At the beginning of the 21st Century, one in every 35 people in the world is an international migrant. To put it into perspective, if every international migrant lived in the same place, that place would be the fifth largest country in the world.

People have been crossing borders in search of a better life even before the borders we know today were there. Why then, is the South African who emigrates still judged as a “runaway coward” by many South Africans back home?

Yes, perhaps some of the hundreds of thousands of white people who left South Africa following the ANC’s election victory in 1994 deserve that title. Especially the ones harping on about there being a “reverse apartheid” in South Africa. They left South Africa for good (and good riddance to many, I say).

But what about those with mothers, fathers, grandmas or grandpas of European or British descent? What about those who simply left South Africa to explore another part of their heritage? Are they runaway cowards too?

This data was compiled using data taken form the World Bank in 2010 and only portrays the nine countries with the largest amount of South African expats

Many of us come from a family of expats, a father from Zimbabwe, a South African mother raised in Kenya, a British grandfather. It is only natural for us to explore our roots and follow in the paths of our ancestors, all the while keeping one foot in South Africa.

Some of us left to follow a vocation or course of study elsewhere in the world, opportunities we may have searched for in South Africa, but were not lucky enough to find.

A couple of us left for love.

Many more of us left in search of greener pastures. Some of us will always be looking for greener pastures.

We left South Africa, but we did not desert her. We now identify with our new home country and South Africa, and we shouldn’t be made to feel like, “Oh well, you chose to ditch South Africa, so now you have no say”. We are still South African and we still care very deeply for our country.

Do not put us in your ex-South African box. We carry South Africa with us in our characters, our work ethic, our radiance and our doggedness. We are proud representatives of South Africa abroad.

Let us watch South Africa struggle and grow from a distance. Let us sing and praise her accomplishments and weep for her when she stumbles.

South Africa is ingrained in our souls. It has shaped the global South Africans that we are. South Africa is our history and our happy place. Just because our present and future lie somewhere else, does not mean we have forgotten. It does not mean we should be forced to forget.

I do not feel guilty for leaving South Africa, for, in fact, I never left.