Immigrants and Property Left In Old Country

-

Recent hurricanes, floods and fires are a wake-up call for immigrants who left property in the old country.  What if your house in Europe, Brazil, Mexico, Asia or Africa suffers the same fate?  Is it insured?  Is somebody doing regular maintenance like giving it a paint job and making sure that land invaders don’t target it?

Immigrants go to Australia, the U.K., Canada or the United States for a variety of reasons: to go to college and work afterwards, to work two jobs to support family and property back home or never to look back because of painful religious and cultural experiences.

It is no problem if they were renting or lived at home in the old country.  It’s a different story if they owned property like land, houses or commercial buildings.  Most immigrants leave property with family members on the assumption that blood is thicker than water, only to be disappointed when brothers or uncles take the property by force.
Children born in Australia, Canada or the U.S. are seldom interested in what happened in the old country and why parents left.  They are too busy proving that they are British, Australian, Canadian or American.

Despite all that, parents should try and take kids back for a holiday to meet cousins and to see family property.  Does it have a title deed?  Is it communal property that belongs to a certain surname or to the local chief?
Property is not houses or buildings.  The value is in the land.  Who has rights to the land while you are in Australia or North America?

By:  Nonqaba waka Msimang.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elections And Political Bullies

-
Image
Forget democracy.   It should be called political bullying. We are watching it in the prelude to the Canadian election on the 19 th of October, 2015.   Americans have also started their political bullying for the looming presidential election next year. So many trees wasted on books about democracy.   Some countries have big budgets for invading other countries ‘ to defend democracy’ but it is seldom practised in campaigning for elections.   Calling opponents names and printing flyers attacking each other is behaviour that will not be tolerated in kindergarten, but it is all legal, in campaigning.   It is irritating and such a let-down to the whole notion of democracy.   Grown-up men and women behaving like Grade One kids. It is also misleading because many voters believe it is real hatred.   Don’t let that fool you.   These politicians play golf together, attend the same dinner parties, eat and drink at the same social events, share jokes and cut deals in parliament.   They
Read more

Comfort Food As Regret Food

-
Image
Chicken curry. Comfort food is good for the soul, which usually bleeds in winter from icy roads, bad drivers that want to annihilate pedestrians, frozen fingers and toes that take a sabbatical.   What happened to my toes?   I thought I was wearing special socks for boots? We therefore have a right to comfort food which throws doctors’ orders out of the window and has no loyalty to calories.   No calculator on the table, thanks very much.   Piece of bread 5 calories, half a banana 10 calories, sugar-free cheesecake 2,000 calories.   Ah! Ah!  We only live once. Naw!   Comfort food is old school food with its compulsory second helping.   It involves licking fingers and giving a big sigh, about the good life, which is shelter, food, love and debt.   The problem is the zip.   The jeans remind you that comfort food can also be called you will regret food .   Home sweet home is even sweeter in winter after surviving blowing snow and bumper to bumper traffic. What is more welcoming th
Read more

Internet Manners

-
Image
The internet and mama have something in common: manners.   They believe that always say Hi! To people you meet. Home is where the heart is, but it is rough being at home these digital days.   People are so tied up in chat rooms, Instagram, Twitter, FB, YouTube or Google mania, they don’t have a minute to say hi or good night to people they share a toilet or kitchen with. Thank god for internet players.   They say hi to me when I re-open a document after a thirty minutes’ break.   It’s all automated, but it is nice when the computer calls me by my name and encourages me to continue, where I left off. The internet understands that greetings are the definitive ice breaker, before saying mum, I’m hungry or dad, can I have the car keys? Facebook has taken it to the next level because it understands that I live in a strange province where the weather is a headline story, and not what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thinks about the Keystone Pipeline, so Facebook reminds me of temperatu
Read more