By Alicia Venter | Komyn & Komyntjie

When we packed up our lives in South Africa in December 2023 and moved to Australia, I had no idea how deeply emigration would change me.  

We arrived with hope. Hope for our children, hope for new opportunities and hope for a fresh start. But along with the excitement came an aspect of emigration nobody could truly prepare me for.

The longing. The loneliness. The guilt when you wonder whether you made the right decision. The days when everyone back home gets on with their lives and you realise you are now on the other side of the world. The challenge of starting all over and trying to find your place in a country where everything feels both familiar and strange at the same time.  

It was precisely during this new chapter of my life that Komyn & Komyntjie began to grow.

In the beginning, it was simple. I wanted to write. I wanted to be honest about life,

faith, emigration, motherhood, and the things we sometimes grapple with behind

closed doors. I wanted to create a place where someone could read a message and

think: “I am not the only one who feels this way.”

Over time, however, I began to realise that Komyn & Komyntjie was becoming

much more than just a social media page.

Faith • Healing • Growth

These three words eventually became the heart of Komyn & Komyntjie.

I believe we all walk through different chapters. Some chapters are beautiful. There are others that we would want to tear out of our life story if we could.

I, too, know something about brokenness, loss, wrong choices, disappointment, and

starting over. But I have also learned that God is not present only in the beautiful chapters.

Sometimes, it is precisely in the chapter you would never have chosen that the most

growth takes place.

That is why I do not try to create a picture of a perfect life or perfect faith through Komyn & Komyntjie. Quite the opposite. I want to make space for honest conversations. For questions. For people who are still trying to figure things out. For the person who loves God but is, at the same time, tired, hurt, or unsure.

From a page to a community

What started as simple writing has slowly developed into a community.

Today, among other things, I host a free online Bible study for women in Afrikaans via Zoom. Women from various countries have already joined in, and I find it truly special to see how Afrikaans-speaking women living thousands of kilometres apart can sit together around God’s Word for an hour.

We talk about faith, but also about the reality of life – brokenness,

identity, love, loss, emigration, exhaustion, forgiveness, and those seasons when God

sometimes feels silent.

Here in Australia, Komyn & Komyntjie has also expanded to include in-person gatherings

and women’s mornings where women can come together, engage in creative activities,

eat, have coffee, laugh, chat, and simply catch their breath for a while.

There is also support regarding emigration, and one-on-one discussions, especially for people who are working through the emotional aspects of major life changes.

I am also continuing my studies in psychology, counselling, and mental health. It is important to me to keep learning and to act responsibly toward the people who share their stories and vulnerabilities with me.

Another aspect very close to my heart is telling people’s emigration stories. There is so much wisdom in the stories of those who packed their bags years ago and started a new life in a foreign country. When we share these stories, someone currently in their third month of emigration might realise that there is hope for the third, fifth, or tenth year.

Afrikaans on the other side of the world

One of the things I have come to appreciate anew since emigrating is our language.

There is something special about hearing someone speak Afrikaans on the other side of the world. Suddenly, for a moment, a strange place feels a little more like home.

That is why Afrikaans is also an important part of Komyn & Komyntjie.

For me, it is not about clinging to the past and never becoming part of the country where we now live. On the contrary – Australia has offered us incredible opportunities, and we are building a life here with gratitude.

But I also believe you don’t have to pull up your roots in order to grow new branches.

You can be grateful for your new country and still love the place you

come from. You can build new traditions and still tell your children about their Afrikaans

heritage. You can move forward without pretending that the life you

left behind never existed.

Komyn & Komyntjie has grown with me

When I look back today to what Komyn & Komyntjie has become, I realise that I never had an extensive plan for it at the beginning.

It has grown with me.

From social media posts to Bible studies. From online conversations to

Women’s morning gatherings. From posts about emigration to support, resources,

and speaking opportunities.

And I believe we are only just getting started.

My dream is that Komyn & Komyntjie will ultimately become a place where people—

regardless of the country they live in or the chapter of life they find themselves in—

will discover something that helps them move forward again.

Not because I have all the answers.

But because I know what it feels like to walk through difficult chapters myself.

If there was one thing I could say to a fellow immigrant …

Do not measure your story against someone else’s.

Some people arrive in a new country and, within six months, look as though they have lived there forever. For others, it takes years to truly feel at home again.

Give yourself grace.

You are allowed to miss your family and still be grateful that you emigrated. You are allowed to miss South Africa and love Australia. You are allowed to sometimes wonder if you made the right decision without it meaning you made the wrong one.

Emigration teaches you that one’s heart can sometimes belong in more than one place.

Your story doesn’t have to be perfect to have meaning.
Your difficult chapter doesn’t have to be the end of your story.
There is still room for faith, healing, and growth.

I am Alicia Venter – wife, mother of three, immigrant, speaker, student and the woman behind Komyn & Komyntjie.

And if there is one thing this journey has taught me, it is that we often do not realise what God can grow from a small seed when we are simply willing to plant it.

Komyn & Komyntjie
www.komynkomyntjie.com