When to move back home?

[frodo/maya]

Hi Snoozy- sorry I have only noticed your post today. All I can give you is a 


Still being in SA all I can tell you (and you know this) is the SA that we grew up in no longer exists. There are not enough positive people like you in SA left that want or that can make a difference anymore- my apologies but I am very negative about a future for SA at this moment.


Another one for you 

[Jemsquash]

Take it from someone who is left behind, my daughter is 2 years old and every night i pray for at least 20 minutes, begging for her safety. This is a beautiful country, no doubt about that, but we have no future here, therefore we have no life.

I dropped my daughter off at school today and as i drove away i saw a man walking down the same road, his hand was in his shirt searching for something (i think it was an earphone), as he pulled his arm out from his collar, his shirt lifted up and i saw a gun shoved in his pants. I know he saw me and he just grinned and walked further. I live in a good area, between good people surrounded by mostly normal and well brought up people, yet i cant say who is allowed to walk by my baby's school.

We had a break in last year March, while we were sleeping upstairs and my daughter was about 14 months old. He stole a bunch of stuff from downstairs, including my phone. When the police arrived, they phoned my cell and the criminal answered saying (i will never forget that)..."I want your wife!".

I have been in such a state the last year of my life that my daughter no longer gets to feel the grass between her toes, i am always afraid someone is watching us and waiting to make a move.

Dont ponder about the reasons it's better for you to return, but instead remind yourself why you left in the first place. As i said in my other post, if i can pack my bags tomorrow, i would and i will never look back.

[Mumtaz (CapetonianInWellington)]

OMW!!!! That is not good Jemsquash...............I so feel for you.

[robcraignz]

Hmmm Snoozy, an interesting poser. Not to have a go at SAKB, but always believed 'never say never', been caught out once too often. However, SA is the last of the African countries to be liberated. All the others took a 20 year slide, SA might well take longer. It has more wealth and resource, so more to rape and pillage before complete collapse. I have never returned to my country of birth (Zambia - ex Northern Rhodesia), and my objective is to integrate and become a Kiwi, that said, I suppose a return on a permanent basis is somewhat out of the question - mere arithmatic. 48 years old, add 20 years of SA slide (at the best side not worst), would amount to the sum total of 78. Now, it is an uphill battle for 'lighter' africans to secure meaningful / or any work currently. Who in their right minds would want to employ a 78 year old toothless wonder from half way around the world, in 2030??? This I ask wih tears in my eyes - only kidding. Future is here, similarly, thinking needs to be NZ first and only, SA = holiday trips so nou en dan. Hey, shouldn't be too long before NZ$1.00 is worth around R400 million, so could have a heaven sent holiday

[robcraignz]

Oh yes, forgot two responses in the last post. One, horror stories related about the young Pretoria girl and Jemsquash are far too frequent, not just written here, but experience etc. Two, your title is "When to move home?" Always taught that home is where the heart is, I am home, Kiwis just don't know it yet. Just like the Michael Bubble (deliberate spelling okay - I don't think much of his abiltity) song - I just haven't met you yet! I consider New Zealand as home, my past is just that - THE PAST, and another life. Lessons learnt, friends made, family acquired etc. Both sides need to adjust to that thinking - my wife and I are still going there. Haven't been here long enough yet, to say with complete conviction, that we are totally in that space as yet.

[alwyn]

It will take more than 40 days and night's rain to cleanse the new South Africa enough for me to consider returning (once I finally leave).

[SaKiwiBoer]

robcraignz - I know never to say "never", but read my lips... with PR in NZ I will not leave NZ to go back to SA, not now, not ever. And like I said earlier "maybe" for a holiday but the way the wind is blowing now in SA that maybe is becoming smaller and "smallerer" and even "smallerer-er", if you know what I mean....  . I might become a "refugee" somewhere else but hopefully not back in SA. Cheers mate, SAKB.

[Awa]

I am completely convinced that there is no future in SA for at least the next 100 years (at least) - negative I know but that is just my opinion.   So my thinking is that we are here to pave the way for the rest of our family to have somewhere to go when the poop hits the fan and they have to flee.  Not a day goes by that I don't miss my family and wish that I can just hop in the car to go for a visit but that is not possible - at this stage - I have no doubt it will be possible again one day.   While they are still not ready to make the move, I am learning all I can relating to my new country in order to help them as much as they can when they come over.   If my daughter ever asks why we left her nan and ouma behind to come to NZ (my son will never ask as he was old enough to still remember the fear he used to live in) I will tell her without regret that it was to save her life.   We've been here since October 2008 and I have never (not once) thought of going back.   We live out in the country and I can sit with the door open until whatever time I like (with or without hubby home) without worrying.   The cold winters does not even warrant a mention compared to the type of stuff we experienced in SA - give me snow any day!  When I look back at our life in SA I thank God that we were able to get out when we did - I wish we did it years before!   I sometimes wonder if the 'exodus' out of SA is not God's way of saving a nation from complete distruction.  We can be Saffers wherever we are - in fact I have been able to be more Afrikaans here than I was able to be in Durbs!   Here I am an exotic foreigner who speaks a strange and beautiful language LOL - there I had to justify my right to exist and felt ashamed to speak the 'language of the oppressor'!!

[robcraignz]

Jaaa SAKB, jy't alreeds PR, ons wag nog boeta, en op 'n website, hoe moet jy he, ek moet jou lippe lees, hmm? I know what you mean, even my eldest has started the "maybe we should look at moving. His words "SA doesn't seem so rosy anymore.... "(pick self up from floor, enquire politely of said child, as to what might have brought this sudden change of viewpoint on, then act astounded at brilliance of his deductive powers - obviously not wanting to point out the "I told you so........ what I've been saying for 4 years now). But at least the lighty (yes, the one wanting us to attend his wedding in SA in September) is thinking for a change, and might actually be justifying his school fees - hallelulia. Yep, SAKB visiting SA is definitely not a holiday or any other list topper, for us in the forseeable future, lip reading availability or not

[SaKiwiBoer]

     Say thank you, your "money" for school fees didn't go to waste. Some people must still stand in line to collect those wasted fees...   
No problem that you couldn't read my lips... I tried very "hard" to pronounce the words in a way that you would be able to read them but I understand that I failed miserably in that regard, sorry...   I tried, I promise ...      . Cheers, SAKB.

[robcraignz]

So that was the strange sounds I've been hearing lately! All good mate, I believe you tried hard.
Sad for those who are waiting to get the school fee refund.

[Chan in Wellington]

Once I leave SA for NZ, a miracle will have to occur before I even attempt to visit!!

[bezsteyn]

I will come back to visit. Gran won't make the flight. But I'd rather buy my parents a ticket to visit in NZ than come back here

[MetalFaerie]

I don't think I'll come back even for a visit.

There are so many places to see in the world, why spend your hard earned bucks visiting a country that failed you? 

Before we leave  I want to show my girls the beauty of Africa.  I want to show them Vic Falls, however I won't go to Bob's land, so will maybe go from the Zambia side. (Would really love to go to Hwange and show my girls Zim but won't put money in Bob's account)

Maybe take a trip to Kruger Park.

When we leave Africa, we leave for good.

So we will definitley have an excuse for one helluva farewell party.

[Chan in Wellington]

Bots and Namibia are still safe enough to visit for those wanting to spend their holidays in Africa.