I have been asked to write a piece on why I believe that you as a student should stay in South Africa in the face of the issues with which we have to deal here, particularly the unacceptable levels of crime. But I’m not going to do that, because I don’t believe, and I have never believed, that students should stay in the country when they graduate. In fact I believe that the more graduates who leave South Africa the better, as long as they come back enriched by their experiences abroad.
What I do recommend, however, is that you avoid telling everyone around you that you are going forever because this place has no future. You might feel like that now, especially if you’ve been a victim of crime, but you don’t honestly know how you will feel after a few years away. Leaving with a great fanfare of negativity makes it hard for you to come back with dignity when you’re done wandering the globe and you can take it from me that you will eventually miss home. You can always make new friends but you can never make old friends.
We South Africans seem to think that we have some sort of monopoly on problems, particularly on crime. But just in the past week there have been several disturbing examples from abroad, including a bizarre yet intricate plot in the United States by a group of nine-year-olds to murder their teacher, clean up the blood and hide the murder weapons. There was also the case of the great-nephew of Cape Town’s Sir De Villiers Graaff, a student, who was shot dead in Mexico trying to defend his mother from two muggers.
By travelling you will see that the grass is not always greener on the other side. You will experience that when a power cut affects 15-million people in Florida, chaos ensues, as it has in the past few years in California, Brazil and Chile among others. In India or Egypt you’ll find that they just get on with things regardless, despite having no power, but there you will get sick, because that’s what happens when basic hygiene is so much worse than your body is used to. You will find that your luggage gets lost everywhere, like the 20 000 pieces that were lost last week at Heathrow. In Turkey you will learn that its constitutional court is in the process of banning its president and prime minister from politics for the next five years.
At the same time you will develop amazing skills, which will put you in great demand around the world, including back here (no matter what colour you are). The skills shortage is an international problem. In fact, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Britain (where the term “brain drain” originated) has lost more skilled professionals than any other country in the world in the past 10 years. They are leaving for vibrant and sunny places such as Sydney, Miami, Dubai and Cape Town, fleeing a massive increase in violent crime among British youth and continuing immigration into Britain by people such as you.
On a recent flight to Morocco I saw an advertisement for Louis Vuitton, which asked the question: “Voyage-t-on pour dÃ