Juggling multiple balls - it IS possible

These days many women (parents really, but often women still bare the brunt of the workload) struggle to balance careers in science with starting a family and raising children. It is a juggling act in the best of times. But many are acting as roles models and showing that it is possible. For me there was an extra ball to juggle – career in science, young child, and a husband for a country deemed “undesirable” by countries with the best research funding. For years (even before having a child) my husband’s immigration status has caused us grief and has impacted my efforts at a career in science. Even in more tolerant countries I have lost hours of work time filling in stacks of immigration forms. Anywhere we go he needs a visa, a work permit etc. and whereas for me these are relatively easy to obtain – for him immigration bureaucracy is often a nightmare. When I became pregnant we decide to bite the bullet and apply for resident status for him in my home country. We had already battled through 8 years of visa applications and for the residency application we produced a veritable forest of forms documenting our lives (together as well as before we met) for 10 years! The application also cost a fair deal of money (which on a single grad student income was not spent lightly). Even though we had been married for over 5 years we waited with bated breath for the immigration decision. When the response was positive we were elated. But when we arrived in my home country we realized that as a newly minted PhD my work prospects were not great. The governing politicians were somewhat anti-science and funding was being slashed. Of course as a new immigrant my husband’s job prospects were not great either. So we struggled, him sending out resumes and me writing grants. For months we subsisted (with a young child) on next to nothing but odd jobs and the kindness of my former supervisors who provided me pay for contract research. Friends from Europe sent post-doc job postings with great salaries and benefits; they tempted us to come back. But we struggled with that option because we did not want to lose my husband’s residency in my home country. So we waited over six months while grant applications were evaluated – and we survived, poor but happy.

This week I found out that at least one of my grant applications was funded. This means we’ll be able to stay in my home country and we can even live in the same city as my parents (who will provide much needed support and sometimes needed supplementary childcare). Additionally, we’ll be able to stay in a wonderful neighbourhood and I’ll be working in a top notch lab and doing exciting research. So the take home message, for anyone reading this, trying to juggle many balls and losing hope is that it is possible to succeed! Write grant applications like mad, survive financially any way you can (within reason), and keep the faith. It IS possible!