A challenge to all Expats:

Disclaimer, I am about to tell you three things about myself.

The first, I am going to say that I am by no rights a blogger and don't ever plan to be. But, for the sake of a friend I had a million years ago and point number two, here I am happily sharing my thoughts.

The second thing I want you to know is that, about a week ago, I shared an article on my Facebook page. I captioned the post; "Is there corruption? Yes. But it’s not a South African or African phenomenon. I’ll just say “FIFA” and leave it at that. So please, for the love of all that is holy, leave your thinly disguised racism off my Facebook feed – because it’s offensive and vile and you should be ashamed of yourself." - a controversial quote from the article which you can read here! >> hyperlink to http://www.thesouthafrican.com/a-message-for-those-south-african-expats-who-seem-hell-bent-on-trashing-south-africa/<<

I'll get back to why I am sharing point number two after I tell you that the third point is that I am proudly South African. I was born and raised in Kwa-Zulu Natal to a Zulu-speaking, French-descended father and an English/Zimbabwean mother. I now live in London and I have no intention of moving back to South Africa any time soon*.

I love living in London. I love the underground tube system that makes getting to work the easiest thing in the world. I love the sense of communal appreciation for summer days which are rare but celebrated with bare legs, picnics in London's numerous parks and beers drunk on pub rooftops. I love that something historically significant is always literally just around the corner and I love that you're more likely to see the Loch Ness Monster on a quick trip to Scotland than you are to meet someone who was actually born and raised in London - living in this city is more like living in an international terminal of an airport than like living in England. On and on I could go, however, with all there is to love about London, I can still feel my home tugging at my heartstrings!

Considering all that I love about London I can tell you so much more of what I love about South Africa. I love the scorching summer sun that browns the landscape as well as our skin, there's nothing quite like walking off the heat-shimmering pavement and into an air conditioned Pick n Pay to pick up some lunch. I love that we love to eat together, that there is ritual and tradition in how we gather together to prepare and eat our food. I love that we are a generous people regardless of how much we have in the bank. I love how we band together to fight a cause - there's a saying that goes something like "there's nothing like a woman scorned", it should go, "there's nothing like a South African scorned because then you'll have scorned South Africa!" Alright, that was an attempt at a joke that probably wasn't too funny but I think I've made my point, I love South Africa and I love South Africans because we are funny, caring and loyal people (everything you'd want in a significant other, hint hint).

With all there is to love it's a wonder that anyone could complain about it! Which brings us back to point two. In the article I shared on Facebook, Mandy Collins writes about confirmation bias, when something happens to you and all of a sudden you notice it happening to everyone you know. She writes about how because of confirmation bias South African expats feel justified in complaining about everything and anything that's wrong with South Africa from the countries they "escaped to", and she urges us to think positively about our homeland despite everything that's wrong with it. Reading her article, I couldn't help but think to my own uniquely South African expatriate experiences. I find myself, all too regularly, in conversation about how South Africa is "falling apart", how the corruption is destroying the country, how the crime is unbearable and the violence detestable, how inflation is killing people and how Zuma/Malema/(fill in your favourite politician to hate) need to go! Let's not forget to include Nkanla, FIFA, Rhodes, those black people, those white people, the EFF, the ANC, potholes and Loadshedding on our list of things to complain about. This week alone I found myself Skyping my parents in Midrand and having to tell them off for their negative views and deluded racism. I am not kidding when I say that the words "I'm not a racist, I have loads of black friends" came out of my father's mouth. Having not spoken to them face to face for some time I found myself quite horrified at that statement and proceeded to lecture my Dad on racism! Not my finest moment but utterly necessary. One of the reasons I love London is that race determines significantly less about the opinion one forms about people than it does in South Africa. But London in all it's glory, is not perfect. London loves to complain about immigration and has it's own classist gripes so I'm not saying that it's better in anyway - the problems are here, they are just different.

I also just want to say that the "Expat Complainers" are not just limited to South Africans or even Africans for that matter! I work with several Nigerian expats and the complaints about Nigeria are the same, swap out ANC or EFF for Boko Harem and voila, same story - they're still moaning. My colleagues are regularly complaining about the Nigerian education system, about the crime and about the corruption too. However, it's not just the Africans, it's the Europeans (hello Greece and Ireland), the Americans, the Asians, it's the whole dang world and to be honest it's exhausting to listen to and boring to read about on my newsfeed.

I am privileged enough to be surrounded by a bunch of positive people that hail from all corners of the globe and these complaints are rarely to never part of our dialogue. We simply choose to remember our various countries with fondness and share our positive stories of our upbringing. We share our hopes and expectations for our homelands, hopes that are fostered by the excitement over the new DA leader, Mmusi Maimane, and what he's going to bring to the table. We share solutions and happy by products of problems on social media, solutions such as #loadsharing - ideas for activities to do when the lights are out! I love this kind of positivity and I wholeheartedly believe that it is a conscious choice to think positively in the midst of all the chaos and negative confirmation bias. I want to encourage you by saying that confirmation bias works the other way too. The more positive stories you tell about your home the more you'll see positive things happening!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not naive nor am I delusional, I know what's going on in South Africa - good and bad - but I still strongly feel (and hope to challenge you) that we need to be the global generation, men and women, that stopped complaining, stopped insighting hatred for our homelands and started loving our countries so fiercely that they can't help but thrive!

*Disclaimer number 2 - I don't plan on leaving London because I hate South Africa or fear South Africa and I don't plan on leaving because I prefer London as a city, I don't plan on leaving because this is my home now and I couldn't imagine leaving the people I love and call family!