Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Hopefully more young men like you do go back to S.A. and make a difference Tish. S.A. desperately needs people like you. As for the weather thang, love the beauty and greenery of the U.K. but nothing tops SA's climate. Lived in eastern side of Canada and I thought I would lose my mind. Very gloomy wet weather. Now I live in the western states that sports the same dry sunny climate that I was used to in sunny S.A. Cannie beat it!!

You talk about people taking some time before becoming friendly, I think that is pretty standard for being a newby in a small town. Found that myself. A lot of folk had never really broadened their horizons beyond their borders so weren't really sure how to communicate with the "foreigner". Once the ice was broken the chatter never stopped. ;)

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Hey Tish11,

Still really interested to hear ---

…you obviously had a very tough youth and although I can not talk from experience I can only imagine the hard time it was for you as a black kid in SA.

You must have fought very hard to educate yourself and been determined to study hard to become an engineer.

How did you manage to do that ( out of curiosity) as a black kid in South Africa under the apartheid system I thought it was deemed impossible for any black person to be able to beat the system and actually have a life.

You seem to have gotten on with yours and it is an interesting story I’m sure. Please share ………. :thumbup:

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

A well-known paddle-skier of Amanzimtoti died about 21:30 after being shot at close range in the head and chest.

He was the fourth person in the area to be shot dead in their home in the past month in the area. The family's house is in the same street as the police station.

http://www.24.com/news/?p=saa&i=489834

Amanzimtoti is a small seaside town about half an hour south of Durban. Four people shot dead in their home in a month, that’s one a week. Not the sort of seaside town kind of atmosphere one imagines. It is also pretty clear that the police are useless (or actually don’t care) as this is happening literally on their doorstep.

Little seaside towns are not exempt to the senseless violent killings that are happening in South Africa such as this.

Of course there are people that will come on this forum and say that the mindless slaughters only happen in the cities. Yeah and Mugabe’s a nice guy!:ohmy:

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Hi Susie

I read the first page or two of the posts replying to your original question - and then gave up. I've heard it all before, and I don't think any of it was particularly constructive. All I can say to you and your husband is follow your hearts, but try and use your heads financially. I am British (although spent most of my life in South Africa) and my husband is South African. We left SA six years ago but are now seriously considering returning. Like you, we know all the pitfalls but have decided that life is too short to spend living in a place where we might well be safe but are so unhappy. At the risk of sounding completely melodramatic, the day we got off the plane in Heathrow the colour went out of our lives and it has never returned. We have made lots of new friends, but we miss our families. We wake up every morning and wonder what we are doing here, sure we are safe but this will never truly be home. I dread to think what the future holds for me if I stay here - will I become like one of the multitudes of expat South Africans who haunt these message boards, seemingly 24 hours a day, trying to convince themselves that they made the right decision in leaving by slamming the country to anyone who will listen and convincing others not to move there. What on earth are people who were so unhappy in South Africa and so relieved to get away from it doing sitting on these boards all day long. What is an ex South African now living in Australia, for example, doing looking at posts about South Africa on a british expat website all day every day?? Why aren't they revelling in their new found freedom, going for those long, safe walks they dreamed of, etc etc. I don't claim to be a psychologist, but it's one for the books! Sorry to rant... but it really annoys me.

Anyway, to get back to the topic... Both my family and my husband's family are still living in South Africa. We have family in Somerset West, in George, in Kimberley, in Johannesburg and in Durban. In the six years that we have been living in the 'safety' of Europe, aside from a break-in at my parent's house in Somerset West two weeks after we left, NOTHING has happened to any of them. Meanwhile in our sleepy little village in the west of Ireland, over the last six months there have been three break-ins in our road, and two weeks ago a bunch of drunk kids vandalised all the front walls of the houses on our block. Every morning we take our dog for a long walk by the lake (yes, yes, I know what you're all thinking... at least you can go for a walk in safety) and we have to side step over hundreds of broken bottles, beer cans and condoms left behind by the kids who drink down there until the wee hours every night of the week. Those will be your kids, those of you who are thinking of leaving SA. You will not be able to wrap your kids in cotton wool once you've left. they too will expect to be given the freedom to live as their peers do; and God help you if you try and expect them to live in the way they do in SA - several SA friends in the UK and Ireland have had to face this problem. I know that one cannot even begin to compare the levels of violent crime here to those in SA, but when you leave one country and go to another the problems in your adopted country become your new problems. Believe me, no where in this world is without its problems of one form or another. You might be safer from violent crime in the UK as opposed to SA, but you are faced with problems you would never have dreamed of. I could list them, but it would not be constructive and it is not relevant to what Susie was asking.

