hardly been used.

Back to our senses

Then we came back to our senses. The lightbulb moment came when we sat down and added all our debts. By this time our debt had increased to unbelievable levels – tens of thousands of pounds, but still manageable as my salary had been going up regularly through promotions and annual increases. We never struggled with the debt repayments, but it just felt so heavy and holding us down.

Then we decided to break the Parkinson’s Law (mentioned in the previous blog) which suggests that “Expenditure rises to meet income.”

The tide began to turn when we came across the website www.moneysavingexpert.com.

We started using the suggestions and links on that website. Our aim was to get to a point of debt free again. We had some quick steps to do

We had a family meeting with Tim and Nomsa where we informed them of our financial situation and what we were trying to do to get out of the situation. After recovering from the initial shock of money we owed, they quickly supported us.
We created an Emergency Fund – we started small. This was to cover things like unexpected breakdown of car, washing machine etc. Before this any financial shock would send us onto credit cards. Experts suggest that an emergency fund should be between 3 and 6 months expenses, but we feel that it should be more than that.
Improve Budgeting Effectiveness – A budget tells your money where to go, but sometimes we didn’t enforce that. Budgets should cover all expected/planned expenses e.g. monthly budgeted for one off regular annual.
We started what we coined CARD ATTACK. We would pay minimum payments on other cards and targeted one card where we threw all excess cash. (this is referred to, sometimes, as the snowball method). Since most of our credit card debts were on 0%, the order of attack was targeting credit card with the 0% offer expiring earliest. A couple of times we fell off the tracks but managed to get back on.
We moved away from the high end supermarkets to the discount supermarkets.
If we have not saved for anything, we would not buy it.

We would use the Martin Lewis’ Money Mantras from the website (skint is a British slang meaning – no money)

It worked!

Surprisingly, the changes highlighted above did not noticeably affect our standard of living. Our debts started coming down, and down and down. You should have seen our smiles as we looked at our spreadsheet monthly, with a pie-chart showing how much we were eating into the debt.

By this time Wim had finished uni and was working full time. We just threw everything at this debt. Within two years of putting our minds and efforts to it, we became 100% debt free.

We cannot believe the feeling – such a liberating feeling. No consumer debt – zero. Cars fully paid up. Only outstanding debt now is our mortgage, which we are now overpaying to finish it early.

Now we had an opportunity to look at some areas that we had never considered in the UK before – Investments (we will cover these later).

As you can see, this chapter is still work in progress but we are happy that we have managed to get back control of our finances by going back to the discipline that we had learnt over the years in Zimbabwe.

Lesson 31 – Helping Family Back Home

Wim and I believe that God blesses us so that we can bless others. Between us, we have a good number of siblings back in Zimbabwe. Economically, things have been hard in Zimbabwe with people facing everyday challenges for survival.

One thing we have witnessed since coming to the UK is that NONE of our siblings have ever asked for any financial help whatsoever. (I know – our case may be the exception). They all NEVER complain about their situation. We have received requests for help from other people – extended family and other acquaintances.

We have developed a system that we have found helpful.

In our budget, we have allowed a monthly provision to help support our families.
We join our siblings in supporting our parents back home and try to make their lives as comfortable as possible. At present, we have only two surviving parents – Wim’s mum and my mum.
Since our siblings NEVER ask for help, we try to keep our ears to the ground and look for areas and opportunities where we may be of assistance. Normally when we receive blessings, we look around to see how we can share that with family.
Where we can, we have tried to support in areas of education and support people become self-sufficient.
When someone asks for assistance, we are no longer embarrassed to say “We are sorry, we are not able to help at this time”. (Remember when we used to borrow money off our credit card to help someone)

Suggested Activity

We have told our story and how we have learnt our lessons – some of it the hard way. As an activity, we encourage you to discuss your debt situation. Normally there is a tendency to understate the total amount you owe – therefore it is important that you list everything down. Develop a plan to tackle your debt.

If you do not have any debts, good; try to find out better ways to manage and invest your money. Don’t forget that helping others is an effective way of investing.

This has been a long blog post – thank you for getting this far. Please share with others. Until next time, bye and God bless you.

Immigration Matters Our Faith Our Relationship

The Great Move

Welcome back. Special thanks go to our two guest bloggers Nomsa and Tim, who, for the past two weeks, shared their thoughts and lessons on this journey thus far. Your blog posts touched our hearts as well – you did a brilliant job.

