Dear O R Tambo International Airport
My name is Jennifer Hsieh. I am a Masters student studying Neurophysiology at the University of Cape Town. I write to you with deep regret and absolute disappointment, and being an airport that holds service in high regard, I know that you will hear my story out.
Recently, I was fortunate enough to go on a month trip to the USA, where I travelled the States of Kentucky, Florida, as well as spend time in Manhattan New York. I had learnt much on my travels, and certainly glad to have seen so much of the “Beautiful Country” that America is called in Mandarin. However, as great a country America is, I kept thinking, well, SA isn’t so bad. In fact, after making several comparisons, I was proud to say that I am happily South African. This country is full of culture, full of strength, and behind each face that I’ve met here, there has been such struggle, which give this country much character. I have lived here my whole life, and I love the life that I have and am still building. I could not wait to come home. When the plane landed on the morning of 7 August, my eyes brimmed with tears I was so elated.
I hurried off the plane with my maximum amount of hand luggage allowed, and headed toward Passport Control and stood in the line, still happy – A little line didn’t bug me at all because I was HOME! After a 14 hour flight and a month away that only strengthened my love for this country, I was smiling at everyone around me. As I walked up to booth 13 of Passport Control, it was 9am. The gentleman looked at me and asked me where I was from. I handed him my SA passport, and said with a huge smile, “I’m South African, I’m so happy to be HOME :D“, he shook his head, taking my passport and asked me again, “Where are you from?”, so I thought that perhaps he wanted to know where I just came from, and I replied “Oh, um, New York, I just came from JFK”. I’d figured that my smile would let him know that I’d had a good trip. By then he had stamped my passport and upon closing he said to me, without humour, “No. You are from Taiwan. You were only Naturalized in South Africa”, and with that he dismissed me by handing me my passport.
I was completely taken aback. And as I walked away, I was completely speechless. In all my 22 years, there have been few times that I have been this insulted. I am a proud South African. I defend this country when I’m abroad, whether in the USA, or in other Asian countries where I’ve certainly been met with countless criticisms about staying here. I fight with my parents and defend the potential and the worth of this country as they criticize. Not to mention other less proud South Africans who didn’t bother to vote, I fought them too, imploring them to take a stand, to use their voice, to make a difference... I participate in various student leadership roles, largely for driving community service programs in order to improve less advantaged schools, volunteering and rallying up further volunteers to tutor less advantaged students on weekends, leading committees of students to help me with these causes. I do this because I believe that South Africa can be improved through education, and since I’m an avid scholar, this is the best way in which I can make a contribution. In however small a way I can, I try.
But apparently loving and working and fighting for this country is not enough to deserve a welcome back, because I am “only naturalized in South Africa”. I’d thought we have worked past all of the idiocies of racism, at least at the GATES of this country will we show that the majority of us have learnt from our history and would now like to work to make this country a better place? That the men at our gates do not take one look at my Asian skin and tell me that I do not deserve to be welcome in my country! What reason do I have to carry on working for and loving this place if it clearly does not want me to be here? I don’t chase after a man that does not love me back, and the same applies for South Africa.
South Africa complains about the “brain drain”. Well the men at our gates are not making any effort to make us feel welcome enough to stay.
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