Tips and advice to thrive in South Africa

I have been to a few countries and immigrated to South Africa.

I feel the greatest challenge in South Africa is surviving crime. 

I say that having survived being held at gunpoint at work in a robbery, surviving an attempted car jacking and being assaulted for my mobile phone walking home.  I've also had my home broken into and by what ever course, was lucky I went to the spare bathroom and not en-suite as they were still in the house in my bedroom packing the bags with my things and left the premises while I was in the bathroom, leaving me unharmed.  Sadly, I can say, that a family member of mine was not so fortunate and was strangled to death in her garden for R300 and a Dvd player, it was a horrific scene to come home to.

The way I see surviving crime and being able to live in some beautiful places in South Africa is to be responsible.  First of all, do not lead into temptation.  Do not leave your laptop in full view while driving your car so you tempt someone to smash your window at a stop street.  Do not wear expensive jewellery unless you are under armed guard.  Lock your house properly. Stay clear of travelling in remote places or at night.  Travel with others in a crowd rather than being a hero and alone. Keep a network.  Be neighbourhood friendly - get to actually know your neighbours!  Just be sensible.  Crime is not always premeditated, many times we carelessly provoke situations.

I love the culture diversity but I've enjoyed that throughout Africa and into Saudi Arabia and the Uk.  I love Cape Town, although I have lived in and worked in every province of South Africa!  Cape Town I find to be a beautiful city, clean, orderly and when I left temporarily to attend to a family death, I found I yearned for "home" and realised that I was lost until I was blown away in the Cape.

I think the key to any integration process is to understand a brief history of the country, respect that you are a guest, that you are an ambassador representing yourself, family, company and country and should have a broad mind, be ready for challenge, conduct yourself accordingly and love people.  If you enrich your knowledge and experience with other people's culture, just learning a song in a foreign language, or taking time to help a 'Mama' carry her bags, or smiling and being polite to a cashier that has just pulled a twelve hour shift and realise that the little people are just as important as the VIPs then you will appreciate the process of any country from bottom to top.

My family all headed overseas in the great fear of the new South Africa.  I stayed to make it work.  I feel that every country has problems and the grass is not greener on the other side - it is how you live your life, that makes a difference.