'Why I choose SOUTH AFRICA'

Judging by doom-laden posts on Facebook, you'd think South Africans were emigrating en masse. But there are also many people out there who visit and fall in love with our messy, beautiful, diverse country.

- CHARIS TORRANCE

Freya Bell, England

IT may be a bit of a cliché, but Freya Bell admits that it all began with a man. ‘A South African gentleman stole my heart,’ she says, laughing.

Back in 2007, Freya was 22 years old and living in London. ‘I had plans to go to university there, but everything took a different turn when I came to South Africa on holiday.’ At a birthday party in Camps Bay for a friend of a friend named Nick, someone presented her with an offer: why not skip uni and work at their events company here in Cape Town instead?

The next day, the very same Nick took her to lunch at Ellerman House, a beautiful boutique hotel on the Atlantic Seaboard where he was then working as a manager. ‘It was a sensory feast: the view, the art, and the whole experience…’ In that moment, it just became clear: she was going to do it: she was going to move to South Africa.

‘I went back to the UK, ended things with my then-boyfriend, spent the next six months saving all my pounds and applied for my visa.’ And, just like that, she packed her life (including a bottle of Heinz tomato sauce) into two suitcases and flew to Cape Town – where she reconnected with Nick. ‘I once told him that we could never get married because I’d be Freya Dreyer! Three weeks later, we were living together.’ They’re now married with three kids.