Why wait so long?

I can't tell you exactly what the situation was at that time regarding the politics of the country, violence, corruption, apathy, etc. but I do recall that I was very keen to get out! However, there were a couple of practical issues as well as personal issues that kept us in South Africa so long. For example: my daughter had just started a 2 year program with an orthodontist to get her teeth straitened. We were contractually bound to pay the guy the full amount for the two year treatment and, and, and. We could probably have gotten out of it but dental work in Australia was much more expensive than here. Furthermore, my wife wanted to spend more time with her Mom (82 years old) as we are the only family she has in SA. She also wanted co-ordinate our leaving with her Namibian sister's sabbatical coming up in 2009 so that her sister could spend a large part of the year with her Mom during the first year that we would be away.

I look back at these reasons and at the currency that has lost about 25% over the 2 years, the downturn in the economy and housing prices, which lead to us losing about another 25% of our house's value and 15%- 20% on our cars, and it was definitely a bad move financially. We should have left the country at the end of 2006. But on the other hand that would have been an insane rush. We have had 6 months to arrange the move and it's getting hectic. Three months would have been crazy. But, some people have done it, so it's not impossible. Since October 2006 many things have happened, especially on the spiritual side of things and I am actually glad that we did not leave then.

None the less, I could not help looking at the past two years and thinking “Why did we not leave then?” The circle from then to now was closed when we attended a church service the other Sunday (5 October). The theme was “Preparation time.” When God is about to do something big in your life He needs to prepare you for it. It was amazing to tie up things mentioned in the sermon to what we had experienced during the past 2 years. One of the scripture texts for the sermon was Ps. 40:1-3 (taken from the Good News Bible):

1 I waited patiently for the Lord's help;
then He listened to me and heard my cry.
2 He pulled me out of the deadly quicksand.
He set me safely on a rock
and made me secure.
3 He taught me to sing a new song,
a song of praise to our God.
Many who see this will take warning
and will put their trust in the Lord.

I had marked this scripture on 20/10/2006. It was the same day that we got the letter from DIMMIA stating that we had been granted the PR visa! Seeing the thick underlines under verses 1 and 2 reminded me of the anguish and detest I had for the situation in the country at that time. Since then I've just grown accustomed to the worsening situation and that is nothing more than the frog in the pan syndrome. Put a frog in a pan of water and slowly heat it up and the frog will not jump. It will eventually cook in the pan, but it will not jump (so I hear). The point is: When you start feeling uncomfortable (and the reasons are right!) then find the opening and jump! Here, almost at the end of our stay in South Africa, God took me back to that day when He opened the door; as if to say: “You wanted to leave back in 2006 but you weren't ready. I needed the past two years to prepare you.” Thank you, my Lord!

This is the end of this saga. I hope to continue this blog from Australia in 2009 when I will be reporting on just how much greener (or not) the grass is on the other side. :-D

So long and thanks for all the fish.
(Doughlas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

How did it come about?

I remember distinctly that during the time of the, now famous September 11 attacks, I was negotiating with a local “head hunter” and practically had a job for an IT contracting company in Sydney. When it came to accepting the offer my wife got cold feet and decided that an English country, far away from her family was not her kind of thing. The next December, at the family Christmas get-together, her sister from Tsumeb, Namibia, announced that they had applied for an Australian visa with the intention to emigrate.

Perhaps there is a bigger picture, a Divine Plan. One that goes back a long time, even before 2001. I recall back in the early 1970's my Dad wanted to move to Australia and farm rabbits. Perhaps that was before the Aussies realized that rabbits were a pest on their continent :-) In the 1940's one of my Dad's brothers ended up in Australia (apparently) when their family was torn apart by the Nazis during the Second World War. Whether any of the above is relevant or indicative, I'm not sure, but I do believe in Divine Plans. The fact that my wife's sister moved to Brisbane in 2004 prepared the way for her (my wife) to eventually agree that we apply for a PR visa (Permanent Residency).

One day, on my way to work, I was listening to Radio Pulpit (in those days they still had an FM frequency, now they've been relegated to AM) and they played an interview with Bruce Wilkinson, author of The Dream Giver. This was my first “Divine encouragement” to go ahead with the application. Based on what Bruce was saying through his book, I really felt it was Ok with God for me to go and look for a better life. Please understand that I was not living a bad life: The Lord was looking after us very well. It was all that I described in days 1 to 3 that I detested. Do yourself a favour and get this little book. It's a true gem! Short and very easy to read.

