CHALLENGES CAN MAKE YOU GROW: LESSONS AS A FOREIGNER

In June 2007 as the Bulawayo Branch Manager for Zimnat Lion Insurance Company my family was staying in a cozy 3 bedroom company house in the low density suburb of Burnside, the swimming pool was not working, who cares about a swimming pool? who swims?By 1 September 2007, we were renting a room in a 2 bedroom flat in Sunnyside, Pretoria. Life will humble you. We were starting right at the bottom again. By January 2008 my family went back to Zimbabwe and I started sharing a room with 2 other Zimbabweans. 

I found being a foreigner tough and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. As a foreigner I learnt an important lesson that all of us must learn before it is too late:- THE WORLD DOES NOT OWE YOU ANYTHING. I found myself with limited career prospects as compared to 1997 when I joined the insurance industry back in Zimbabwe. From a middle level manager, I was starting right at the bottom. 

In Zimbabwe qualifications matter but not in South Africa they don’t matter at all, a lot of companies will not employ a foreigner. I was hoping to go back to Zimbabwe for good after March 2008 elections. 2008 turned to be a horrible year in Zimbabwe from political murders and an imploding economy. When my family eventually came back, I was really depressed and I had given up applying for jobs or any promotions. My wife despite her experience in a banking environment back home in Zimbabwe, the only job she got was that of a waitress. 

We decided she was better off staying at home and studying. My first work permit was expiring at the end of 2012. This always kept me awake at night as I asked myself where would we stay when we eventually got back home. We started sharing a flat again and saving around R5 000.00. per month. Around 2008-2009, we saw a very cheap 3 bedroom apartment in Centurion through FNB Quicksell website. We put in an offer of R400 000 and it was accepted. We then applied for a home loan through FNB and the answer was for foreigners they needed 50% deposit and we couldn’t afford to raise such a huge deposit, When you are a foreigner the constant answer is NO and you get used to it.

At the end of 2009 MaNyoni and I wrote our first exams through UNISA for our accounting degrees. I had set my sight on qualifying as a Chartered Accountant as I saw a dead end in my insurance career. By that time we had saved almost R40 000.00. A month before MaNyoni’s friend, Catherine Nyati had visited us from Harare and we asked her to renew our building plan. The day I wrote my final exam in November 2009, I took two weeks leave and left for Harare that day.

My first job after high school was a building studies teacher. I bought four wheel barrows disassembled them and put then in the back of my Toyota Tazz. I bought many building tools from shovels, trowels, spirit level. I also bought brickforce, DPC etc. A work friend Evelyn Botha had kindly lent me a tent. I got to Harare the next morning looked for Mereka Maruwira and pitched up a tent at our stand in Zimre Park.

At that time for every R100 we were getting over $US12.50. We went to Mount Hamden and bought 10 000 bricks and they were loaded onto the truck. I interviewed builders and settled for a middle aged guy who came with his family and I told him I didn’t have much time. I bought sand and concrete stones. I would buy about 10 bags of cement at a time and carry with my Toyota Tazz. I went to buy more bricks. By the time my two weeks leave was up, the 2 bedroom was almost at roof level and I left Mereka and Phillip at the house.

When I got my annual bonus that December we bought all the doors, door frames, window frames, IBR roofing sheets, toilet systems, sewerage pipes etc. In early 2010 on a Friday evening we hired a pick-up truck from a Malawian guy who was sharing a flat with my brother in law in Pretoria. We loaded all the building materials and he carried MaNyoni and I to the Truck Stop at Pienaars River 60kms from Pretoria. We slept outside and early on Saturday morning we started negotiating with truck drivers. A Zambian bound truck agreed to carry us for R1000 to Beitbridge.

We arrived at Beitbridge around 5pm and hired a Zimbabwean registered Bakkie, within an hour we had cleared both borders. Mereka was waiting for us on the Zimbabwean side. That evening Mereka boarded a Harare bound truck with all the materials. In April 2010 MaNyoni and kids went back to Zimbabwe( imba haivakwe usipo). I started staying in the dining roomand rented out all the bedrooms. It was tough as students I was staying with would come late in the night from the bar and I would wake up, some of them would steal my food. Almost all the money I was making was going home to finish the construction. I was working overtime as usual at work.

Around September 2010, I met Zimbabwean guys on the lift and I assumed they were looking for a room as I had one available. The one guy said no he was selling the flat next door to us. I told him that I also wanted to buy but I couldn’t raise the 50% deposit. He assured me that I could get a home loan for 10% deposit. When MaNyoni came to collect money end of that month, we went to view the unit. We put in our application and only  Nedbank approved the loan with 10% deposit.

December 2010 I spent it in Zimbabwe we were painting the house, fitting window panes, putting on burglar bars and connecting ZESA. When I got my annual bonus we paid the deposit and transfer fees for the place in South Africa. We got a tenant in Zimbabwe. In January 2011 when we came back to South Africa and we were so broke and I don’t know how we managed to make it to pay day.

Why I write this?, a lot of people in Zimbabwe and South Africa are struggling and don’t know what to do. If you are faced with a challenge please don’t give up. Sacrifice where you have to. Maybe you are in a dead end job, reduce your expenses and go back home if you have to. I believe zvirinani kuwomerwa nehupenyu for a year and sort out your life. 

You won’t believe how resilient you are until you have tried. This world does not owe you anything, make each and every paycheck count. We all worry about other people’s judgements, the truth is that all of us are going through our own stuff.

I wish you the best.