SAFA Living Abroad

When that first thought comes of wanting to live abroad, to leave your country, to leave your loved ones behind, it scares you. To be honest, it’s quite frightening, especially when there are children involved.

Yes, it’s super exciting too, because it means you get to see and experience a different part of the world. In my case, I have never travelled overseas, so you can imagine what it’s like for me (and my husband). In fact, it was my first time flying too! But I’m happy and grateful I could share that experience with my husband and my two girls.

Needless to say, we had an amazing experience on both airlines and almost 23 hours later we arrived at our destination, Wellington, New Zealand. As the plane landed, my husband and I looked at each other, and said: “We made it, we finally made it.” What an incredible moment it was.

So… people often think you leave your country because you’re running away.. Well, no we’re not running away, we’re just trying to provide better futures for our children, trying to give them the opportunities we were not fortunate to have when we were children. Trying to have them enjoy their childhood, like we did as kids (kind of).

My children never knew what it’s like to go to the shop by themselves, taking a bus or even a train by themselves, because in SA it is not safe to do so as a child, I mean it’s not even safe as an adult. My kids have never been on a train in SA, for obvious reasons. I do not have to elaborate on that.

I couldn’t wait to take them on a train ride in NZ. Goodness! What an amazing experience. The four of us going on a train ride, peacefully. And you know, for a moment I felt sad. Sad to think that in our home country, we could never do this. That we had to leave our beloved South Africa, just so our kids can experience LIFE, and not just experience it for one day, but every day we’ve been here.

I know it has only just been 10 weeks since we’ve been here. It’s still early days, but so far, it has been absolutely amazing. Every single person we meet go out of their way to make us feel at home. People will greet you as if they’ve known you for a while, and will start talking to you out of nowhere. That has made the settling in process so much easier for us.

I can finally take long walks on the beach and in the neighbourhood, without any form of fear. Yes, NZ is not crime free, but it sure is so much more safer than anywhere else in the world. I finally feel like I can breathe, I feel free, to put it simply.

The moment people hear my accent, they immediately ask me where I’m from, and with much excitement I say I’m from SA, just to get a response back: “Wow, that’s very dangerous there hey..” That breaks my heart, that that is the first thing they think of.. although true, one wants people to speak about your country positively. But it’s hard to do so, unfortunately.

I’ve come to a point where I told my husband I don’t want to tell people where I’m from anymore, because of this. Yeah, I know it’s silly, but at the moment I do not feel proud to say I’m from SA, because of all the negativity, the corruption, the hijacks, the murders, the kidnappings, the load shedding, the water shortages, and the list goes on and on and on….

I will always be South African, it’s in my blood, it’s in my DNA, it’s who I am, in Afrikaans one would say: “Dis my komvandaan.” And I will never deny it, but to say I’m a PROUD South African, has a complete different meaning.

I pray for South Africa every day, I pray for my family and friends still living in SA, especially when I read the news of what’s happening back home. When I see how angry everyone is because they have no water for days on end, load shedding and and and….. My heart goes out to you, but we shouldn’t stop praying for our beautiful country. Let’s pray that God works within the hearts of the leaders of SA. Let’s all stand in unity by praying for our country. I do believe with prayer, things will change, SA will change.

I don’t know what God’s plans are for us as a family just yet, but for the time being, I am enjoying the freedom I have, the freedom my children have in NZ. My husband is extremely happy in his new job, and we only have God to thank for all this.

The fact that we living in a house without burglar bars…

The fact that I can walk with my phone in my hand…

The fact that I can use public transport without any problems…

The fact that I don’t have to worry about being hijacked at a traffic light…

The fact that I can finally sleep peacefully at night…

It just hits differently. It’s something getting used to, and I am still trying to take everything in, because it’s things we’re not used to. We don’t know this type of lifestyle.

I’ve asked myself: “Is this what it feels like to finally live??”

I am embracing it all, one day at a time. And I will not stop thanking God for this opportunity He’s given us, because it’s only God who could open this door for us, nobody else.