Comments on: Is it wrong to feel relieved that I left South Africa?

By: David

David — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 08:21:43 +0000

I like being from Africa. Even if I am white and have an British passport. It makes me fairly unique. there is only about 5 million of us on a continent of 922 million.

I like living in Europe because that’s where my parents once came from. And it’s fun.

I like going back to South Africa because that’s where I’m from. And it’s fun. I like to hang out in the Transkei, to visit my home town of Durban. I like to see the people and blue skies. They are fun too.

I will never be ashamed of my white-ness or my african-ness. I will never be ashamed that I have chosen to live in Europe for the moment. I will never hang my head when I am back in South Africa.

And I will never heed the opinions of people who say I should do.

Sarah, stop with the white guilt. Enjoy Australia. Enjoy where you come from. Celebrate who you are.

And write about something that actually matters. Like the difference between a wombat and a dassie. Or the virtues of the indian ocean over the pacific ocean. The taste of kabeljouw vs barramundi. Or why a cafe latte in Sydney is infinitely better than a cafe latte in Johannesburg.

By: Di

Di — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:12:11 +0000

Good for you – I wish it was me!

By: Garg Unzola

Garg Unzola — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:15:04 +0000

Oh, the irony of Seffrikans lamenting the fact that a Seffrikan would feel at home anywhere else.

Maybe it’s because Seffrikans label foreigners as the culprits of crime and chase them back home that we can’t understand how someone could feel relieved to be in another country?

Ultimately, you only need to answer to yourself. If you feel relieved when you see the xenophobia attacks, the Eskom blunders and the foot-in-mouth disease all our politicians suffer from, it is not wrong.

Part of having freedom is deciding where you want to live and what kind of life you want. Nobody has the right to resent you for acclimatising yourself to bluegum trees and losing rugby teams.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 09:13:16 +0000

It’s ok to visit SA on holiday but whenever I leave for the UK I feel like I am coming home. The simple truth is that the UK is a far more civilised, cultured and pleasant place than SA. I even prefer the weather here.
Why keep posting on an SA blog then? If you have been happy in the UK for 10 years why keep on stewing baout SA. It will be like a festering boil inside you.
You are now a pom not a South African. The fact that you keep postying suggests that you are not entirely truthfuil in your assertion taht you have ne desire to return at all.

By: Thought Leader » Reader Blog » Racists, traitors and treason

Thought Leader » Reader Blog » Racists, traitors and treason — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:33:07 +0000

[...] some of the responses on Sarah Britten’s blog titled “Is it wrong to feel relieved that I left South Africa?“, I was shocked by the vehemence of some of the [...]

By: John

John — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:10:47 +0000

What intrigues me about all the expats who are so adamant that we are all going to hell in a handbasket and how glad they are to be wherever and how they don’t feel South African at all us why they are still posting on these blogss. Surely you should be on teh website of teh Sydney Herald or teh Toronbto STar or whatever. You have made a choice that was right for you. Now let go and become a Canadian or Aussie or whatever. Go and watch ice hockey or Aussie Rules. Cheer when Aussie wib the cricket. EMbrace where you are. But don’r keep sniffing around SA. We are all trying to move on in our own ways. We don’t need dogs in the manger saying I told you so all the time. That is the problem with SA expats. They want to see blood in the streets and disaster becuase then it justifies what they did. You cannot have it both ways. You are like teh souties of old. One foot in Africa and one in wherever with your doohdah dangiling in tyhe ocean.

By: vic

vic — Sat, 31 May 2008 10:43:40 +0000

Sarah you are quite right to feel relieved. The country has serious problems that may get far far worse without ever getting better.

The world has become a very small place and skills are easily transferable. Places that are not fit for people to live in safety and raise families will experience a brain drain.

That is how it should be.

To those who have decided to make Australia home , good luck to you it is a wonderful country.

To those who have decide to stay in SA , good luck to you too. You will need it.

By: Juno

Juno — Wed, 28 May 2008 20:30:58 +0000

Sarah, please don’t let a handful of dunderheads put you off blogging on Thought Leader.

By: Richard P

Richard P — Wed, 28 May 2008 06:55:22 +0000

To answer your question, Sarah, you are quite right to feel relieved. Just as those who were able to get onto a lifeboat after Titanic hit the iceberg were quite right to feel relieved.

Those who believe that SA will come right are just shifting the deckchairs on a doomed ship, in my view.

By: Richard P

Richard P — Wed, 28 May 2008 06:48:54 +0000

I left SA for the UK in 1999, for none of the usual reasons (i.e. none of crime, AA or politics played any role in my decision); I simply felt like a life change.

That said, I have not the slightest flicker of a faint desire ever to return there to live. SA has become ever more a parochial, self-obsessed, disintegrating shithole with little to no hope of ever coming right.

27 April 1994 was one of the highpoints in my life, when I allowed myself to believe that SA had left the dark oppressive days behind and was finally taking the high road. That hope has been ground into the dust by the corrupt, nepotistic, incompetent, race-obsessed, ideologically paralysed shower of shit that lead the country.