“We are coming home!!! Never again will I ever take for granted the uniqueness, the vibrancy and the energy of our homeland.”
Johannesburg, South Africa (27 September 2022) – A post written by a South African coming back home after living abroad is going viral for all the right reasons.
Antoinette Takis Stolenkamp originally published the incredibly uplifting post to a community group called “I Love Fourways“, but it has since been screen-grabbed and forwarded to phones around the country, leaving everyone who reads it feeling a little more proudly South African.
Read it below:
INCOMING alert!! After more than two years abroad, we are coming HOME and I have never been more excited about anything in my life!
We left with the same narrative as so many other South Africans… to give our children a better life, a more secure future… blah blah blah! Free education, safe streets, free healthcare, unlimited supply of electricity, no crime or corruption, great retirement opportunity, but OMG I CAN NOT WAIT TO GET OUT OF HERE.
Never again will I ever take for granted the uniqueness, the vibrancy and the energy of our homeland.
Who needs electricity 24/7 when you have sunlight and energy literally emanating from the people? Who wants free education for your kids, but no lessons on how to deal with the world, how to be compassionate or how to overcome obstacles? A society where everybody has enough, so nobody learns how to share. Reliable and safe public transport, but journeys that are so uncomfortable and cold as nobody makes eye contact. The streets are safe but the people walking them are so dull. There is no loadshedding, yet there is no warmth, colour or light. The elderly have great pension benefits but are lonely. Free healthcare yet my children have never been more sick with less access to doctors, and very long waiting periods. I can tell you for sure that South African doctors and private healthcare is of the BEST in the world.
I want to return to my home, where beggars on the street teach my children about giving, and what is important in life. We may be third world but let me tell you our world is filled with spirit and colour. People may have nothing, but they dance in the streets. Their souls are alive! I know I will probably curse when I am home, but the thing is, I can curse with people who understand it. We can laugh and cry about it.
But we are in it TOGETHER.
We are family-orientated people, we ARE innovators, in fact, I have never seen anyone improvise to solve a problem like a South African. We have the ability to adapt to anything; we are warm, patient, tolerant and charismatic. We look after and love our elderly.
And THIS is how I want my kids to grow up.
I am certain that most people that have relocated, are undoubtedly living with two feet in different countries.
Just as people are leaving, there are thousands returning as well. There is just no way that you can ever let go of this place.
I have never been more excited about anything than touching down in my land again.
As cliched as this sounds, we want to make a difference to our OWN people.
by 
South Africa has many great opportunities if you have funds to see/access medical aid! Homeless children who survive and survive is it they do not radiate joy & sharing! Load shedding- out your self paid generator on & life goes on, if you can’t or don’t have generator – huddle round, wrap yourself in blankets and talk about good old days! Yeah South is Great for Middle Classes
I am a proud South African, currently living in Waterford, Ireland. I moved here in 2015, because I wanted to be with my husband. It’s been a tough seven years, with many ups and downs and we talk about moving back to South Africa so so often and you never know, this may still happen. You can take the girl out of SA but you can’t take SA out of the girl. 🙂