Protesters hold a banner during a rally against ill-treatment of refugees. Time magazine reported recently: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a promise to all Syrian refugees: if you manage to physically reach Germany, you can apply for asylum. File picture: Patrick Domingo Protesters hold a banner during a rally against ill-treatment of refugees. Time magazine reported recently: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a promise to all Syrian refugees: if you manage to physically reach Germany, you can apply for asylum. File picture: Patrick Domingo
The hard lessons of making it to and in SA would have been learnt by those who preceded them, says Murray Williams.
Cape Town - I was passing through Piketberg, and needed to buy a gift, a bottle of wine. I asked the bottle store manager for advice. But he spoke extremely limited English. And my Mandarin isn’t great.
We eventually gave up. As I left, I asked: “So how did you end up in Piketberg anyway – of all places – so far from home?”
He replied: “My boss told me to come.”
Imagine that. You’re 20-something, somewhere in China, when you get a call: “Come to South Africa. I have work for you.” Or words to that effect.
About 12 270km away, on the southern tip of Africa, in exceptionally beautiful countryside, an hour north of one of the most appealing cities on planet Earth, Cape Town.
Not a bad prospect!
Time magazine reported recently: “German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a promise to all Syrian refugees: if you manage to physically reach Germany, you can apply for asylum.
“The safest and easiest path for these migrants to reach western Europe is known as the Balkan route, which takes them more than 1 600km north-west, by land and sea, through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary and Austria.
“A kind of natural momentum has increased the movement. Migrants reaching Germany are reporting to their friends and relatives back home what pitfalls to avoid, thus removing much of the uncertainty – and therefore the fear – that had been holding people back from attempting the journey.
“At every stage, the migrants tend to stay in touch via Facebook or text messages with friends who have made it farther along, and that seems to pull the whole chain toward its destination,” Time reported.
Fascinating insights.
One can imagine the “routes” followed by migrants and/or refugees flooding into South Africa – routes they’ve carefully studied, journeyed, been helped along.
An institutionalised mass migration – from Zimbabwe, Somalia, Pakistan and more.
Equally, when they’ve arrived here, the hard lessons would have been learnt by those who preceded them – this is how you find a place to live, a job, set up a little business, get connected, get medical attention, get educated.
Difficult, but worth it.
The guy in Piketberg probably didn’t have to endure any of that. So for him, it must have been a no-brainer. Inbound mass migration is a subject South Africa is still getting to grips with.
In the early ’90s, some South Africans chose to exit, to “Pack for Perth”.
And again, today, some are expressing their doubts about “South Africa’s future”.
But by far, an overwhelming majority of people around the world seem to think life in South Africa represents a vast improvement. A Land of Milk and Honey. And they’re taking journeys of biblical proportions to get here.
* Murray Williams’ column ’Shooting from the Lip’ appears in the Cape Argus every Monday.
Cape Argus