Every decision requires sacrifice
A Malaysian nurse who is now working in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, shares her exciting experience and struggles that she faced as a nurse and part-time student in Riyadh for seven years.
Nashriq Akma Sambrie, 33, is an alumnus of MARA University of Technology (UiTM), and she has been a nurse for 12 years. But for the past seven years, she has been working far away from home — in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
She saw the opportunity to migrate through Melorita Healthcare, a top healthcare recruitment agency in Malaysia, and she grabbed that opportunity when they posted a job vacancy on their Facebook page and Instagram.”In my honest opinion, the salary offered in Malaysia is not worth the workload and the burden of duty and risk, particularly in the field of health,” Nashriq opined.
Therefore, she chose to migrate to Saudi Arabia so that she can expand her knowledge as well as get a better salary that is commensurate with her duties as a nurse.
Asked about her feelings when she first came to Saudi Arabia, she said that she did not feel scared, only nervous, as everything was new to her — the culture, the language and of course the environment.
She struggled a lot at first with the language barrier; most of the citizens there do not know how to speak English, and she did not know how to speak Arabic when she first came there. Nashriq said that it is still difficult because each region has its own accents and slang.
Apart from the language barrier, Nashriq felt that homesickness was another challenge that she had to overcome, and it is even harder when the time in Riyadh is five hours behind Malaysia, so it is a little hard to communicate with and connect with the people in Malaysia.
She feels a little sad whenever she misses the chance to celebrate Eid in Malaysia with her family, but the company of her friends and colleagues who share the same fate manages to lessen the burden quite a bit.
Despite all these struggles, Nashriq feels that there are more positives than negatives to her moving to Riyadh. “I feel like it is a precious life and learning experience that not everyone has the opportunity to go through.”She even listed a few more benefits of working in Riyadh, such as enabling people to learn and communicate in Arabic, having a zero-tax salary, having the advantage of performing Umrah and Hajj anytime with a lower cost, free accommodation facilities that include electricity, water, and maintenance, and having more than 50 days of annual leave per year compared to Malaysia, which only has 14 to 16 days a year.
As a Muslim, Nashriq believes that one of the best advantages she has is the ability to perform umrah whenever she wants, and she has done so at least ten times during her seven years of service in Riyadh.
Besides that, as a part-time student, it was not difficult for her to manage her studies even when working, as her upper-level colleagues are very supportive.
Nashriq also explained about Saudi culture, which differs greatly from that of Malaysia.”In Malaysia, it is not really an issue if nurses are treating patients of different gender, but here in Riyadh, they try to avoid that as much as possible except if it is an emergency, and even then, they will ask for permission first.”
For Nashriq, after making the decision to migrate, she began to understand how hard it is to leave family in Malaysia, especially her mother. Then, it became even harder when she became a mother herself and had to leave her daughter in Malaysia.”No mother can bear living apart from their children, and it was always a heartbreaking moment every time I had to bid my daughter farewell. It breaks me when I have to explain to my daughter why we must be apart.
“However, even when we were apart, our hearts and minds were always together. I will always find time to communicate and talk to my daughter, even if it is only through social media. Eventually, she understands the reasons.”
Because of that fact, Nashriq said that she encounters a lot of judgement from the people, but she receives it with an open heart. “I understand where these opinions are coming from, but it would be greatly appreciated if people could comprehend my decision and intention to migrate.
“We can’t stay in one place or stay the same forever; we are the only ones responsible for the betterment of our lives and our families. The future of my family depends on me.
“Financial freedom is easier to attain as the payment is higher compared to working in our own country, so it is worth it to sacrifice a little for a better future.
“Besides, working in another country can greatly improve our knowledge and working experience, and expand our horizons.”
Nashriq also wishes for all those who are migrating for the betterment of their families to always remember that every decision requires sacrifices. “Set the goals, keep reminding yourself what your purposes are, and plan how long you will be staying here.”
Asked about her future plans, Nashriq said she won’t be in Riyadh for a long time and will return to Malaysia when the time comes.She added that after going back to Malaysia, she plans to be an educator and guide all her junior nurses with the experience and knowledge that she has gained.
This article was written by a student from the Strategic Communication Programme at the Faculty of Language and Communication, UNIMAS.
