My Long Flight From Freedom

By Sandy Geyer

This story is an honest, humorous and courageous account of the journey of one white south african woman, Sandy Geyer,born in 1970 in Benoni, a small city on the outskirts of Johannesburg. She answers many of the questions of the hows and whys of her journey away from South Africas new found freedom and offers countless emigrants a voice whilst honouring the significance of those left behind.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sandy Geyer
• Release date: Jul 6, 2009

Sandy Geyer

Sandy Geyer is the MD of an educational publishing company, a property investment company and a specialist training company.Her ability to develop certain success habits and recognise the power of choice have been the central ingredients of her success in her businesses, her family life and her music career.She has an engaging and humorous writing style and her dedication and compassion for others are strong themes in her book, which tells her personal story of her journey through and out of the new South Africa, titled "My Long Flight from freedom".

Book preview

Sandy Geyer has written a moving, candid and eloquent account of the painful dilemma which has faced many South Africans in deciding to leave the country of their birth and seek a more secure future for themselves and their children in a new land... essentially a very sad story to this South African reviewer as it tells of another person of character, quality and undoubted talents, whom this country can ill-afford to lose.

--Tony Grogan, editorial cartoonist and artist

Taking great steps takes great courage – Sandy Geyer is an ordinary woman who faced the need to take great steps and all that entailed is told brilliantly in this book.

--Gaynor Tootill

…the frank descriptions of the violence and tension in SA are a real eye opener. This story is honest, and straightforward while injecting a lot of humour into a situation that must actually have been very difficult to live in.

--John Shackleton, author, Life is for Living

Thank you for putting into words what so many of us feel. Stories differ but the feelings, emotions and struggles are the same.

--Cobus Kilian, fellow traveller (NZ)

Sandy’s book is a brave account of being a South African; our hopes, dreams and fears are expressed honestly, with gentleness and a good dose of humour. I laughed, cried and reminisced as this book encouraged me to continue with my own healing.

--Lynn Peterson, Fellow traveller (UK)

Well written and an easy to read account of some of the most difficult decisions that have to be made leaving the country of your birth. Certainly very relevant for those who have left but also useful to those considering the move.

--Wayne Branfield (NZ)

I found this book to be really touching. It simplified an extremely complex subject that I have found easier to side step than to try to explain when asked why I left South Africa (twice).

Bruce Taylor (UK)

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My Long Flight From Freedom

Sandy Geyer

Copyright © 2009 Sandy Geyer. All rights reserved

Published by Allcopy Publishers Pty Ltd

13 Gamka Street, Stikland, Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa

Smashwords Edition December 2009

Published by Allcopy Publishers Pty Ltd

13 Gamka Street, Stikland, Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Sandy Geyer is a professional motivational speaker and trainer of Success Habits. To find out more, or to contact Sandy, please visit www.mindactionmentors.com

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I dedicate this book to my father, Michael Jonker, my mother, Peggy Jonker and my brother, Alan Jonker who devotedly provided me with the strength of character, sense of humour, self belief and independence I needed to make it through this journey.

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Contents

Foreword

Part 1

The Moment of Truth

The Beginning of the Journey

A South African in Training

Josiah

The Scottish Genes Emerge

Lessons in Commitment

Cultural and Sport Sanctions

Durban Tattoo

Part 2

My Political Awakening

David Webster

John-Paul

The Big Wide World

Nelson Mandela

Part 3

The Pregnant Fairy

Chris Hani

Learning to Sell

Allcopy Publishers

The Early Years

To BEE or not to BEE

Part 4

Buyiswa

HIV AIDS

Part 5

Fight or Flight

LSD

Opposing View Points

The Process Begins

Part 6

If at First You Don’t Succeed…

Chelsea and Lady

Hamba Kahle – Go Well

Epilogue: Did I do the right thing?

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Foreword

This is not a politically motivated novel. It isn’t an attempt to push one political view over another but rather to give my own first-hand account of being a white South African female, born into a middle class society from the early 1970’s to the mid 2000’s within the political background of South Africa. The political background is loosely provided and is historically as accurate as my sources of information and my memory. I was largely unaware of the political storms brewing around the protected environment in which I was raised. Many whites rush to claim ignorance of the harsh inequalities of the ruling ideology of apartheid in the 60’s to 90’s in South Africa and these claims must surely be viewed with disbelief and outrage by the many races affected by these inequalities. However, as apartheid began to fall away in the 1990’s it became more and more apparent to me that our ruling party had herded us into a way of thinking. Lack of freedom of the press also affected our perceptions of the political maneuverings constructed by this party. Essentially we were told what they wanted us to know. It was easier to believe what we were told than to look more deeply into the inequalities against others.

