MOVING TO ZAMBIA FROM LONDON WAS A CULTURE SHOCK, BUT NOW I CAN AFFORD A HOUSE
While others may dream of a new way of life when they go on holiday, south Londoner Natalie Kalolita has made it her reality.
Struggling with the impact of the cost of living crisis two years ago, she decided to visit her parents’ native country Zambia in Africa for a family break in January 2022 and never really came back.
The PR and communications consultant, 29, has now set up her own business in the country and is saving to build a home there – something she said she would have had no hope of doing in the UK.
She told i: “While the culture shock was real, the savings were too. I was working remotely and kept extending my time there.
“I planned on staying a month, after extending my original February flight back home twice I realised I wanted to stay.”
The law graduate had been working for a digital business transformation consultancy in the UK and trying to save up for a deposit on a flat, while living with her parents in Forest Hill, London.
But she said when a new block of flats was built across the road from her and the minimum price was advertised at £500,000, she knew her chances of getting on the property ladder were unrealistic.
“I was saving and saving but I just felt it was never going to happen,” Ms Kalolita said. “I thought, ‘when can I ever afford to move out?’
“Out of my close friends, there are a lot of us who have never moved out of our family home. It’s pretty depressing when you think about it.”
She was working towards saving between £15,000-£20,000 for a deposit but as the cost of living soared she found saving increasingly difficult.
In Zambia, she founded communications and PR firm The Burger Agency and now takes home the same £35,000 salary as she did in her previous job. But she says she has cut her outgoings by two thirds, from £1,500 for monthly food and bills to £500.
“I’m not spending lavishly but living well,” Ms Kalolita said.
She said she is now able to save the £25,000 she needs to buy a plot of land and build a two-bedroom home in the country’s capital Lusaka.
“For the same price as a deposit in the UK, you can build a property in Zambia,” she added.
The 29-year-old has also been able to indulge her love of travel since living in Africa, with a return flight to Johannesburg in South Africa costing her £200.
A night out with friends now costs a maximum of £20 compared to the £100 she was spending in London.
Aside from the financial upsides of her move, Ms Kalolita said she has found a sense of fulfillment and a feeling of belonging to a community she did not have in London.
“I feel fulfilled waking up to sun every day, I feel connected to my family and a sense of self,” she said. “There’s a big sense of community here, whereas in London you can live next door to someone and not know their name.”
One of the disadvantages she has found in living in a developing nation has been coping with unreliable infrastructure.
Ongoing droughts in Zambia which have created problems with the nation’s power supply, which relies on hydroelectricity.
“We have constantly had power cuts and I have had to buy a generator to consistently have electricity,” she said.
Culturally, she has had to adjust to a slower pace of life and accept not everything is immediately accessible.
“I had to get a VPN just to watch Love Island!” she said.
Although she has not ruled out a return to the UK, she does not envisage it happening in the near future.
She said the election of a Labour Government had “given her a bit of hope” in terms of housing and the cost of living crisis, but she added “the damage has been done and in the grand scheme of things, how long will it take to change?”.
In the meantime, she says her experience in Zambia has opened her eyes to new possibilities and she has the Middle East in her sights at some stage.
She wants to encourage others to take the plunge, too.
“The world is such a large place, I think if you have the opportunity you should explore it,” she said.
2024-07-27T05:09:03Z dg43tfdfdgfd