Living and holidaying in a country are two very
different things. When you are on
holiday you do not grasp the high cost of living and the problems facing the
country. Things might seem to be
expensive but you budgeted for it when you planned your holiday. In New Zealand I had to work two jobs to make
ends meet. A beautiful country with a
high cost of living. In China and Korea
pollution was an issue and gave me throat problems. Also the sheer amount of people, pushing and
shoving, was sometimes claustrophobic.
Thailand with its great food and beautiful beaches, a façade which hides
the rats, filth, stray dogs, sex trade and poverty. No country is perfect. Every country has its own unique set of
problems.
One is continually told about the crime in South Africa. When expat friends would hear I was going back for a holiday, they would always ask me if I was scared or feel unsafe. South Africa has always been where my heart is, no matter where I lived. Let me tell you every country has crime. I was in New Zealand two weeks when I had my first burglary. My last burglary there, I opened my front door and there was just dust where my furniture used to be. They even stole the sheets when they stole the beds, broke the kitchen bench top to get out the dishwasher. In China I was pick-pocketed, had a laptop snatched, and a break-in where they even stole my cell phone that was next to my bed where I was fast asleep. In Botswana my washing was stolen off the wash line. In Tanzania they broke in and stole my laptop, portable hard drives containing 10 years of music, video camera, cell phones. Maybe I just have bad luck. But then again, a friend was burgled when I lived in Kyiv. Another friend lost all valuables when his house was broken into in the UK. My son had his camera stolen in America. So it’s not just me who has experienced crime in other countries. Despite what many South Africans think, crime is not endemic to South Africa. Crime is worldwide. Leaving South Africa to escape crime might be a hasty decision. Sometimes what appears to be luscious green grass on the other side turns out to be toxic weeds hiding sharp poisonous thorns.
Unemployment is another factor which causes people to
leave South Africa. It is one of the
reasons I left. As a single mom of three
children without any child support I needed to provide for them. My children have all graduated high school
and gone on to study further. My eldest
daughter graduated in New Zealand, my son in China and my youngest daughter in
Tanzania. The positive is that they all
regard themselves as global citizens.
The negative is that they are third culture kids. Buying a house in Cape Town a few years ago
gave us all roots so that we no longer felt anchorless. We have a place to come home to for holidays.
But now the time has come for me to return. With a head full of memories of overseas friends and crazy adventures, it is time to settle down to life in South Africa. Having not taught in South African schools for so many years, I realised that it would be virtually impossible to get back into the system. The only way would be to start a business in the educational field. After doing some research, I have opted to open an educational consultancy in Table View in Cape Town. The Learning Vine helps students wanting to study overseas find the right university and course to suit them, and assists with the convoluted application process. In addition, I’ve bought a franchise for the GoFocus Remedial Programme which will run afternoons and will run a home-school for children in the mornings who are struggling with being in a mainstream school. With my youngest still studying I have to generate an income. Creating my own employment was a necessity but it is doable. Moving home means setting up new accounts, getting another tax number and heaps of things that you don’t think about when you make the decision to return. Being back in South Africa for good is worth the tough times that will lie ahead as one struggles to get a new business off the ground.
Having travelled the world, I can evocably state that
South Africa is one of the most beautiful countries in the world with the
friendliest people and an acceptable cost of living by world standards. Don’t take what you have here for
granted. It’s not always greener on the
other side.
Cindy Vine is the author of Hush Baby, Not Telling, C U @ 8, The Case of Billy B and Defective. All her books are available on Amazon in kindle and paperback format. http://cindyvine.com
