8. From Belarus with Love

Varvara: 0:00

So before I came to Dubai, I thought that I can really laugh only in Russian But I discovered that I can laugh from my heart even if a joke is made in English. If you share same sense of humor with the person, you can laugh in any language. You can laugh from your heart.

steve: 1:00

Humanity has always been on the move. Science is pretty sure that Homo Sapiens originated in Africa and look at us now. But today, the increase in the number of migrants defined as anyone changing their country of usual residence is in the fast lane. According to the United Nations, as of 2019, the total number of world migrants stands at 221 million, some three and a half percent of global population... and rising. Of these, just short of 80 million were forcibly moved from their homes as refugees, asylum seekers, or internally displaced. But there are many that move to join their families, to study or to seek a new life. I caught up with one such person. A lovely young lady from Belarus, 28 years old with a wise head on young shoulders. She had a message for anyone considering a move to seek new opportunities. Let's start by asking Varvara to tell us a little bit about herself.

Varvara: 2:20

I have only my mom. She's my only parent. And... I love her. I adore her. And... my grandparents, they really helped her to raise me to brought me up. It's very typical situation for ex Soviet countries. Grandparents help to raise their grandkids. My mom was busy with... work. She was a breadwinner for the family. My grandparents are a very nice example of Belarusian people who are super hospitable, who are super kind. Belarus is located in the middle of Europe and it's a very friendly country, you should definitely visit it. Belarus is mostly about agriculture. I'm from Gomel. It's a place which is on the east of the country. You can rent a very nice house in the village. You can enjoy outdoor activities, fishing, hunting, skating, skiing. You can experience Belarusian traditions. You can go to sauna and after that you can just fall into snow and enjoy... and enjoy your evenings. When I was in Belarus, I had many friends. I was hardworking and I knew what I want to do in life. I was enjoying my career. I was enjoying the place where I was working.

steve: 3:36

But Varvara was ambitious and when she reached the age of 22, she started to wonder if she may be able to carve out a new career in another country.

Varvara: 3:46

I discovered that hospitality, it's really my industry. Like I was very happy with what I was doing. But in terms of my career perspective, there was not many opportunities. There are not many foreigners in Belarus, so I was not really exposed to many nationalities. I was considering cultural difference, I was considering climate difference. I'm not a person who really enjoys winter, so I made a decision to move to a country where I can always enjoy sunny days.

steve: 4:16

So, sunny days and a cosmopolitan environment. How about Dubai?

Varvara: 4:27

Definitely in Dubai there were more opportunities for me to find job which will make my dreams come true, which will let me build my career. It goes without saying that Dubai is one of the most attractive places in the world. You can find lots of career opportunities. Like now it's such a nice weather in Dubai. People are enjoying on the beach, but it's snowing in Belarus.

steve: 4:52

And at the tender age of 22, move she did to Dubai.

Varvara: 4:59

I had a job before I located to Dubai. I had an interview in the hotel and I was hired. Yes, definitely I was nervous. I was a bit scared, but it was fun. If someone is in a difficult moment, they should look at their life like at the movie or an interesting book, and even if there were many difficulties or situations when they were not sure about their future, they should kind of enjoy these difficulties because that's what make us succeed.

steve: 5:34

So Varvara had made that first big step towards a new life. She had arrived and I wanted to know what she most remembered about the first few impressionable weeks.

Varvara: 5:46

In Dubai, you can find people from all over the world. My friends, my colleagues, they're literally from all the continents, all the countries in the world. I told them that I'm from Belarus. After some time, mostly all of them told me that they Googled, "Where is this country located?" So I'm happy that I'm a representative of this country and I can tell them more about our traditions, our culture, about our language. I was a bit afraid, but what I discovered when I came to Dubai, that... wherever you go, you take yourself there. You should be really interested in other people. You should be tolerant and people will be also tolerant to you.

steve: 6:29

With so many nationalities represented, language must have been an issue. In Dubai, dialects of Arabic are the main language, whilst English is commonly spoken as a second. The presence of a high number of British expats means that menus, road signs, phone directories are usually backed up with an English translation. But I wasn't sure if English was even spoken in Belarus.

