When your children decide to leave the country permanently, you suddenly have to outface quite a few challenges.
The well-known columnist Cecile Cilliers says people are surprised when they hear that she has three children on three different continents. “How on earth do you endure that?” they want to know. “In the long run, one gets used to anything, my elderly godmother always said; pain, loss, and yes, even the hedge tear in the kitchen curtains!” she answers.
In the last few decades, South Africans have increasingly sought their bliss and a new life elsewhere. Large groups of South Africans permanently settled in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK. However, not everyone whose children chose this way gets used to it.
Dr Douline Minnaar, a psychiatric nurse, has conducted extensive research on parents whose children emigrated. She says this news usually is a big shock for the parents. Often young people work on a contractual basis abroad and pa