Poorer yet richer in new land

By FIONA BARBER

Glenn Gilbert cannot afford to own a house in his new homeland - but he would still encourage family and friends to follow his lead in coming to New Zealand.

"We've come for two reasons," explains Mr Gilbert, who emigrated from South Africa about three years ago with his wife, Margaret, and children Graham, aged 12, and Megan, 9.

"The children are one major thing - and the peace really - to get way from politics and in-fighting."

Fear of crime and violence appear strong motivating factors for some of those quitting South Africa in favour of New Zealand.

The Gilberts have been renting a house in Torbay, on the North Shore. This is a far cry from home-ownership in the comfortable Cape Town suburb where they once lived.

But despite the social and financial costs of moving, Mr Gilbert does not regret the decision.

"We sold our house for a reasonable profit, but once you've settled the bill to come here, container costs all the other bits and pieces ... it takes money, money, money."

Both the Gilberts have found work. Mr Gilbert is a self-employed financial adviser contracted to Tower Insurance and Mrs Gilbert is an itinerant teacher of the deaf.

Contrary to some perceptions, he says, white South Africans are not all flush with money. His own situation is a case in point.

Securing a job can be hard even if people are highly qualified and English-speaking. And even when South Africans do find work, prejudice can seep in.

Mr Gilbert knows of one South African teacher who was handed a note penned by another teacher. The message: you are taking our jobs, you are running away from your country.

And he has noticed a disturbing assumption by some New Zealanders that he is racist. He is, after all, a white South African.

Mr Gilbert helps welcome new arrivals through the South Africa New Zealand Charitable Trust, an organisation for immigrants from southern Africa.

Since July 1992, 23,639 South Africans have been granted New Zealand residency, along with 363 former Zimbabwe residents.

Foster van Gruting is an Afrikaner who immigrated with his wife and two sons in November 1997.

The idea of living in New Zealand was planted when he came here on a rugby supporters' tour a few months earlier.

A conversation with a local in an Auckland pub led to a job opportunity, and suddenly moving from Bloemfontein to New Zealand was on the van Gruting family's agenda.

Three years later, they have decided to stay. That means buying a house rather than renting in Auckland's eastern suburbs.

"We're very, very happy in Auckland at present," says Mr van Gruting, a lawyer who works as a financial adviser.

But the family have faced challenges settling into their new homeland.

After just five months, Mr van Gruting was made redundant and although his wife, a doctor, has been working under supervision in hospitals, she still has to complete New Zealand registration.

But Mr van Gruting, who has found another job, is philosophical.

"We're not complaining. We're taking it on the chin because we want to stay in New Zealand.

"We're getting peace of mind, the boys are settled in good schools, there's a good health sector, a good public sector."

Mr van Gruting has also taken a special interest in the way South Africans cope financially in their new homeland.

Many who have tried to set up business on their own have failed, he says.

His advice: go into business with a local to get local knowledge and draw on each other's strengths.

Gregory Fortuin's journey to New Zealand was not prompted by a desire to leave his troubled homeland.

Involved in the fight to oust apartheid, he decreed that he would never leave South Africa.

But when his employer, National Mutual, sold out of the republic, Mr Fortuin was left with an agonising decision: redundancy or a job across the world.

So in 1986 he moved to Australia and almost nine years ago he was transferred across the Tasman to Wellington.

Mr Fortuin, who is married with four children, is the managing director of AXA Corporate Superannuation Services and the South African honorary consul to New Zealand.

Although settled and involved in local organisations - he is chairman of the Youth Suicide Awareness Trust - part of him will always remain in his homeland.

"As far as my heart is concerned, I'm a son of southern Africa," says the man who was classified a coloured under the apartheid regime.

He and his family have avoided South African clubs, preferring instead to join local groups.

Mr Fortuin has three pieces of advice for South African arrivals.

"This will never be South Africa," he says, adding that complaining about differences will only irritate the locals.

"Become a good citizen, get involved with your kids, [their] schools, church."

And finally: "You may have left your country or birth but never, ever sell your birthright."

The immigrants - a Herald series

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