{"id":209946,"date":"2025-10-27T14:47:46","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T12:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/?p=209946"},"modified":"2025-10-30T14:11:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T12:11:30","slug":"from-randfontein-to-auckland-a-journey-of-longing-faith-and-a-new-beginning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/en\/from-randfontein-to-auckland-a-journey-of-longing-faith-and-a-new-beginning\/","title":{"rendered":"From Randfontein to Auckland: A journey of longing, faith and a new beginning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have a need to share my story
<\/strong>By Jan\u00e9l Pretorius<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have been living in New Zealand for six years now. On 20 January 2020, when I was 31, we landed with two small children, aged four and five. Just two months later, in March, the whole world closed down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day I said goodbye to my parents at the airport, my last words were: \u201cSee you in June.\u201d Their tickets were already booked, the visa applications submitted and we waited … until 19 March 2020, when New Zealand closed its borders. The Lord had other plans, and I never had the privilege of showing my parents the life we had built from scratch here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every immigration path is different, the reasons for the decision, the adjustment, the moments of celebration and loss. It\u2019s hard to explain how one can be grateful and mourn at the same time; how one can feel happy as well as sad. There are days when I wish I could take my heart out of my chest for a while and put it on a shelf, just to not experience the pain. Yet I know without a doubt, that we are where we are meant to be, even if I sometimes do not know if it is a decision, a choice, a habit or simply peace. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n