Scatterlings- A Tapestry of Afri-Expat Tales

Exiting news !!!!!!!!!!!

Scatterlings- A Tapestry of Afr-Expat Tales   will be out soon :)

Watch this space re the launch >>>


Thanks to all the amazing contributors- without you there would be no book !

You have made it this rich Tapestry :)

Where to start ?  About  the book's content maybe...

I'm a SA born and bred, passionate about my country and its people.

I worked in SA much of my life as a teacher and then a Principal of special needs children who are/ were disadvantaged and mostly from impoverished backgrounds.

I'm a freelance writer, a psychologist. - an expat and a humanitarian. 

Like many people, we have very sadly and reluctantly left SA due to the untenable levels of crime, the incompetent leadership of the governing party, the disintegration of services, the unknown future and the limited opportunities for future generations.

I went through the deep grief and mourning process when we emigrated in 2008, as we have children and grand children in both SA and NZ. SA is what I refer to as a 'shrapnelled society...'

It's not easy to emigrate at the age of 58, and my spouse was then 62. One leaves one's entire life's history and footprint behind; one's roots and one's identity; all that is familiar and that defines one's self.

My book chronicles the journey, the epiphany and to what I allude to as the 'metaphorical death' and 'rebirth' as a migrant.

I share aspects of my carefree childhood on a Freestate farm, about my slow conscientising that all is not right due to the separatist existence of the various cultures and the dawning of awareness of the heinous apartheid regime, coupled with a sense of fear and of suppression, as well as guilt for not being adequately oppositional...

I provide a Support Process regarding adaptation and healing from the grief of migration and from the traumas of SA life, in which many experience PTSD and high anxiety, fear, stress and depression, both during the regime and after - as well as pre- and post- migration.

In the wonderfully rich Tapestry section I share other people's stories; Folk from Zim and SA now spread around the globe; abroad and those returned home or who have opted to never leave.

I have an historical/political time line section in the book from Khoi Khoi to current and conclude with all time favourite SA recipes and some poems on Immigration.

Within the time line section one will find book reviews and articles form the media which give an outline of data re SA over the past few years.

My book concludes with the fact that no one can decide for one if to stay or leave and that those who leave always hold a piece of Africa in their souls. Its a very personal choice and there are pros and cons to every choice we make in life. It also concludes offering hope that the future remains unknown and that only time will define where to from here for each and every person; also that we are in essence all interconnected whether far away or in Africa, -  in a way that defies time, space and distance through the eyes of a renowned quantum physicist.  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>