The reality of living in South Africa

I'm off to South Africa in just under two weeks to volunteer with Santa Shoebox, collecting and distributing 10,000 Christmas gifts to vulnerable and disadvantaged children in Pretoria and surrounding areas and to support The Viva Foundation and to visit my friends that I made in the 4 years we lived there.

When I’ve been on holiday in tourist spots in South Africa where you’re likely to meet other foreigners, I rarely struck a conversation with anyone else because all they want to do is tell me how dangerous the country was, what they thought of it and ask my opinion on Oscar Pistorius and Nelson Mandela when I told them I actually lived there. The same applied when I went home to the UK.

When I was going about my daily business in Centurion, Pretoria paying a bill with my South African bank card, doing the weekly food shop or in the post office trying to retrieve my post that South Africans would say ‘what? you live here? you’re English? Followed by how much they want to go and live in the UK and why they think I’m mad to want to live there.

I was asked all the time to compare the two countries and every time I'd answer without fail, that South Africa is by far the nicer country and when asked why, I tell them there is more space, people are friendly, it’s more relaxed and the quality of life here is better than the UK. Of course there is limited access to education, housing and free health care is very basic and not available everywhere and of course gun crimes and the risk of hijacking are high.

Their response is ‘but England is a better place to live, you earn more, cars are cheaper.’ But people don’t realise just how high the cost of living is in the UK compared to here. We are paid in Rand, so don’t benefit from the current exchange rate with the UK, in fact we struggled as we had to send money back for our son’s education and for our house over there.

The perceptions of the opposite country are the same.

To give you an idea of the major differences between the UK and South Africa consider this.

If I drove East from Kent for 6 hours, I'd pass through 4 countries to Germany. If I drove East from Centurion I'd just about reach the coast and Durban.

A 5 hour drive North of Centurion I reach the bottom left hand corner of Kruger National Park that is the same size as Wales. A 5 hour drive north of Malvern where we lived in the UK, I'd probably run out of land to drive on.

If I flew south for 2 hours I'd reach Cape Town. If I flew south for 2 hours from the UK, I’d be in Spain.

There are 52 million people living in South Africa.

There are 62 million people living in the UK.

We’d been victims of crime in South Africa, we’d been victims of crime in the UK.

We’d driven 1000’s of kilometers in South Africa and were stopped many times in routine roadblocks, We were never asked for money from the police.

We have friends who have been hijacked, robbed and held at gun point in South Africa, that is the only part of South Africa, that scared us and we were vigilant every day, everywhere we went.

£10 is equivialnt to R210 with the current exchange rate. R100 goes further in SA than £10 does in the UK.

R100 would buy me lunch, a coffee and a packet of cigarettes.

It costs more to buy a car in SA, because people don’t change them for new plates and labour is cheaper so it’s cheaper to keep an older car going than it is to replace one. Road tax costs R250 a year. In the UK it costs £400 for the same car, a Jeep. Fuel costs were the same, but remember how much further your Rand goes in SA than the £ back in the UK.

When I visited the UK I avoided eating out, as it was so expensive compared to SA, but I could use public transport, there just isn’t any available in SA.

South Africa was my home. I no longer converted the money for our benefit, just for our visitors and the people I bump into when I’m going about my daily business. We discussed the political differences, they were shocked when I told them that in the UK people are sent to jail for not sending their children to school, when they’re crying out for education in SA.

We left SA in December 2014 as new changes to the laws in regards to foreigners were informed. We now live in Dubai and then we'll move back to the UK in a few years. I have blue skies in Dubai, but I won’t have the space that I crave when I’m not in SA.

I can't even begin to compare Dubai to South Africa, I can't tell you where I prefer to live or why. I left a little part of my heart in South Africa that I will never leave behind in Dubai. We fell in love with SA over time and it was a shock to move as quickly as we did, although we had more of an idea over a longer period that we were leaving SA than we did moving there in the first place.

