Weet jy wat, â€˜ex-patâ€™? SA is steeds â€™n pragtige land
Author Topic: Weet jy wat, â€˜ex-patâ€™? SA is steeds â€™n pragtige land (Read 2933 times)
« on: December 29, 2006, 11:38:51 pm »
Dec 28 2006 06:29:41:003PM - (SA)
Ek sit en lees die briewe wat die ex-pats van Suid-Afrika skryf. En ek dink so by myself: Ja, ex-pats, dit is presies wat julle is. Die verlede, verby, niks meer van hierdie land nie, en ook nie meer hierdie land werd nie.
Ek is moeg om die temerige stories te lees van die mense wat verlang na Bosveld-braaie en sonskyn en wat nog meer. Verlang maar lekker! En hou op om briewe na SA koerante te stuur want heel duidelik wil julle ex-pats mos nie meer deel wees van ons land en lewenstyl nie.
Die geweld en misdaad van ons land het gelukkig nog nie vir my of enige van my familielede getref nie. So daar sal â€™n hele paar mense wees wat vir my sÃª dat ek dan nie â€™n voet het om op te staan nie. Maar ek weet ook dat baie van die ex-pats oorsee Ã³Ã³k nog nooit die geweld en misdaad van ons land beleef het nie.
Dit was maar â€™n kwessie van hardloop weg voordat die lot jou miskien tref. Aan al daardie mense wil ek net graag sÃª: julle is lafaards! So los nou ons land uit, sodat ons van julle kan vergeet en aangaan soos julle van SA vergeet het en aangegaan het.
Skryf maar julle belaglike ex-pat-briefies aan mekaar en dink terug aan die goeie ou dae en aan watter pragtige land Suid-Afrika is. Weet jy wat, Suid-Afrika is steeds â€™n pragtige land, en ek sal nooit my land verlaat nie, al moet ek dan hier sterf daarvoor.
Maar moet ook nie terugkruip met jul kinders wat Engels grootgemaak word in ander lande, die dag as hierdie land weer op sy voete is nie. Jou bed is klaar opgemaak daar in jou nuwe land ... lÃª daarin en kruip weg terwyl regte Suid-Afrikaners baklei vir dit waarvoor hulle lief is.
Ek is in hierdie land gebore. En ek het net soveel reg om hier oud te word en gelukkig te wees soos al die ander mense wat hier woon. Van my sal Suid-Afrika nie so maklik ontslae raak nie! Hier is hopeloos te veel om vanaf weg te hardloop!
Huidige â€œSA-Patâ€, Wierdapark
Re: Weet jy wat, â€˜ex-patâ€™? SA is steeds â€™n pragtige land
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2006, 12:57:34 am »
Although I don't know what prompted this reader to write this letter to the Beeld, the train of though of "SA-Pat" saddens me deeply as he/she is not alone in this reasoning.
I find it disturbing that people are willing to just sit here and wait to be hacked to death / raped / robbed blind because SA is a beautiful country.
Yes SA has a beautiful countryside, but what is the point if you are dead and thus not around to appreciate it.
The reality is that everytime someone has a birthday, hordes of criminals are released. My house is a Fort Knox, yet I still get burgled. Everytime I leave my house I wonder if today is the day I get hijacked. At best I KNOW that I am going to be harassed by hawkers that refuse to take no for an answer. Everytime I walk into a shopping mall I am constantly on my guard for robbers with HIV infected needles. Everytime I go eat at a restaurant I wonder if a gang wielding AK47's will storm in. And the list goes on.
Yes at one point I was also willing to die for my country and No, not the "Old" SA, I was to young to know the "Old" SA. But not at the hands of a criminal!
So now I am branded a coward for leaving SA? No I don't think so.
The reality that I cannot do anything to change what is going on here. My vote counts for zero. The reality that it IS just a matter of time before I, or a member of my family is slaughtered and the perpetrator WILL get away with it. The reality that SA'ns will NOT band together to throw our corrupt government out and install decent folks in their place. SA'ns have been bullied into submission since time began, they are too sh*t scared to do anything. The reality that SA is on it's knees and WILL NOT get back on it's feet in my or my children's lifetime as long as the government is in bed with madmen. The reality that my children will NOT get a decent education or find a job equal to their abilities as they are being discriminated against.
I am not sure how "SA-Pat" intends fighting for what he/she loves, but reality tells me that life is too short to stand in front of the fan. I have a more pressing duty on my hands - to ensure that I keep my family safe and that I give my children the best possible opportunities I can. Along the way I would also like to enjoy my life by being able to walk in the park, go to the local hospital and get decent treatment, go about my daily business without fearing for my life, etc.