My wife and I spent a lot of time in prayer about this issue and the greatest milestone was to actually obtain the PR visa. I was not about to pay some company R30 000 to R40 000 to do some paperwork, so I set about handling the application by myself. With the help of some friends (and family) who were already in or on their way to Australia, I tackled the mountain of paper work! The first hurdle was to get a Skills Assessment. This involves (mainly) obtaining letters from your university and employers for the past 10 years detailing your position, responsibilities, duties and achievements at each company. This application came back once with a request for more information. Finally the Skills Assessment came back positive and I was then, and only then, eligible to apply for a PR visa.

The obvious route is Skilled Migration with a points test. I quickly came to realise that, while I would have qualified on the points basis in 2001, I had now aged myself into a new bracket (worth less points) and the requirements had been bumped up by 5 points. This left me short about 10 points. So I started looking at Afrikaans and various other little things to score more points. However, all those doors closed. For example: Proficiency in Afrikaans can count a couple of points but they cannot test it. So you need to prove that your university/college education was conducted in Afrikaans. Although I have a 1978 and 1979 Taalbond exam certificates stating that I am fully bi-lingual it did not help me.

I was getting desperate! Were my dreams to be dashed? My wife would never agree to go on government sponsorship because that would mean the Australian government would place us wherever they wanted; probably in the Kimberly or other similarly deserted place. :-) I was not keen on that idea either. Wading through the 57 pages of Book 6 I eventually stumbled upon a little thing called a Designated Area Sponsored Visa with Assurance of Support. It had a small note that I had to read about 3 times, slap myself and read again and still I doubted it. It simply read: “This category is not points tested.” Freak-out!!! Can you imagine! I was going to Australia again!! What else was required? The usual English competency, Skills Assessment, family member in a designated area, sponsorship by family member, and to crown it all, my wife's sister had moved into one of the designated areas around Brisbane! Fantastic!! All sorted.

Not quite. Closer inspection revealed that the family member living in the designated area has to be direct family as in mother, father, sister or brother. Does in-law qualify? Nope! Well, I could carry on for pages, but it turns out my wife is actually the primary applicant and, because I am the breadwinner, my Skills Assessment was accepted. On 20 October 2006 we got a letter from DIMMIA stating that we had been granted a PR visa. PRAISE THE LORD!!!

It's not all that bad!?

In 1983 I came down to Cape Town from Namibia and was astonished by the beauty. For me it was a dream city! I enjoyed jogging on the contour path at the back of Table Mountain in the forest, I enjoyed the sea and SCUBA diving, I enjoyed the outdoor life, the sun shine (well, in summer; in winter there was none), the fresh air and the excellent infrastructure. I returned to Namibia in 1986, got work, got married, got frustrated in my work. Then my wife and I moved to Cape Town in 1989.

Cape Town is still a fantastic place to be and we enjoyed it very much. However, over time the air has become so polluted that many days you can taste the sulphur in it. There is a very high incidence of allergies and respiratory problems amongst the people living in and around Cape Town, esp. amongst infants and the elderly. Most days there is a thick brown layer over the city, the density/transparency varies but it is almost always there. I always say “It's a nice day in Cape Town when the sun shines and the wind is blowing gale force.” If the wind is still for a day or two you get that thick layer of pollution hanging over the city again. It fills the entire basin from the Paarl mountains in the north to the Gordons Bay mountains in the south. You can't get away from it unless you travel 50 to 100Kms and go over the mountains. Here is a pic I entered for a photo competition at the hight of my disgust at the state of the Cape Town air.

When it is a clear, sunny day, why not take a walk on the world famous Table Mountain? Well, because you are very likely to get mugged there! Even cyclists have been stopped and mugged by people living in the bush on the mountain. Being an amateur photographer, I'd love to walk about Cape Town and photograph the old buildings, the sunsets over the city, the unique people of the Cape, but you dare not walk about with your mobile phone in hand or you are likely to get mugged. What if you take a leisurely stroll with R10 000's worth of hardware hanging around your neck?!!

With news of all the above (this & the previous 2 entries) raining down on you day after day, interviews with security specialists, mates emailing anti-hijacking precautions and target cars of the month, you eventually develop a bunch of preconditioned responses. I have a set drill for when I leave the garage, another drill for when I approach my house and pull into the garage, another for when I drive in town, another for when I approach my car in public parking, another for when I approach a stop street or traffic light, I avoid certain places after dusk (and I'm not talking about back streets and slums!), etc. etc. And so we adapt our life style around the threats we face every day. What we don't realise is that the persistent pressures take their toll, both on our health and our mental well being! Now you can say: “Stefan, you are being paranoid and ridiculous.” You may; my wife does every now and then, but I am not willing to take any chances! Just one violent encounter will change you life forever! I am not willing to take that chance!