As far as the cost of living is concerned, I really think it is fairly comparitive. I am not talking as someone who left SA six years ago - I am talking as someone who is doing research and has family living in SA. Some things are cheaper and some are more expensive. The biggest issue, it seems to me, would be finding work... and that is where the problem lies. That is the one and only thing that is holding us back from jumping on a plane today... Unless you have a lot of money I wouldn't even think about going there unless one of you has a job to go to or you've got family you can stay with for as long as it takes to find work. Get in touch with as many employment agencies as you can, check out www.ioljobs.co.za for links to the newspaper job listings, and look at www.homecomingrevolution.co.za for some good links too. And as several posters have mentioned, don't forget to cost in medical aid and insurance to your budget. As your husband will know, these things are essential in South Africa. South Africa has become a very expensive country to live in - as I said, I honestly believe it to be comparable to the UK (check out rents at www.cyberprop.com).

If you are truly realistic, have enough money to get by on, and manage to find work I honestly don't think you will regret it. We have several friends, Irish and ex South African's, who have followed their hearts and made the move and they don't have a moment's regret. Hopefully we will be following them soon.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Why use your head at all? Just do it all with your heart. It is the modern way to do everything.

Pablo

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Agree with just about everything here. Great post, Macc. :thumbup:

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Yet another smug white immigrant sorting out Africa's problems.

Pablo

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Smug - No.
Immigrant - Yes.

And yes, I'm proud to say I'm helping. Do you have a problem with me helping? Maybe you think people don't need helping? Do you help people?

And before anyone accuses me of working for some charity or something - that's crap. I'm a diagnostic microbiologist, as it happens. I came here because my wife (then my girlfriend) is South African. I have lived here with her for three years, now together with our 1 year old child and I feel happy and safe.
Quite why I should be chastised for doing my job, I don't know. Quite why it matters what colour I am to you or anyone else, I can guess, but I think it speaks more about you than it does about me.

I must be missing some issue you have with people sorting out Africa's problems though, Pabs. What is that?

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

What I have an "issue" with is your tedious self-advertising smugness.

Pablo

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Quite honestly my life was never unique in any way, that to us was just life. Am I bitter? NO and I think there are a lot more south africans who feel the same way.
How did I manage?? Same way as most other people managed. We just got on with life and did the best we could under the circumstances.

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Really, I would love to know how you “managed”. I mean against the odds of apartheid and “ Bantu” oppression etc etc you became an “educated” person to the level that you are educated to offer your skills as an engineer overseas.

I believe there is something very unique in your success story and it would be really great if you could share that how you did it.

Cheers :cool:

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Oh, ok that explains Rick B and his contribution.

It is clear what is holding your country back just as it is with Zim

Obviously all the stories in the ( censored) news are lies

The dictatorship control………… the ANC ….

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Believe me its not, there are a number of people who made it, as for me working in the UK, There appears to be a global drought of engineering skills.I just happened to be in the right field at the right time.
I came from what someone earlier referred to as the "lost generation", or something along those lines..(making the country ungovernable generation)..One thing we always knew was that making the country ungovernable was never going to be THE solution. Behind those messages there was a more significant one to the youth of the day, one which never made the headlines and that was "arm yourself with education"....contrary to popular belief.
I think people are not the same, two kids can go to the same school be brought up in the same house in exactly the same way...one would go on to be a scientist while the other ends up being a drug addict.
Same thing, apartheid didnt affect us in the same way some went on to become medical doctors, some engineers others just fought on the front line and forgot about their education and other lost the will to do anything with their lives. I am just one of those who decided to study and there is a fair number of us.

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Hi Macc,
Was intrigued by your post,
I live just outside Galway (Ardrahan, about 30 minutes) and last night was the first time I'd heard of problems down our way
(3 druggies trying door handles and as a lot of houses are left open, theft occurs , one of our friends is quite distraught)
where are you?
which Village I mean?
Regards
Dax