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I Left Atlanta For The Middle East — Here’s Why I'm Much Happier

CNBC Make It

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In 2020, Mikayla McGhee, 29, visited her father in Bahrain, a small island country located in the Persian Gulf. Two years later, she decided to leave Atlanta to live in the country full-time and today works remotely for a B2B SaaS company.

Check out Mikayla's YouTube channel here: ‪@TheBellaRose1‬
Check out Mikayla's TikTok channel here: @_thebellarose

Produced & Edited by: Raffi Paul
Senior Managing Producer: Eric M. Clark
Camera: Prakhar Deep Jain
Animator: Christina Locopo
Reporter: Celia Fernandez
Senior Production Manager: Kathy Mavrikakis
Additional Footage: Mikalya McGhee, Getty Images

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I Left Atlanta For The Middle East — Here’s Why I'm Much Happier

20 Comments

@TheBellaRose1 9 months ago Pinned

Thank you so much for the feature. Love this country and love sharing all its beauty with the world ❤🇧🇭 Habibi come to BAHRAIN!

@LuvHuni 9 months ago

So good to hear Black women living abroad. I need to find a job that allows the flexibility to work overseas

@LargeDude2023 9 months ago

I always say rather than sitting around complaining, you have options in life 😊

@RuthUnpacked 8 months ago

My Jamaican auntie moved to Bahrain in the 1980's from Ottawa, Canada to work as a teacher.

@armyguynyc1 8 months ago (edited)

I agree. I lived in Bahrain for 1 year while I was stationed there. Its a good country to live in. The naturally organic food is great and Bahrain provides the best healthcare and dental care I've ever received.

@sharonbushong9559 8 months ago

It's refreshing to hear positive things about this country from black women ❤

@User95633 9 months ago

When she says the culture shocks were positive, I can attest. I went to Bahrain a long time ago before it even reached where it is now. Probably about 15 years ago now. My friend and I, both black girls, got lost and accidentally crossed into Saudi Arabia and we were TERRIFIED because we heard women weren’t supposed to drive alone over there. We were so scared we pulled over trying to figure out how to get back. 2 Saudi cops pulled up behind us and didn’t speak a lick of English and we didn’t speak Arabic 😩 we did our best to explain that we were trying to get back and these wonderful men drew directions for us in the sand with a stick so we could get back. They were so nice and helpful even with the gigantic language barrier between us. We were so relieved, surprised, and grateful. I’ll never forget that.

@kerri5595 9 months ago

Wow, $2200 for a 3 bedroom with a pool?! This is amazing

@JustBree716 8 months ago

I love this for her. She's beautiful.

@IWouldRatherBeAtTheBeach 8 months ago

Currently stationed in Bahrain 🇧🇭 and I have been pleasantly surprised.

@Bookreviewer-n5e 9 months ago

This girl is good. She will be accepted and happy everywhere because she is a peaceful soul.

@mirdostmuhammadessa9508 8 months ago

Love how you are pronouncing Bahrain

@rachelclottey 9 months ago

So happy for you, Mikayla. Wishing you all the best in 2026!

@thedesignmargin 8 months ago

I love that she pronounce the name correctly. I lived in Qatar quite a few years ago, and used to go Bahrain regularly. Another great positive is that it is easy to travel to Asia and other parts of the world from there as well.

@UnfilteredDubai 9 months ago

I moved 3 years ago from the uk to the uae and live full time in a hotel apartment, it reduces stress so much while being super flexible. My only regret is not moving sooner. 🥰

@PhoneTest-vf3gv 8 months ago

I am glad you called out the negative propaganda and shared positive side of non western countries

@johanneseckold8004 9 months ago

Americans realizing that the world outside of the US is far better than their own country must be my favourite thing on the internet

@manouchkapierre3554 8 months ago

Lived there for 4 years and I loved it. The twins were also my tailors at the souk. I’ve lived in 4 countries in the last 10 years and Bahrain 🇧🇭has been my favorite