As the new South Africa began to emerge we embraced the changes, eager to work with others, to face and rectify previous inequalities, and to build new futures of our own. By 2006 however we had come to a place where we needed to face the fact that we could no longer guarantee our family’s safety and needed to look squarely at their likely future if we were to stay in the land of our birth.

I do not suggest that emigration is the only solution and that South Africa is doomed. Ideally we would all like to stay in the country of our birth and face the consequences of previous inequalities whilst working together to rectify those as well as build futures of our own. For anyone to run to greener pastures with only selfish motives would be wrong. Those who do emigrate learn quickly that there are many new challenges that quickly replace the ones they left behind. The grief one experiences in leaving ones country is intense and recovery is a long and painful process. Many of the deeper issues, blamed on exterior influences, are often personal and internal ones, which many emigrants realise are sitting on the plane right next to them when they land in another country.

The harsh reality though is that there is little regard for personal rights and life in South Africa and by all indications in 2006 it wasn’t getting any better. This we cannot claim as a race against a race. All ages and races are implicated from the top organisers of the crimes that are carried out on the streets to the innocent victims of these crimes. What we found most distressing was to be in the position where we felt that we needed to make a choice between our children and our parents by walking away from South Africa’s new found freedom. Yet this was the reality that we faced in order to allow our children and future generations the opportunity to prosper, away from a place where violence and fear had become normalised.

This is not a complaint about the unequal opportunities for whites since the introduction of the Black Empowerment Policies. There are surely enough professional victims still standing in the line of the hard done by’s and I believe that economic opportunities can be made anywhere with the right amount of hard work and dedication. However, the effect of these BEE policies and the brain drain were starting to show as deep cracks in our structures and we could no longer ignore our need to cautiously yet actively select our future path through the emerging chaos.

This is my story. I have enjoyed reliving my experiences and am now ready to experience what is still to come. I hope you enjoy my journey as much as I did.

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Part 1

The Moment of Truth

It was a Saturday morning in June 2006 when I first peeled back my carefully constructed protective armour and faced up to our reality as white South Africans living in our country of birth. Freedom in the new South Africa meant freedom for everyone to do anything they pleased – and they generally did. As South Africans we were all living our lives in the hope that we would not be next to fall victim to violent crime. We had become a nation reluctant to live, just in case we died and in our surroundings the odds on that were ever increasing. Driving out of one’s garage meant you were instant hijack bait and everyone, regardless of colour and culture, had learned to be grateful for the fact that if they were mugged, robbed or raped that we weren’t also murdered. Many were all of the above.

Further than that there was a great deal of frustration in general with the ineffective police force and this was often displayed by over aggressive driving habits and a further disregard for other safety laws. Drunk driving and road rage were becoming normal everyday events. Arrogant and aggressive black taxi drivers ruled the roads and driving in the many areas they monopolised was much like running a gauntlet.

A close friend related the story of the day he decided to emigrate. He was driving back to Cape Town central from the airport on the infamous N2 freeway when a taxi cut abruptly in front of him, forcing him to slam on his brakes to avoid a collision. This dangerous maneuver was a favourite amongst the taxi drivers, eager to display their disregard of fellow drivers. They were confident that you would do all you could to avoid a collision as you fought to preserve your vehicle and your safety. If an accident did occur it would be useless to try and take the drivers details as they were not likely to be insured. In many cases they were driving without a valid driver’s license. Of course, this is assuming that you would want to stop along the side of the national road in an area overrun by thieves who would jump at the chance to gain from your misfortune.

Our friend recalled that in response to this injustice he had casually leaned across to his cubby hole, as if to indicate that he was retrieving a pen to take the registration number of the taxi. He was even content for the taxi driver to consider that he may have a weapon. After glancing away at his task for a few seconds he looked back to see the taxi driver aiming a sawn off shot gun straight at him. The pretence was over. A few months later he and his wife and small son left South Africa for Scotland with no job and no definite prospects, such minor details apparently forgotten in the bigger picture of a long and fruitful life.

Not long after this incident I was immersed in my Saturday morning ritual of reading YOU magazine from cover to cover whilst my children entertained themselves in front of the television and my husband entertained himself on the golf course. I do remember that it was raining. When