Walking in Johannesburg and The World of Beer

Firstly I would like to thank my friend Laura who invited me to the #JoziMeetUp where I met Louisa, who then invited me for coffee in Johannesburg Central Business District today gave me access to her staff car park in Ferreirasdorp which was the first tented camp settlement after gold was discovered in 1887 and took me to Cramers who claim to sell the 'World's Best Coffee' and it was good, where we chatted and set the World to rights.

We then walked back to the office through the Gold district

And past the Law Office of Nelson Mandela and O R Tambo

and then to the 5th floor of Louisa's office so I could take some pictures of Joburg CBD.

I didn't go straight home, we arranged another coffee date for Louisa to come to my neck of the woods and I wandered off, on foot, to SAB World of Beer.

R75 entry, tours start on the hour and last around 1 hour 15 minutes. You get 2 vouchers for drinks, a full guided tour and a Castle Draft taster on route and they let you keep the glass.

I was early so opted to visit The Tap Room for some lunch and ordered the Thai chicken salad, it cost R40, the drink was free and it was so appetising I didn't even stop to instagram it.

The tour starts with the story of Charles Glass and tells you about the history of beer from the Egyptians who drank it though a straw to filter it, to the Bavarians who came up with the light liquid colour we know today, a visit through the barley fields and hops and the distilling process before returning to the Tap Room to use the 2nd drinks voucher and a walk back to the car and home.

People love to talk.

When travelling there are lots of conversations to be had. Everyone I meet on my travels wants to talk about where I'm from, where I'm going and why I'm travelling.

I'm a friendly person and I love to chat, to anyone, anywhere, at anytime, through social media and face to face.

It's one of those things that rarely happens in South Africa, people don't just chat to you for the sake of it. If the cafe is full, they will wait for a table rather than join the one you're sat on.

I spent a lot of time comparing South Africa to the UK and South Africa comes up top every time I think about it. With an up coming move looming, no idea where or when and a recent trip to the UK, I've been doing quite a bit of thinking and although we are 6000 miles away from our children and families, I'm uncertain about leaving this beautiful country behind. I have many friends here that I don't want to leave behind also, but thinking about a move and the recent UK trip I've realised that I miss chatting to people, strangers on the bus/train (can't use public transport here) joining someone at a cafe and saying 'hello'

Whilst travelling around the UK with my 15yo son between Leeds and Bath, via Gloucestershire and South Wales, dragging cases and using public transport we've met so many people eager to chat with us about where we are from, where we are going and what we are doing. We've been asked numerous questions about the death of Nelson Mandela and whether we think Oscar Pistorius is guilty or not. Is it safe? Can I drive there? Can I go out at night? How many other British people live there? Do we live in an expat community? Is it nice having 24/7 sunshine? I tell them what I can and about my voluntary work and how we camped one night in a township. Yes it is safe, the sun is nice, I don't know many British people here and that I have no opinion of Oscar Pistorius.

I spend a lot of time in South Africa alone,with hubby working away and since the children moved back to the UK. We have visitors lined up, the 19yo is currently visiting, the 15yo is here for the school holidays in July and August and the 22yo is out in September with his girlfriend for a holiday. I have my volunteer work with my friends and I have valuable time with my hubby. The dog and the cat keep me company when I'm on my own, but it's quite lonely when I pop to the shops, I'm not used to shopping and drinking coffee in silence.

Goodbye Mandela

Before leaving Cape Town I signed the book of remembrance.

 

'Thank you for the opportunity to live freely and safely in South Africa for the past 3 years'

 

 

The day Nelson Mandela died

We were awake until 2am last night listening to the news that Nelson Mandela died. It wasn't a shock, it was a matter of time.

Having lived in South Africa for 3 years, I've come to understand the legacy that Mandela has left behind. I read moving tributes on twitter and it was the one's from the South Africans, black and white that touched my heart.

It feels like every person is this country has lost someone close.

We were travelling in the Eastern Cape, we spent 4 days traveling the Wild Coast, driving through the Xhosa homelands. When I came down to breakfast this morning and I entered the room, there were around 50 people having their breakfast, chatting and you'd never know anything had happened. My MIL did not have the TV on this morning and she did not know that Mandela had died as no one was talking about it.

