Around half a million people left the UK to live elsewhere last year, and it’s not just retirees. A survey of more than 3,000 young people by the British Council showed that 72 per cent of 18- to 30-year-olds would consider living and working abroad, with destinations in Europe, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, and Southeast Asia proving popular.
Many expats are seeking a better quality of life, and cite varying factors – cold weather, high cost of living, extortionate childcare, stagnant wages, dwindling opportunity, lack of work-life balance, and even poor romantic prospects – among their motivations for leaving the UK. The i Paper’s Expat Files follows Brits who have taken the leap and settled elsewhere, detailing the ups and downs of their journey. Nush Cope left London for Sengal in 2022. Here, she explains how life has changed for the better.
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Five years ago, if you’d have told me that one day I’d be living in West Africa, married with two kids, I would have said you’re absolutely mad. At the time, I was living my dream as a TV presenter, interviewing celebrities such as Michael B Jordan and 50 Cent, and hosting my own online show, Who’s Got Game. I wanted to become the female Reggie Yates – and after years of hard work, I was on the right path. But when I finally got there, something was missing.
Still, when my husband, Sacha, first suggested moving to his family’s home country, Senegal, I didn’t want to leave. I was born and bred in London, having grown up in Clapham. Everything was in the city: my career, my friends, my family, my home. I loved going to Senegal on holiday, but I didn’t want to let go of the version of me that was attached to London. It felt safe and comfortable.
When I first met Sacha in a nightclub in 2018, he was a model and I had visions of us living a flashy, glamorous lifestyle. Then, at 26, I unexpectedly got pregnant. It was 2020 and soon after we began going to Senegal more frequently, which was less restricted than the UK during Covid. Around this time, Sacha decided he wanted to change his career to something more fulfilling. His dream was to get into agriculture and become self-sustainable, which felt much more achievable in Senegal than it would be in the UK. He did a course here, then bought land overseas and started farming.
It took a while for us to get on the same page. I didn’t want to feel like I was moving for him and have that turn into resentment. For a few months, we lived apart – and I was pregnant again, while looking after our toddler in London. It was awful. I went to Senegal again for a few months and it saved me. I had much more support from the community, so I could actually enjoy my pregnancy and motherhood. Realising how hard it was in London with just one child made us decide once and for all that, after our second, it was time to move to Senegal full-time.
We officially moved our stuff and settled in October 2022. It felt like we could breathe again. Even though I had a newborn and a two-year-old, it didn’t feel as intense as it would’ve done in London. The sunshine helped my mood. Not having to put a million layers on the kids every time we leave the house saves us hours of time. We came to live with my husband’s father in his family home – a base for the family, where lots of people come and go. Everyone wants to help each other out.
Nush Cope has started a business offering retreats in Senegal that celebrate its local culture and experiencesA year later, we got married on a wildlife reserve surrounded by ostriches and zebras. 70 people flew out for the wedding and we turned it into a holiday for everyone, organising activities to immerse guests in the magic of Senegal. That inspired my new business, Nuka Retreats. I teamed up with my sister-in-law to curate experiences that introduce people to the local culture, from yoga and wellness retreats to adventure holidays with multiple stops around the country.
Financially, it’s a bit harder. We’re not yet making money independently from our new businesses, so we both sometimes commute back to the UK to do modelling jobs. Sacha would have to sell 400 to 500 chickens to earn the same amount from one day of modelling work, so we can’t give it up just yet. There was a moment when we wondered if we should move back to the UK, because we’d make more money. But then we’d also be spending more money. A private school in the UK would cost at least £15,000 a year for one child. Here, we pay £2,500 a year. Childcare is also much more affordable: we were paying at least £100 a day in London, but now it’s maybe £20.
That said, Senegal is actually one of the most expensive countries in Africa. Supermarkets are more expensive than Sainsbury’s, restaurants have European prices and we don’t have the NHS, so we have to pay for healthcare. But if you shop at the local markets, you can live more affordably. When we first moved, we would import food in our suitcases – stuff we couldn’t get here, such as quinoa and health foods. Over time, we realised there are so many alternatives from the African continent, for example, the ancient grain fonio – locally produced and even more delicious. We had followed a plant-based diet for a few years in the UK – here the fish is fresh because we live by the sea, and the animals are grown and fed locally, so we’re not as concerned about eating animal products.
Four years on, we’re still living in my husband’s parents’ house. We love it – his dad passed away a couple of years ago, and we’re happy to be here, making sure it doesn’t feel too empty and wither away.
It can be hard when we’re going through tough times and are far away from loved ones. My mum’s Portuguese and my parents retired in Portugal, so we visit them sometimes. I’ve learned French and made friends here, including a WhatsApp group of 100 English-speaking women in the area that I created. The problem is, I have such good friends in London. We stay in touch with voice note podcasts that can run up to 20 minutes long. Once or twice a year, we travel back to the UK as a family, but I’d like for us to stay longer in the future, so the kids still feel connected to that side of their culture too.
It’s strange being called an “expat”. When people of colour move to the UK for a better quality of life, they’re called immigrants. Yet, ultimately, that’s exactly what we’ve done. I’ve never felt unwelcome in Senegal, but in my own country, people of colour don’t feel the same way. I find that difficult to make peace with.
These days, we live quite a humble lifestyle. We don’t eat out much and spend weekends going to the lagoon, or surfing and swimming at the beach – activities that don’t cost a lot of money. At the beach by us, there’s a little restaurant and bar that plays drums every day, where the community assembles and shares a moment with drinks by a bonfire. That’s my happy place.
When I first left the UK and my TV career, I got a lot of comments saying, “What are you doing? You’re on the path to success and are going to be huge. Why leave now?” But success doesn’t look like that for me anymore. In London, I was holding on to something I thought I wanted. When I left, I realised that I’m a new person now: a mother. This environment allowed me to slow down, find clarity and really figure out who I am. I feel so much more successful now, living in nature, in the sunshine, with my family. Not a day goes by that I don’t think, “Wow, this country is amazing”.
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