This is the first in a series of articles exploring the ins and outs of moving home to Uist. The series will feature writing in both Gaelic and English – I will summarise the content for the Gaelic articles in English.

In contributing to UistBeò I would like to provide some encouragement to come home to Uist. It may feel daunting when you begin to consider the possibility of moving, and there are some excellent resources to help you. This blog is the first in a series of articles exploring the different facets to consider, from housing to crofting to education and work and will serve as an introduction. 

In 2017 I moved down to Glasgow to embark on a PGDE (teacher training) at the time, I was unsure about the direction my career was taking, and my first instinct was to switch paths. To cut a long story short, it turned out that teaching in schools was not my vocation after all, and I moved back home to Uist after almost a year in Glasgow.

I only intended to spend a couple of months at most in Uist – I was actively looking for work on the mainland, and I’ll be honest, I really enjoyed city life – but I ended up getting a good job in Uist, so… here I am still! There have been some ups and downs, but on the whole, I am happy to be here. Those ups and downs mostly came with the Covid-19 lockdowns, and in my view and from what I gleaned from conversations with friends and family on the mainland, I was lucky to be in Uist. 

It might be that the lockdowns affected how you view life in the city vs life at home in Uist. I’m only writing from an anecdotal point of view here. Still, several friends have expressed that they might have felt better being in Uist during those difficult times. We all experienced difficulties during that period, from job losses to feeling isolated from friends and family to feeling a bit stuck because of travel restrictions. The ease with which we could access the outdoors helped when things got a bit tough mentally when I looked at it from my perspective. It was also incredible to witness the number of community initiatives that started in 2020 to help the most vulnerable, the legacy of which will continue to endure.

Gaelic is a vitally important part of Uist – you will hear it spoken everywhere, every day, and I have gone full days without speaking English. I credit moving back in 2018 with spurring me on to improve my language skills – at that point, I hadn’t written much in the language since sitting my Standard Grades… It was something that I felt a wee bit insecure about, despite having very strong spoken Gaelic. If this is an aspect of Uist life that motivates you to move to/back to Uist, then there are resources that will help you, ie. Ceòlas run a range of classes for those who wish to learn Gaelic and for those who want to improve their skills. Even just being in a place like Uist will go a long way to immerse you in the Gaelic language and culture. It will become apparent that it is an important part of day-to-day life rather than something rarefied and embedded within the bones of the place. 

Something that will likely strike you as interesting when you first get to know Uist (or when you are reacquainted with Uist) is how varied life can be. Many of us wear several “hats” at once – many are crofters and workers in different fields (pardon the pun!) or have small businesses running alongside their main day job. I always found that it is a misconception that life is less busy in the islands, and I think this is a pleasant surprise for many who return especially when it comes to extracurricular events! There is always something happening at weekends and plenty of places to go to to meet up with friends and socialise.  We want to highlight that a lot is happening here.

 As I alluded to earlier when discussing the impact of the Covid pandemic, challenges spur people to innovate and to follow their dreams. Uist is a place that has allowed those with ambitions to begin their small businesses to realise their ideas. As an interdisciplinary  creative practitioner, fine artist, photographer and knitter, I have the mental freedom to expand my practice and experiment. 

A major concern will be housing, which is a challenge –  as it is in many other parts of the Highlands and Islands. Several cumulative factors have contributed to this difficulty, and one of the biggest issues is the proliferation of short-term lets hosted on platforms like Airbnb. There are measures now to address this, such as the Smart Clachans project and proposals to turn empty houses into affordable housing. 

Over the next series of blog posts, I will explore the aspects of moving back to Uist outlined in this blog. I think moving back to Uist was one of the best decisions I made; yes, there have been challenges, but in reconnecting with Gaelic and clarifying what I truly want from life there is no better place to do that in my opinion.