Varvara: 6:54

Not many people speak English in Belarus. So when I came here, definitely I had the language barrier. Yes, I studied English in school and I thought that I speak English quite nice. But when I came here, I discovered that my English is not... due to date.

steve: 7:11

Interestingly enough, you said that not many people speak English, but you learn English at school. Is that right?

Varvara: 7:17

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's one of the reasons why there are not as many tourists in Belarus, because It's difficult to communicate. Even at the places where people are supposed to speak English, let's say hotels or... touristic centres, people don't. Yes, we do study English at school, but people just don't speak English in Belarus.

steve: 7:41

And so did this prove a problem for Varvara when she first arrived in Dubai? And also her mum is a regular visitor. How does she manage?

Varvara: 7:50

My mom doesn't speak English, but it's never a problem. She communicates with everyone. She communicates with security guards, she communicates with sales ladies. She just speaks in Russian. Just be friendly and it'll open all the doors for you.

steve: 8:06

As someone who had studied cultural heritage, Dubai must have provided a feast of learning experiences.

Varvara: 8:13

The best way to discover culture is to interact with the people. So, when I was working with my colleagues, I had enough time to come to know each other, to get along. The first highlight is you can meet really different nationalities. Let's say my colleagues consider me really as an exotic example. I'm Belarusian, so for them, it was really nice to meet me.

steve: 8:40

I wanted Varvara to give me a more specific example of how living in Dubai had encouraged her to embrace other cultures.

Varvara: 8:48

I have many colleagues from India and we celebrate Dewali every year. I did not know what is Dewali, so my colleagues introduced me to the concept of this holiday. And this year a colleague of mine, she also brought me one Indian dress and I really enjoyed to wear it, to celebrate with my colleagues, Dewali. And there are many examples. Imagine... so my colleague, her name is Fawzia and she became my very close friend. She's from Sudan. Every year she invites me to have Ramadan Iftar with her family. So I can enjoy Iftars, which are special dinners, which are breaking the fast for my Muslim friends and colleagues. I can enjoy national dishes. And I'm here... without my family. So my friends and my colleagues became my family and their traditions became my traditions.

steve: 9:42

Staying on the subject of culture. What about humour?

Varvara: 9:46

So before I came to Dubai, I thought that I can really laugh only in Russian, only if a joke made in Russian language. But I discovered that I can laugh from my heart even if a joke is made in English or... it doesn't matter in any language. If you share same sense of humour with the person, it truly doesn't matter which language you speak. You can laugh in any language. You can laugh from your heart.

steve: 10:17

It's warming to see how Varvara has embraced very different traditions, a different language, different religions, overcome feelings of fear and made a new home for herself. But actually, where is home now?

Varvara: 10:34

Yes, definitely... Belarus is my home, but when you are living many years in another country, it also becomes your home. So when I come back to Belarus now, there is a gap between me and my friends there in Belarus, because on a daily basis, we experience different things. People who are in Dubai now, they become closer to me. We go out, we share same hobbies, so they be... they become closer. So I believe people who live abroad, they kind of stuck between two countries and... they get second home. They have a privilege to get a second home.

steve: 11:14

So how's it worked out in Dubai for Varvara so far?

Varvara: 11:18

Yeah, even though I don't work in the hotel anymore and I work in an amazing engineering company, I appreciate Dubai also for opportunity to feel happy at work. So I come to my working place and I feel really respected. So for me it's very important to feel happy, and in Dubai I feel very happy.

steve: 11:39

Back to that message. What was it that Varvara was so keen to share with us?

Varvara: 11:46

If you're relocating to a country which is very different from your home place culturally, geographically, climate-wise, regardless, don't be afraid. Everywhere around the world, people value same things. People value friendship. People value... their family, people value when they're respected. So if you bring it to your community, regardless where you are, you will always feel that you are at home. You will always feel that... you can make friends. Just make sure you give to the community what you want to get from them.