While Bermudians sometimes imagine it would be harder to succeed in a bigger country, Joanne Ball-Burgess and husband Quincy Burgess are finding just the opposite to be true.

Mr and Mrs Burgess and their two young sons moved to Nairobi, Kenya two years ago and are finding life in a bigger pond to be full of many more opportunities. Mrs Ball-Burgess has rapidly become a celebrity appearing on a popular Kenyan television talent programme, Sakata, among other things, while Mr Burgess has been busy helping communities find ways to reduce poverty.

The couple are back in Bermuda to celebrate the holidays with their friends and family.

“It has definitely been about following our dreams,” said Mrs Ball-Burgess. “We have lived in different parts of the United States and Jerusalem as well. Nairobi has been the easiest place to fit into away from home, so far, for us.”

She said they have been surprised by the similarities they have found between Bermudian and Kenyan culture.

“As a black Bermudian there are so many things we do that are African and I didn’t know,” she said. “I found a lot of parallels and synergy. In both cultures we are a bit more relaxed about keeping time. Both cultures eat cassava, plantains, avocados, and guavas. These are African things.”

She said one day she was dancing to what she thought was soca music. A Kenyan lady asked her how she knew how to dance to traditional Kenyan music.

“I thought it was soca,” Mrs Ball-Burgess said. “I am really happy that we did move. A lot of Bermudians are moving to the United Kingdom with the pressures that are going on now. I wonder if more Bermudians would have an easier transition moving to a part of east or west Africa.”

She said the economy in Kenya is on the rise which means there are lots of new opportunities. In November she released her own music video called ‘Chiziqa’ which is topping the charts in several parts of Kenya.

The Burgess family originally went to Kenya so that Mr Burgess, well known for his beekeeping work, could work on sustainable development and poverty reduction projects.

“It is working out well,” said Mr Burgess. “We have been able to help a number of people find options to make their lives better.”

In one project he helped an orphanage build a greenhouse to grow tomatoes. The home-grown tomatoes mean the orphanage doesn’t have to spend as much of its resources of vegetable purchase for the children. A local church and Bermudian Randolph Furbert helped to raise the money for the greenhouse.

“I miss my family and close friends, but all the things I am doing, at the moment I can’t do in my own country,” said Mrs Ball-Burgess. Unfortunately, not every experience in Kenya has been a good one. In September, Mrs Ball-Burgess was shopping at the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi when it was suddenly overrun by gunmen. She hid in a bathroom for several hours before being helped to safety.

“I definitely felt very changed after the shopping mall experience,” said Mrs Ball-Burgess. “Before, I was living life as a right, and now I feel like life is more of a privilege. I have been doing trauma counselling weekly since then. I feel like the counselling has helped me to get back to myself and not to be so much of a zombie. I was having panic attacks for awhile. It definitely changed me a lot, the outlook on life, the idea that anything could happen anywhere.”

Despite the ordeal she said she never felt like she wanted to leave Kenya afterward.

“When we lived in Jerusalem that could have happened at any time, but in Nairobi it was such as unusual thing,” she said. “It was something that doesn’t happen normally. Other than that I feel quite safe there.”

Mr Burgess said their religious faith had sustained them through all their trials and triumphs.