Mzansi is a colloquial, affectionate name for South Africa, drawn from local languages and often used by South Africans when they speak about their country with pride and familiarity. The title “Rooted in Mzansi, Rising in America” captures that duality: it speaks to a life and identity firmly grounded in South African soil, culture, and history, while also acknowledging the growth, reinvention, and opportunities that have come from building a new chapter in the United States.
This written piece outlines a journey of going home after loss, exploring what it truly means to be South African, celebrating a love for the outdoors, wildlife, music, and sport, and showing how those roots and values are being consciously carried into friendships, future love, and a professional life that bridges two continents.
Coming Home After Eight Years
In December, a plane will carry a slightly older, hopefully wiser version of the woman who boarded a one-way flight out of South Africa in 2017. For the first time in two years, there will be familiar faces waiting on the other side of passport control, and a sky that somehow looks different when it stretches over home soil. Emigration changes a person in ways that are both subtle and seismic, but there is something about going back after so long that feels like closing a loop that has been left open for far too many pages.
I have been trying my utmost to reconnect with home at least every 2 years, and the last time I was on home soil was to honor my late partner’s wishes and carry out a special scattering and life celebration. This time, I go back home alone, with only my own intentions laid out ahead.
What It Means To Be South African
Being South African is not a label that fits neatly into a single sentence; it is layered, textured, and sometimes contradictory. It is growing up with an awareness of history that is heavier than you can fully understand as a child, and slowly learning how resilience, humour, and community have always been the quiet rebellion against that weight. It is an instinct to greet people, to make conversation in queues, to add an extra chair at the table just in case, and to find small ways to look out for one another even on the most ordinary days.
There is a distinct pace and rhythm to South African life that sits in the body like muscle memory. It is in the sound of different languages weaving together in a single conversation, in braai smoke that clings to your clothes for days, in the way the sun sets like it has nowhere else important to be. These are not just nostalgic details; they are the backdrop to how values are formed, how loyalty and grit are learned, and how a person’s internal compass is quietly calibrated.
The Spirit Of The Great Outdoors
South Africans are also profoundly shaped by a shared love of the outdoors, wildlife, music, dance and sport, and that passion becomes part of how people relate to the world and to each other. Days spent on mountain hiking trails, at game reserves, or simply around a braai create a deep respect for nature and a sense of perspective that comes from being regularly reminded of how small people are in the middle of such vast beauty.
A braai is similar to a barbecue, but in South Africa it is much more than just grilling meat; it is a long, social gathering around an open wood fire where friends and family cook, eat, talk, and laugh together, often for hours. It is woven into the culture as an easy, welcoming way to connect.
Music and sport then become the soundtrack and heartbeat of life: stadiums filled with noise and colour, road trips scored by sing-alongs, and spontaneous celebrations that cut across background or language, all teaching joy, resilience, unity, and the belief that anything is possible when people come together behind a shared rhythm or a shared team.
Reuniting With My Heart People
One of the greatest gifts of going home is reconnecting with friends and family who may not have been seen in years, yet somehow still feel like they live under the skin. There is a deep, unspoken connection with them – and with South Africa itself – that does not require constant contact or perfect context to make sense; a single hug, a shared joke in our mix of languages, or a familiar cadence in their voice is enough to reawaken something in the soul that had quietly gone dormant. In those moments, it becomes clear that these relationships are woven from more than memories; they are made of shared streets, shared sunsets, shared losses, and shared joys, and being back in the same place again feels less like catching up and more like switching a beloved part of oneself back on.
Roots That Never Leave
Time and distance have a way of testing which parts of an identity are surface-level and which are non-negotiable. After years of living abroad, it becomes obvious that South African roots are not something that can be swapped out for a new accent, a new postcode, or a new favourite coffee shop. They are deeply entrenched, running underneath every major life decision, every gut instinct, every unexpected wave of homesickness that arrives while standing in a foreign grocery store aisle.
Those roots show up in how problems are solved, in the instinctive drive to be resourceful, and in the refusal to accept that “it’s always been done this way” is an acceptable answer. They show up in the quiet pride of knowing that coming from a complex country has given a unique lens on humanity, injustice, courage, and hope. No matter how long the time away or how different life becomes, there is always a part of the heart that answers to home soil first.
Choosing Depth Over Reinvention
Living in America has brought enormous growth, opportunity, and a fair share of reinvention. It is easy, almost expected, to shape-shift into a shinier, more globally palatable version of oneself, especially in an industry obsessed with trends, optimization, and the next big thing. But this homecoming has clarified something important: the goal is no longer to become someone new, but to become more deeply, consciously South African while standing on American ground.
Digging deeper into those roots means embracing the full story instead of editing it for convenience. It means leading with the honesty, directness, and warmth that were learned back home, even when subtlety might be easier. It means allowing that uniquely South African mix of pragmatism and optimism to influence how decisions are made, how conflict is handled, and how success is defined. The intention is not to blend in perfectly, but to stand firmly in the overlap between two worlds and let that duality be a strength.
Bringing South African Values Into Love, Friendship, And Work
This upcoming trip is not just a holiday; it is a recalibration. The plan is to return from South Africa with more than photographs and a suitcase full of snacks. The goal is to come back with a sharper understanding of how that identity can shape being a better friend, a more present life partner to whoever steps into that role next, and an even more effective professional.
- As a friend, South African roots translate into showing up consistently, checking in, and understanding that community is built through small, repeated acts of care rather than grand gestures.
- As a future life partner, they mean bringing loyalty, resilience, humour in hard times, and an unshakeable sense of “us against the world” that is baked into the culture of togetherness.
- As a strategist, they mean drawing on years of resourcefulness, creative problem-solving, and a global-local perspective to build marketing and SEO strategies that are not only data-driven, but deeply human and grounded in real-world nuance.
At the core, this upcoming December 2025 trip is a reminder: emigration may change the view, the language on the street signs, and the daily routines, but it does not rewrite the origin story. Being South African is the foundation. Everything else — every campaign, every relationship, every chapter in a new country — is built on top of that.