If this is your first visit on our blog, for a bit of the background and the journey so far, we would suggest that you read first blog post, The Meeting, Ndine musikana wangu (I got myself a girl), Dating & Courtship , Meeting the Families , Cultural Hurdles, FAQ & Wedding Preparations, The Wedding Day Part 1 , The Wedding Day Part 2 , The Rest of the Wedding Day Honeymoon & Early Days 1, Honeymoon & Early Days 2 , Our Encounter with COVID-19, I’m Pregnant and Parenting – they don’t come with manuals, Parenting – they don’t come with manuals (cont) and Reflections from the youngest. For introduction of our family and categories of topics to be covered please visit the About Us page.

At the end of the last blog post, we indicated that we were going to discuss about our Empty Nest. We have decided to backtrack a little bit and cover a key part of our journey – how did we end up in the UK?

Since getting married, we had lived in Harare, Chinhoyi and Marondera initiated by our different jobs. However, leaving Zimbabwe to emigrate to the UK was the riskiest, boldest and the most challenging move we have taken as a family. How did we get to the point to make this life changing move?

A question that we faced back in Zimbabwe and also here in the UK is “Why did you move?” Wim and I were not actively looking to move. We were well settled in Marondera and I had a secure job with decent perks. Wim was also in a stable job. My sister had moved to the UK at the turn of the century, but it never crossed our minds that we will be joining them in a few years’ time.

There were some tale-tale signs that things in Zimbabwe were beginning to “turn south” at the time, but we felt it was nothing to initiate any action on our part. Incidentally, a good friend and colleague mentioned of a new Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) that had just been launched by the UK government and he had successfully applied. This programme allowed someone to come into the UK without a job offer and allow initial 12 months to look for a job after which someone would apply for a further extension of their stay.

After reading the guidelines about the programme, it looked promising as we met the criteria. We prayed about this, seeking God’s guidance, as we always did with our family and individual decisions. I applied for the HSMP and was successful.

The move was becoming real now. After a couple of months sorting out our matters in Zimbabwe, I bid farewell to family and friends and flew to the UK. Wim and the children remained back home whilst I looked for a job.

I remember upon arriving at Gatwick airport the immigration officer asking the common and normal question “When are you planning to return back home, Sir?”. I hesitated a little bit before responding “I am not thinking of going back yet as I have come to look for a job ” – “Of course” he said after checking my visa again, before wishing me well with my plans.

My sister and brother-in-law warmly welcomed me into their home where they took excellent care of me, not knowing for how long I was going to stay with them. My brother-in-law was like my big brother showing me how things worked in the UK including even how to drive on the motorways. It was nice to spend those days with them and my niece and nephews.

Thank God, within two weeks of my arrival in the UK, I secured a job in Preston – that was purely God’s Providence. During my first week in the UK, I had attended an interview (assessment centre) at National Grid in Reading, for position I had applied for whilst I was still in Zimbabwe. While waiting for the results for that interview, I applied for a job in response to an online advert and was invited for an interview in Preston. My sister and brother-in-law didn’t even know where Preston was and had to look it up. On the train back to London after the interview the employment agency consultant rang to advise me that I had been successful and was offered the job!

Wim was ecstatic when she heard of this news – not sure the children much.

Wim Back in Zimbabwe

When we started thinking of relocating to the UK, we had heard so many stories about the negative influences this would have on children. Nomsa was too young to remain behind, but in our wisdom, we decided to leave Tim at an Adventist boarding school . We were so much unease with this decision, but at the time we felt that it was best for him and his development. I believe God sent two people to us. The first was a mature friend of mine at church. She said “Mai Mpofu, takurai vana venyu muende navo.” (Mrs Mpofu, take your children with you). The second person was Jabu’s elder sister already living in the UK. As soon as she heard that we were considering leaving Tim behind, she was on the case and was having none of that – she easily convinced us that was not the best.

Whilst Jabu was in the UK, I had to quickly sort out Tim’s and Nomsa’s passports and visas. Tim had already started at the boarding school and simple things like getting passport photos became complicated. Thankfully, we had our Muzukuru (niece) who was a teacher at the school and helped with those practical issues.

Lesson 22: Move with your family

Move with your family . We have found that this was the best solution for us. Staying together helped us bond as a family. Now we cannot even imagine what it would have been if we had split the family with Tim remain behind. We would have missed out on the development of our son.

