Have you noticed how many expat-Londoners are returning to SA recently? If you haven’t I think it’s time that I pointed it out.
It’s a strange anomaly I’ve begun to notice. The brain-drain scare has been around since ’94 in South Africa and rightfully so, people have been leaving.
I had noticed it over the past, say, six years. I left high school and a few mates left for “greener pastures”. I graduated from University and a few more left to travel the world, gain more skills, find something new and try out different places. Many left with a bitter taste in their mouths and many swore never to return. However many of them didn’t plan on the recession. Many didn’t plan on the UK working visa taking a turn away from South Africans and many simply realised that with all of our problems, South Africa is still their home and probably always will be.
I attended a pleasant little dinner part of Friday night. I was astounded to note that out of the eight people there I was the only one out of the group who hadn’t traveled to and lived in London. Even more exciting and intriguing was that all seven of the others had been to London, earned some money, saved, gained some extra skill sets and decided to return to SA over the past year or two.
Is this the great reversal of the brain drain? Is it possible that there are many, many more South Africans who are set to return in the very near future? I think it might be. I think there are many young South Africans realising that the earning potential for them if they return to our country is greatly improved now that the recession has hit, now that their visa’s have come to an end and now that families are beginning to buckle down here and stick it out.
The current political climate could also have a great affect on the decisions of returning South Africans. The fact that the ANC is being shaken up, that there are more options and that the political environment has become more competitive things are starting to look more interesting.
I have said this before and I will say it again, it is a very exciting time to be a young South African. Things are happening. We are beginning to realise that we have the potential to earn, to change, to fix, to heal and to make this nation the nation it has the potential to become.
To all the returning expats I say well done and welcome home. We hoped you’d come back.
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