How anybody can see that as cowardly beats me, it takes more courage to uproot your family from their "safe" environment and go and plonk them down in a strange country and try to regain what you lost due to the pathetic Rand, than to sit around a wait for the inevitable.
I can bet "SA-Pat" now that after he/she has been slaughtered, his/her family will be on the first flight out of here to raise little English speaking kids elsewhere.
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2006, 03:46:58 pm »
All I can say is - I agree with you 100% - there hs been nothing more stressfull for me and my family than deciding to make the move and emmigrate. Everyday we still wonder if we are doing to rigth thing, but then all we do is pick up a newspaper, talk to friends, watch TV and we get reminded of the horrers that ount us everyday in the beautiful country.
« Reply #3 on: December 30, 2006, 04:07:02 pm »
Hey guys, long time no hear. How are things going your side?
« Reply #4 on: January 01, 2007, 06:36:28 am »
You are right, Nolan. It takes a lot of courage to leave behind what you know, and go into the unknown.
You won't know until you've left, how hurtful the words of "SA-pat" are to an "Ex-pat".
We have not forgotten South Africa, and pray for her regularly. We pray for the safe-keeping of our loved ones left behind.
We long for the days when we didn't have electric wires around the property in SA. We remember her beauty, and the good times. And we wish we were still living there - but with the circumstances we experience here instead of the fear you guys live under there.
Just today, I was standing outside on our front lawn, with not even a fence in front, or between our neighbour's front yard. I was watching my two kids riding bike in our quiet road. I had no fear of them being hurt by other people, other than somebody coming with a car too fast, but we're in a cul-de-sac, and most cars drive slowly, because they adhere to the speed laws in the neighbourhood. Heidi fell off her trike and grazed her elbows. It was the normal pain of childhood. Not a rape, or knife-stab or bullet. I could pick her up and carry her inside to go and tend to her injuries, allowing Joshua to bring in her and his bikes, and close the garage door. I had no fear of him being hurt by criminals.
I have sacrificed a lot to be able to raise my children in the kind of environment I myself was raised so many years ago. It's hard to be far away from family. And I don't see myself as being a coward or unpatriotic.
I love South AFrica. I have not gotten rid of my SA accent, and have not adopted a Texan accent - even after 8 years here. I am proud to be South African. And my heart aches that my country that I love so much has fallen into the hands of ones who do not love it, who do not care for its people, and who are not only raping the people, but raping the land.
« Reply #5 on: January 01, 2007, 07:08:40 pm »
Colleen, I know what you mean. It took all my willpower not to attack "SA-Pat" I was so cross. From my experience, most folks that have left SA have not left by choice, but by necessity and that is what makes me so upset.
In 1994 the leaders of the country had a choice and mostly willing citizens who would do what was needed to make SA truly the best country in the world. Unfortunately they decided on looking back instead of forward. They decided to punish and take instead of work with and build. 12 years on it is still like this so there is no way to rationally believe that it will change at any point. One self serving government has been replaced by another, so actually nothing has really changed. In fact I believe that the downward spiral that SA is in now is just a continuation of the spiral that was already there, it has just been accelerated by the increased corruption and inability of the current government.
So if folks like "SA-Pat" want to call me coward, so be it. This coward will gladly move his family to a country where we can be safe, our kids can play in the street in safely and get a decent, meaningful education and the money we earn is worth something and the government appreciates our abilities.
The reality is that we have to move to another country to get what the SA constitution promises us.
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2007, 02:02:58 pm »
Letters like these tests my self control as a range of obscene words comes to mind.
We all know this is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. We all know what it is like to listen to a thunderstorm on the higveld, the Christmass beatles on a hot day and what it is like to relax in the coolness of a summer evening after the sun has set. But what the hell does it all matter. I feel like a stranger in my own country. I feel like an outcast everytime I have to come in contact with any official structure. I feel trapped in my own house, a prisoner where my movements are controlled out of fear.
I do not know the South Africa that you are talking of. I do not know what it is like to braai on the beach, to hike in the veld, to braai next to a stream in the middle of nowhere. I do not know what it is like to take the road and drive off somewhere, whithout being worried about what will happen if I get a puncture when I dare to drive around at night.
I do not know this South Africa that you talk of. I am too young to have enjoyed the priveledges of the "old" South Africa...I am just old enough to bear the brunt of the aftermath!! I am tired of struggling and knowing it is a fight that can never end in victory.
I will raise my kids in English and I will raise them as Kiwi's. In my heart I will cry for my fellow South Africans, and I will thank God for giving me relief.
« Reply #7 on: January 08, 2007, 02:43:09 pm »
« Reply #8 on: January 14, 2007, 08:46:17 am »
Beautiful, Yolanda. I am sad that your generation didn't taste the "old" South Africa. But I am glad that you will have the opportunity to live life to the full in NZ!