Moving to South Africa

LegacyUser

Hello,
History;
Both my parents and most of family grew up and/or lived in South Africa at some point during there lives, including myself when I was about 4-5 years old. Currently I'm in my JC year. So my imediate family has a lot of connections to SA and often speak of beiong homesick or longing to back there. Sadly we moved to Ireland, in search for better jobs and life in general, but came just before the recession, so when it came my parents were €400,000 in debt due to an unlucky business investment. But don't get me wrong, I do live a lovely life, thanks to very generous grandparents and my uncle. About two months ago after about 4 years of struggling to pay loans and recover from the debt, my mom took out an insolvency case. Currently thats underway and looks to be in okay order. So the debt isn't really an issue any more, although we still have very little money as my mom started another small business venture, that is only very slowly paying back, but indeed looks prosperous.

Now to get back on to the point:
About 10 months ago my grandparents on my dad's side offered my dad a very good job in their workshop in South Africa. At the time they also offered to buy a house for us to move us over. Also, keep in mind at the time I personally thought this was a good idea for myself as I was quite depressed and thought of it as an escape route from my life in Ireland. But due to a number of issues it turns out my grandparents, who my family thought of as very rich, turned out to actually not have the money to buy a house and be flying us back and forth from Ireland and SA. (This was because of a major legal issue of my grandad's account stealing money from his business).

Since then I have grown to really see that Ireland has indeed a much better future for myself in many ways, such as education oportunities and job oportunities (this may seem like a bad one at the moment, but from an Irish degree you can get many more jobs abroad than from a South African degree). Other issues in South Africa include growing up with terrible poverty surrounding you, extremely high living costs, violent crime, unstable government, inflation, the list goes on. Even thinking of these makes my very sad and depressed and I could not even imagine living a happy life with all of that going on around me, I already stuggle living in Ireland knowing that thousands are stuggling because of the recession.

So my issue is, I really do not see the benefits of moving to a country like SA unless we absolutely have to. I think my mom is seeing past all the very prominant issues and disregarding how I feel about my future and my sisters future (who refuses to see any issue with living in SA). I also do realise that my dad cannot get a job here and that being separted from your husband (And me being separated from my dad), as well as struggling to basically be a single parent is very stressful.

At the moment I feel really confused and I do not want to leave Ireland, I also feel no connection to SA, unlike my parents. We are supposed to moving by the end of next year to be in time for the new school year in SA.

Thank you for reading, hopefully you can offer some clarity on the issue

ordinary_girl

Hmm. That sounds tricky. The only thing I can think of is that maybe you could go to SA, finish your secondary school education there and perhaps pursue a degree in Ireland afterwards?

Obviously ideally you'd rather just stay here all the way through, but if your dad isn't having any luck with work over here and your mam also wants to return then it just seems like you're limited in what you can do about it. There's a chance you might actually enjoy SA, and you could get to know your extended family better. Moving to SA at your age (I assume you're 14/15, since you're in JC year) absolutely doesn't mean you still can't have a future in Ireland.

lazybones32

You could try chatting about it with your mom?
Your parents don't want you worrying about their financial position

LegacyUser

So your mam has opened a business here which looks to be prosperous, would your mom not stay here working on her business and let your dad go back to South Africa to work there for 6 - 12 months to see if it's worth moving the whole family back? By the sounds of your post, it seems like yous will have to rent or live with the grandparents over there as the money which your grand parents had promised to finance the house purchase has fallen through. If they are having money issues then who knows what the job situation will be like for your dad.

dellas1979

Hi OP.
You seem to have your head well screwed on about your future, which is remarkable for someone doing their JC!

Just to throw a few things into the mix.

If you were to stay here, would you be entitled to third level education as an Irish/EU citizen?

If you were to go there (finish your secondary education in SA), you could come back as a third level student. But keep in mind, you may have to pay non-EU fees (am not sure what you do/will fall under). But it would be interesting for you to find out!

Stavro Mueller

In a way, you and your parents are different nationalities. You don't have any particular connection to South Africa because you left it when you were a child and you've grown up in Ireland. Your mum and dad on the other hand - for them South Africa will always be home. The hankering to go "home" can stay with people all their adult lives and it can be a powerful tug.

My suggestion to you was to go back to SA to finish your education, then come back here to university. By that stage you'd be legally an adult and able to control your destiny in a way you can't at the moment. However, Dellas has raised a very interesting point re. EU fees. What way would your education in SA fall in relation to the criteria as laid down by Irish universities?

http://www.ucc.ie/en/media/studyatucc/international/documentation/undergraduatenon-eustudents/ug-criteria-determining-fee-status.pdf

iusedtoknow

Don't be too down on SA degrees. I work with 3 engineers closely that work for google who are from J'burg (and live here in San Francisco) and did their undergraduate studies there and are among the sharpest people I know.

One thing I will say to you as someone that has moved around a lot - it is rarely a bad thing. Treat going to South Africa as a bit of cultural experience that will hold you in good stead in the future. Sure there are a lot of issues in South Africa - poverty, corruption, racism and ineptitude...but these are things that are seen in various degrees in EVERY society. Ireland is not immune from these issues.

If I reading your post correctly, you'll be moving to South Africa midway through 5th year (unless your school does Transition year) you should still be good for "Free" fees - as long as you are an EU citizen (you have to be resident for 3 out of the previous 5 years to be able to get irish fees)

In short...while it may be difficult, you could also try looking at this moving as being a great experience for you personally (getting to spend some time with your grandparents, as well as seeing your parents less stressed about money etc) and academically/rounded out (seeing a different culture, getting to look at the world from a different view).

cloudatlas

I think at your age you need to be with your family and have their support but I don't see why you couldn't move back do your exams and if you want come back to Ireland for college when you're ready to live on your own if that's what you really want.