I wanted to ask 'have you heard the news?' 'Do you know Mandela is dead?' Where is the reaction, the expected out pouring of grief?

How will people respond when they return home, but I guess the people who work here are at home, how many people are actually oblivious to the news this morning?

We only have access to the Internet when we reach our hotel and the radio reception was poor today. We drove to Plettenburg Bay, no indication that Mandela was dead, we drove to Mossel Bay, ate out in a crowded and vibrant restaurant, again no indication that Mandela is dead. We put the TV on in the apartment and the BBC tell us that South Africa is in mourning, that flags are flying at half mast, that people are out in the street, celebrating his life.

That's not we are seeing on the South Coast of South Africa. Maybe news is till spreading, maybe we will feel that Mandela has died when we reach Cape Town in 4 days time. We travel north to Pretoria and home on the 15th, the day of his funeral.

Travel The Wild Coast. from Durban to Addo, Nr Port Elizabeth

Road Trip from Centurion to Cape Town and back via Durban and Port Elizabeth

 

 

We’ve been to Durban and the surrounding areas and driven the Garden Route but we’ve never explored the East Coast and have been told that’s where we find the most spectacular beaches.

We spent 3 days travelling from home to reach Addo, North of Port Elizabeth and we did see the most amazing sites, from driving through the homeland of the Xhosa people, where Nelson Mandela is from, and their painted houses to the rugged coast line. Called The Wild Coast.
 

It’s a very long journey with an average of 7 hours a day on the road, but it’s a must. Locals warn you of the dangers on the road, people and animals. It is constant, from goats wandering across the roads to cattle delaying the traffic and not just the side roads but the National roads also.

 

I was told in advance about the Xhosa peoples green houses, today I’m assuming they’ve got a job lot of various shades of green paint, but originally their houses were decorated by extracting the green from copper in the mud.

 

We didn’t spend a lot of time in any of the places to explore but what we saw from our brief stop over in Ramsgate, Coffee Bay, visit to Port Alfred we really liked it and plan to return another time.

 

The coast line down here is peaceful and tranquil in terms of activities and visitors. If you enjoy chilling out, reading, walking and bird watching then I can’t think of a better place to visit.

Coffee Bay involved a 2 hour, return, drive on an unpaved road for 75kms. I think they should put signs up to say ‘no pot holes for the next 100 yards, otherwise they’re everywhere’

 

Thankfully the hotel was ‘All Inclusive’ as there was no village centre or local shops, the hotel owned what appeared to be the only Fuel station and banking facilities in the area.

Coffee Bay took its name after a ship carrying a cargo of coffee beans was shipwrecked in 1893, some of the beans took root but none survived the salty soil.

There is so much history to explore in regards to ship wrecks and fascinating to discover that 8 years after the English ship The Grosvenor sank in 1782, an expedition to find the survivors uncovered over 400 people of non-African descent living along the Mngazi River, believed to be the remnants of various ship wreck survivors along the wild coast.

The trip to Port Alfred took us on a detour off the N2 of around 40 minutes. We drove through a range of small villages full of bars, restaurants, craft shops and small cheese and dairy farms, to the coast. It’s obviously quite windy there judging by the size of the sand dunes and despite the constant drizzle we’d had for the past 3 days, the air was warm and we took a walk on the beach collecting shells from the Indian Ocean.

 

Back in the car for another 2 hours and we reached Addo, where we are staying for 2 nights to explore the Addo Elephant national Park.

#67minutes #mandela

July 18th is the 94th Birthday of Nelson Mandela. To celebrate his birthday people are asked to donate 67 minutes of their time to help out and volunteer to worthy causes.

This is where I spent my 67 minutes (well 255 minutes and then several more hours at home) cutting magazines to make bunting for the Nickel Xmas Market


I shall be returning next week, complete with sewing machine to make more bunting.
So how does this help this organisation? Kungwini Welfare Organisation KWO is an organisation overseeing and raising funds for many projects in the community. The Nickel Xmas Market supports people with disabilities and job creation for unemployed women and youth.

