Long Distance Relationships

‘The mind has thousands eyes, And the heart but one, Yet the light of a whole life dies when love is done’ FW Bourdillon in Light.’

In deed the light of a whole life dies when love is done and this nearly happened to Araba if it wasn’t by a divine intervention that I met her that day at Accra International Conference Centre some year back. She wasn’t the one I knew few weeks earlier. Her entire being withered completely and she became wandered even with mere conversation not to mention the program we were attending. And that is exactly what Bourdillon probably meant “the light of a whole life dies when love is done”. Araba was a virgin until her fiancée had the opportunity to travel to Japan. Before he left he convinced her to break her virginity as a promise to marry her. Three years later a lady called to inform her that she is married to her fiancée and she (Araba) should look for a man elsewhere to marry. Araba was disappointed not only because the relationship got broken but also she lost her source of income.

Araba case is one of the many people who have committed suicides and others ended in mental institutions because of long distance relationships. Long distance relationship could involve marriage couples or yet to be married couples or just dating. I want to look at two; Married couples and fiancées. The situation presents itself when one partner gets an opportunity to travel abroad. With the present trend of many people want to travel abroad, some people do everything possible to travel without genuine papers and when they get there their focus change because they got to live and work. Let me state here that some travel to further their education; others have job opportunities because to their expertise in some industries abroad. Others are sent on foreign missions or national assignments. The last group is the hustlers (burgers) who are, perhaps, the worst offenders of broken-heart phenomenon.

With more people traveling and working abroad, making a long-distance relationship work is a task faced by many. Each couple’s circumstances are unique, but each share similar concerns. Almost everybody is familiar with how both sexes disappoint their partners when they travel abroad and I don’t need to waste time talking about the “hows”.

Why do these people who meant well when leaving their homeland and all of a sudden they turn a bad leave? Does it worth to be in a distance relationship and does it work?