Leaving Zimbabwe was one of the hardest things for me. Both my parents and all my nine siblings and their families were remaining behind. As the date of our departure approached my parents and my siblings all gathered at our house. We had a Spirit-filled prayer session as we bid farewell to each other – there was no dry eye in the room at the end of the session. It was so painful to say goodbye.

Emmigrating was a life changing experience for us – leaving the familiar and venturing into the unknown. Leaving behind family and the whole supporting network and coming to something completely new and untried.

We were also leaving behind our warm and loving church where it felt like we were all related to each other. We were just one big happy family! It was painful to bid farewell to friends at Marondera Central SDA Church and we missed them dearly.

Five months after Jabu left, Tim, Nomsa and myself landed at Gatwick Airport. What a joy it was as we were reunited as a family.

We have shared this story in some detail because we wanted to acknowledge and highlight that coming to the UK was not a result of us strategising and planning. We, as a family, believe that it was God providentially leading us – opening doors and closing others. For example, when the opportunity for the HSMP presented itself we went for it, praying at each stage that God would guide us as He saw fit.

Coming to the UK was a very good move for us and we have seen God’s hand in this. Whilst at the time we were not too sure about what the future held, we were at peace with our decision. The move opened so many opportunities for us and our children who grasped them and are flourishing in their respective careers. We have all grown and continue to grow in our own spiritual journeys.

First Impressions of the UK

We arrived at Preston in the early hours of the morning after driving all the way from Gatwick with Wim and the children. Tim and Nomsa were utterly disappointed by the detached house they moved into when they first arrived from Zimbabwe. The house and the garden were too small compared to our house in Zimbabwe. It was so underwhelming for them. You should have seen their faces when we moved again to a terraced house with a tiny garden, if you call it that at all. They soon got used to their new surroundings, but the requests for a bigger garden continued until they flew the nest.

They arrived in summer, so they got a gradual adjustment for the weather.

We are keenly aware that our experiences may not be the same as others as sometimes things don’t work out as expected. We are also aware that for some moving from Zimbabwe became a matter of sheer survival. Nevertheless, if the reason for moving is vivid enough that will help one endure the journey when the downturns come.

One thing I noticed when I came to the UK was how stressful my job in Zimbabwe was. I was surprised about how well I was now sleeping; when I finished work at the end of the day, that was it until the following morning, unlike being on virtual standby 24/6 (I ensured that the Sabbath (Saturday) was always free). However, we both missed Zimbabwe so much that we tried to maintain contact with friends and family.

Lesson 23: Join a community to help settle

Joining a community helped us settle – for us it was mainly through the church. We found a very warm and friendly church where everyone loves us, and we love everyone. They welcomed and embraced us warmly and we have built fond memories as part of this congregation. We have made great friends. We have now spent more than 16 years at this church – the longest we have spent at any one church. We always thank God for being part of such a church family. Tim and Nomsa were also involved in the various youth activities and plays. We joined the choirs etc.

Outside Preston, we also participated in the Zimbabwean SDA community in the UK, where we continued to meet fellow Zimbabweans, share our stories and encourage each other.

Lesson 24: Allow time for adjustment

Different members of the family will adjust to migration differently. Do your best as a family to support each other. Allow time for adjustment. With time and support, everyone will settle and start to thrive.

Of course there were culture shocks – we hope we will talk about those later! Some of them are funny – as a taster in Zimbabwe in our culture, when you are speaking to someone senior or respectable, you cannot look them in the eye; whereas in the UK if you do not maintain eye contact you are being shifty. In Zimbabwe we tend to address most people on a second name basis, while in the UK it is first name. Nomsa couldn’t believe that the use of a stick by teachers as a dsiciplinary tool was not mandatory – when she realised that, she just thrived in her studies, without any fear. (the last time a stick was ever used on her at school or home was back in Zimbabwe at age 7)

Final Word

As we shared our Great Move story we are reminded of God’s amazing hand moving in our lives. God was and still remains the Greatest Strategist – ensuring that we were at the right place at the right time. This has always given us purpose in our lives – why are we here? We are here in the UK because God has placed us here and there is somewhere we can serve.

We urge you to seriously consider this question. You may want to reflect on it on your own, discuss with your spouse or family, or discuss with your friend. Should you need to reach out to someone, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us (whether you are a Christian or not) and we hope we can help you in your pursuit to find your purpose.

Thank you once again for reading our blog – please share with others and subscribe. Feel free to leave a comment here. Until next week – take care and remain safe.