The Paul Jungnickel Home is KWO's largest and oldest project and a project close to my heart as my (step) daughter is in care in the UK, the funding she receives per year is around the same amount that this facility gets for ALL their 140 residents.

I also need to mention the 67 cupckes I made for The Baby House check out their facebook page.


It's never too late to donate 67 minutes of your time. Either contact the organisation direct or tweet me if you want to know more about what you can do.

A Brit's opinion on safety in South Africa

Last tuesday I was in Soweto...yeah so what? We went and did the tourist bits, Hector Pieterson Museum, Nelson Mandela's house, stopping off for lunch in the mall.

I drove myself there, armed with the GPS, following the same route we did when as a family when we were shown around by a former resident, a colleague of my husband.

It was safe. I felt safe on both visits. The roads are tarmac'd there are pavements, shops, markets, schools, hospital, soccer stadiums. (Don't forget it was less than 2 years ago the World Cup was held there. I've also been to Ellis Park, right in the centre of Johannesburg for the Vodacom challenge when Spurs beat the Orlando Pirates last July. I've sat in my car with the window open at a game reserve, unaware a fully grown lion was sat at the back of my car.

How dangerous can it be? with all those events and people around. Ievery person I've spoken to this week here says they've never been into Soweto and don't plan on going there either.

Well I've never felt threatened or scared since we moved here in January 2011. I tell a lie I was shit scared when we arrived here, based on the media stories, based on information from South Africans we knew in the UK. Every bloody person we've met has a horror story to tell us. Police robbing them, held hostage at gun point, car jacking, break ins. You name it and it seems every South African has been a victim of everything. However when you get down to details they admit that they were in an area they knew not to be safe, or were driving at night, or it was their neighbours, brothers, best mates, mothers cat sitter.

Yes some terrible things go on here in South Africa, but they go on at home in the UK also and other countries.

Since we've been here there have been riots in the UK, a massacre in Denmark, protests in Egypt and other countries, lives have been lost, a tsunami in Japan following the earthquake there last March and what about.......?

A country is as safe as you make it, you take extra care when you go away on holiday, more than you do with your house and belongings if you were just popping to the shops. You sling your handbag over your shoulder when you go into the big cities, but have it sat on the seat nest to you in the car when you pop to the local supermarket near home. Why? Why do we feel safe on our downstep but not when we leave our safety zone.
I had my handbag removed my shoulder in a crowded place 1 mile from home, just before christmas our neighbour in the UK was fast asleep in her bed when someone broke into her house, robbed her and used her car to take the goods away, burning the car out less than 2 miles away. The man in Kidderminster, 25 miles away, found dead after 3 weeks in his flat.

I'm sure if we all sat down together we could all scare one another silly with our 'horror' stories and personal experiences, but that is life I'm afraid to say. It's just not safe anywhere, anymore is it?

To demonstrate this take a look at the UK and some of the crimes that have happened in the last few weeks, no real difference from the ones you hear about here.

But before you do, do you remember the honeymoon couple in Cape Town where they were hijacked and she was murdered in 2010? Which turned out the husband brought her here so he could cover up the crime and blame the dangers of South Africa? Well he was British and lived not far from where we moved from. News story from the BBC on the day we arrived in South Africa.

Man shot in Canary Wharf remains in a coma. 27/03/2012

Kwame OFOSU-ASARE murdered aged 17. Lambeth. 03/02/2012

Man exposes himself to 13 year old in Hastings. 21/03/2012

Woman in attempted car-jacking in Belfast, badly shaken. 29/03/2012
I see Car Jacking isn't just a South African thing either, Crimestoppers have a whole page to protect yourself, the advice is the same here.

Armed robbery in Bangor. 29/03/2012

Asian homes being targetted by burglars for Gold. Leicester (on going)

BT announces new device to prevent cable theft. 26/03/2012

67 children were trafficked FROM Africa TO the UK, 29 of whom were from Nigeria, mostly female and were sexually exploited. 2012

Check out the Crime levels in your area in the UK .