Repatriation: Rediscovering Home, Identity and Community

If Anne Can

At this time of year many expat families are moving back to their home countries, and some will find repatriation harder than expatriation.

In today’s episode of the If Anne Can podcast , I’m talking to Amanda Jaffe about the challenges of repatriation. Amanda and I were expats in Singapore, and we repatriated to our home countries during the pandemic, me to the UK and Amanda to the USA.

We returned home with new identities, which meant we had to change our lives.

This is a great listen for anyone who is facing repatriation or who has repatriated in the last few years.

Amanda and I discuss

Home

· The difficulties of re-engaging with home after a period away where your role and identity have entirely changed.

· Overcoming feelings of dislocation.

· Walking as a way of grounding yourself and rediscovering your surroundings.

· The need to discover new activities.

Identity

· Preserving a hard-won new identity.

· Making what you experienced as an expat relevant to your return.

· The importance of enjoying each day and not being too focused on the future.

· Giving yourself time to reacclimatise but at the same time being open to new experiences and opportunities.

· Overcoming the physical shock of returning to a new climate.

Community

· The joy of finding one friend.

· Activating networks.

· Looking for ways to engage and reach out.

· The impact of turning up.

· Finding someone who would miss you if you didn’t show up, even if that takes some time.

· Remember to have fun!

References

You can find out more about Amanda at: www.amandajaffewrites.com

The book I gave to Amanda: Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times: Katherine May

Amanda’s biography

My guest today is Amanda Jaffe. Amanda spent thirty years working as a lawyer in Washington DC and New Jersey, but in 2018, she moved with her husband to Singapore and got the opportunity to ‘finally begin writing.’

First, a blog for friends and family, and then, with the encouragement of the American Women’s Association of Singapore Writers’ Group, she began to publish articles.

Just as she was cementing her new identity, she had to move back to her home in New Jersey and then to California.

She has maintained a creative writing practice and has taken the opportunity to combine writing with work and volunteering in the non-profit sector.

Amanda’s writing focuses on narratives that convey a strong sense of location and dislocation, and as a returning expat, she says ‘finding my cadence has been unexpectedly challenging.’