ABSTRACT
Migrant nurses experience considerable disappointment in their lives in the diaspora. Their ‘voices in this chapter tell of the set of ‘traps’ they have encountered and how they find a way out towards more positive experiences and developing hopes for the future. The chapter highlights the numerous hidden costs of migration: the pain of family separation and the difficulties that beset family reunion. Even after reuniting with the family, new challenges emerge, as nurses’ husbands are not used to being socially and economically dependent on their wives in Nepal, but must adjust to their changing social status in the UK. To add insult to injury, many men have had no choice but to accept unskilled jobs in the UK, after giving up highly respectable positions in Nepal. Despite all this, they continue to hope that they will get better jobs in the future and improve their socio-economic status. Many Nepali Diaspora support organisations have emerged in the UK recently; however, Nepalis living in rural areas have not benefited much from this. Despite all difficulties, nurses were not ready to return to Nepal yet, for a number of reasons including Beijet, the loss of face and failed aspirations or, overall, being ‘trapped’ by their international migration ‘dreams’.
