The other thing I talked to my friend about is him returning home to South Africa in October.

On the one hand, he is really excited. Excited to be going back, and excited to be moving into his own home, after living in other people’s homes for 6 years or so.

On the other hand, he’s worried and a bit apprehensive, as he feels that finding work is going to be hard and that there may not even be a market for what he does.

This is something that all of the South African diaspora face – we love our country (well most of us do) and we really want to be a part of a growing, thriving country, a positive nation of people who are working together to better themselves and their community, but it’s difficult to do that when you can’t support your family. He doesn’t feel the government is doing much to help, or make the prospect more attractive, and he doesn’t feel that the local companies will necessarily appreciate the skills that he has learnt overseas. From over here, a lot of us feel that the skills we have learnt overseas are our (and therefore our countries) biggest assets – let’s face it, you get far more work exposure over here than in South Africa (let’s exclude typical 2 year working holiday visa travel types from the equation) because the market is just so much bigger – but South Africans can be somewhat arrogantly myopic in the way they view the rest world (this, in my opinion, is a throwback from the isolationist apartheid era) and so local South Africans don’t necessarily attach much value to overseas work experience.

That aside, he’s bought his tickets, and is committed to going home so there’s no going back. I wish him all the best, and hope that in his honest endeavors he finds what he is looking for.

The jury’s out on all the other South African’s overseas though.