Who Am I? The Identity Crisis faced by Millennials Today

“ I’ll never leave my birth town, why should I? I have a lovely home, friends and family, community, great weather and food — this is a part of me, who I am, it would be crazy to leave!” says my paternal grandmother, who’s lived in Nairobi, Kenya all her 88 years of life and is one of ten children. Her parents grew up here and their parents (my great, great grandparents) migrated from India to Kenya, East Africa in the late nineteenth century, pre-colonial times. This was a time when moving through British colonies for ambitious opportunities, for the promise of a better life than their village lives in Western India was highly risky. Many came to build railroads across East Africa. (The railroad revolution at the time was an exciting one, similar to the social media revolution of today, with the possibility of new connections to cities and people). Many would cross the Indian Ocean and arrive on a boat after 3 months of gruelling travel (many didn’t make it). With poor sanitation and living conditions, no guarantee that the boat will make it and only pre-conceived notions of what life might be like on the other side, it was almost like buying a death ticket. My great, great grandparents were the real risk takers. Once on the other side, the work itself was equally dangerous. Whilst building the railroads, many of my great grandparents generation found themselves on the…