Hungarians Around the World – South Africa

I chatted with "Iván the terrible", as he called himself, a black-listed Hungarian who fled in 1956 in fear of his life. When he first arrived in South Africa, he was set to work in a mill in a team with three other Hungarians and one local who was to teach them the local language. After a few weeks the local could converse in Hungarian quite well, and so the foreigners were fired.

Iván then went to work for a national newspaper owned by Associated Press in the finance department, where he set about firing the locals and hiring his friends and so the working language in his department became Magyar!

At the embassy event, I met Hungarians of the first, second and even third generation. One of the most remarkable was Laura Lenart, born in South Africa 29 years ago.

Both her parents are Hungarians who emigrated in '56, but not together. Laura's mum went to Manchester, England, where she stayed for eight years before meeting her husband on a trip to South Africa, where they decided to settle down.

Laura was born and raised as a Hungarian, learning to speak the Magyar tongue and to cook paprikás chicken. Educated in Pretoria, she also knew how to get along in the South African system, becoming a successful veterinary technician.

She visited Budapest for the first time last year, and was impressed by the "majestic buildings, beautiful countryside, and friendly locals".

She thought it is too difficult to compare a country that is 100 years old with one that has existed for a millennium. However she did think South Africa could learn from Hungary when it comes to public transportation and the importance of family culture and community.

She felt Hungarians could learn a lot from the South African attitude which accepts that life is one great-big wild adventure. Today Laura works for a South African pharmaceutical company, Kyran Labs, in research and development, sales and marketing.

She promotes local drugs that help animals ranging from household pets to wild game in the Kruger National Park. I asked here about this park and she insisted that any visitor to South Africa must make time to go on a Safari.

On that advice, I set off the same afternoon for the recommended game reserve in northwest South Africa.

My safari in the Sabi Sabi Private Reserve , well-known throughout the country as one of the best places to see game, rewarded me with four of the so-called Big-Five, that is I missed the buffalo but got close to a lion, leopard, elephant, and rhino.

On the evening safari giraffes, zebras and monkeys also showed their wild faces before running off into the sunset. A Hungarian friend along for the ride wryly observed that the Sabi Sabi was far removed from dirty downtown Pest.

By Stephen Linfitt

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