I would also like to move back to SA. Been in the uk 7 years, travelled to India, Japan, America, Spain, Greece, France
When i was young i longed to see the world, i hated learning afrikaans and wanted to learn other languages, i successfully did this as well - you know the grass is always greener.
Now 7 years later i feel like i do not know who i am. South africa is one of a kind place.
Those that have no faith will be put off by crime, i myself am one of these people and am seriously considering moving back - i have grown tired of feeling scared or worrying about something which might or might not happen.
In fact i am scared that i feel like this for the rest of my life and then lose out in living in one of the most fantastic countries in the world. You live once which is why so many people decide to leave SA, but they forget that you live very long!!
For me living till the end of my life without living on that soil, smelling that air, hearing those roaring clouds & thunder is just too much for me to bare...
I can honestly say - I would gladly face the negative there in SA than live a lifetime overseas feeling empty, because deep down inside you feel lost. No amount of films, holidays to other countries, job opportunities, money can make you feel like when you are in your home country.
Imagine how the first Dutch or Portuguese must have felt first walking on a land with no communication, no police, no laws, no houses, no roads, wild animals, no super markets, no security
Then i think of the now, sure SA has high crime and yes i have family that have been killed out there, but atleast they died in their own land, i know SA people who have been killed in the UK been robbed.
For me the worst death can only come from the longing which i have these days, it feels like i die a thousand times a day in the uk, ranging from the simple things like the friendly smiles on peoples faces in SA which you just dont seem to get in the uk.
For me most people in the uk who work behind counters, on the phones, in restaurants just dont have simple courtesy (in fact most cant even speak properly), my father always told me that to be polite costs you zippo but to be rude cost you a lot - I have had many people be rude to me (just their normal way, because they might as well be on the doll)
I have such a longing for SA, the problem is the news always puts you off
But i want to tell anyone reading this, i have family who moved to Australia, friends in new zealand they all say they would never go back - but they are all liers!!!!
They all hate to admit that they jumped ship, give any south African four years away from SA and you will see that they are not the same people, they dont even seem alive.like when they were in South Africa!!!
All these scaredy cats sit around braais telling each other horror stories, convincing each other that they made the right decision to leave and immigrate- Let me ask you this...
If they made the right decision then why spend hours talking about it with other south africans 12,000 miles away? Surly they would be embracing their new cultures instead of saying things like oh the kiwis do this, and is it strange they do that..... and on and on they go.
they do this to make themselves feel better, and if you are reading this wanting to disagree with this, then you have proved my point. You are missing home and would love to find any excuse to come back home.
I can easily make friends with South africans when meeting them, but in terms of that from Uk people and have heard the same from others in other countries, the people just dont seem to open towards making friends with south africans or just not friendly in general, sure this is a giant generalisation but from the people i have spoken to, it seems like this is the case not only for me but many people.
With Aussies and Kiwis i think its easier than in the uk
There is no place like home! AA, BEE, Crime will not go on forever!
I have come to appreciate that there is no perfect land, they are all illusions. You think you escape the crime and you get washed away with floods in Australia, you escape the floods in Australia and you get hit by earth quakes in New Zealand, you escape the floods you get hit by twisters in the mid west, you miss those and you get hit with some other disaster.
On a side note, most people in these foreign lands especially the uk think that they will also get a pension! Im in this field and can tell you that the future of a safe happy ending in 30 years time when you want to retire in the uk, or europe is just not going to happen at all and in all likeliness your life will be little than a mere existence.
Atleast in SA you know what you are dealing with.
Crime in london is high, i will not even go into certain areas! In certain areas (yes i know what i am about to say may be taboo) but because im a white male i could be a target.
Sorry for me the splendid beauty of SA, the people, all of them coloureds, blacks, whites, Indians seem so friendly, the opportunities are in SA, Most of the west is debt ridden, there is not much more they can expand into, while south africa sits on trillions of dollars worth of minerals
The current political climate in SA will change, this thing of the past with the ANC playing the race card will not work going on into the future, it will be a case of - are they performing
SA is the future. Africa is not what it was 10 years ago, africa in general is experiencing more growth than many western nations due to the investments from the East - have a look at countries like angola, mozambique, namibia. These Eastern nations like china own many of the western nations and are also their creditors.
The big difference is we have minerals to pay off the debt in africa, not too many western countries have that - Thats a whole nother topic
My point is the future in SA is looking the brightest it has ever looked!
Will there be issues in the future?
Of course, will there be electricity outages? Sure
Any developing nation will have power cuts, go to china, India the fastest growing nations have power cuts, power cuts are a good signal, it shows a nation is growing faster than it can supply the electricity.
I have decided to go back, its no about the pros and cons any more its who i am, someone told me " absentees makes the blacks go blonder" for me, i have never felt more of a connection to all south Africans after spending this much time apart from both whites and blacks
I now understand that if there is to be a future for all of us, it has to be one where we work together and that is what i intend to do.
Proudly South African
...as one of the other replies said...the crime is much more seriously level than in other countries. We could still live with theft but the fact is your life is meaningless to these criminals and they will take your life without a second thought. Not any of my family members,through the grace of God,has been involved in any crime related accidents but the "not yet" part is always on your mind. So we are leaving behind our roots ,family and friends for a new future in a other country.In our hearts we will always be proudly south african,but I can not replace or put a price on our childrens safety!
