International view on Americans

For this assignment i interviewed my parents and family in South Africa because they conveniently were visiting in South Africa with my family when this was assigned. 

We just became US citizens a few months ago and my mom still wont stop talking about how lucky we are to be here. South Africa has become so corrupt she says, there is absolutely no opportunity what so ever anymore. She said " i could never live behind a 10 ft electric fence again. Everyone we know in South Africa has been robbed, mugged or stolen from at least once. When my mom went to go visit 2 years ago they had a problem with "holdups" which was when men entered into shopping malls with machine guns and robbing every store and terrifying all the shoppers there. When my mom was there 2 years ago she had just left the mall 5 minutes before there was a "hold up". after that trip she decided that we all needed to become citizens. My family also was saying how lucky we are to have gotten out of there, they said they would do anything to find a job out of South Africa and move. also my family talked about their fear for nelson Mandela and what will happen once he passes away. they said what is happening now is that the children from the apartheid that have watched their parents be beat or killed are now starting to fight back and get i guess revenge. Many fear that everyone is just holding together for Mandela but have no idea what it will be like without him. its so sad that the beautiful country has become so corrupt it breaks my parents hearts. I also was able to talk to my friend in South Africa who still loves the country and would never leave but she does say these things happen. she says that almost every week girls are raped on their way walking to school. also she talked about how different it is there work wise. i have been working the day since i was 16 and could work but she just got her first job at 20 and is one of the few out of her friends that work. getting jobs in south africa as a white is also very difficult now, my cousin was saying that even if you do have better qualifications and education a black man will get the job over you. 

there are lotteries in South Africa where you can win a green card to the united states. 

I thank my parents all the time for giving my brother and i the opportunities we have here even though their hearts are still in south africa they refused to let my brother and i grow up there.