Rebecca Fisseha, Writer.

More Notes from the Canadian honey jar…

On the almighty power of PAPER, the true third element in a diaspora hookup.

June 5, 2017

[Before I forget, an idea for characters: the guy has moved back home because he was unable to get his papers in the U.S. or Canada, the girl—who has American or Canadian citizenship—has moved back home to start a business or to work for a family business; the two know each other from when they lived in the U.S. or Canada, maybe have dated on and off. In Ethiopia they decide to get married because neither of them will be leaving Ethiopia any more. Development on this idea: when they get pregnant, the girl flies back to the U.S./Canada to have the baby, but because the guy is barred from entry, he will miss the last month of the pregnancy, the birth, the first couple of months of the baby’s life. But in the grand scheme of things—the child having the security of American/Canadian citizenship, a guaranteed safe future—this is considered a worthwhile sacrifice. That’s how mom and dad met, after all, chasing that paper, either one or both of them. A person who was fine to date but ‘out of the question’ for marrying on one continent becomes a perfectly suitable husband/wife candidate on another continent. It’s all about the context.]

[The above gives me the idea to write about/make some part of the early part of the book about ‘subsets of diaspora relationships’, like: both partners immigrant, both partners first generation, one is first generation the other is immigrant, both are returnees, one has paper the other doesn’t, etc. and the pros and cons/benefits and complications of each.]