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Phoning Home

In today’s world most of us have apps that we use to chat with family back home. But not all our relatives, especially the older ones use smartphones. They still use landlines or a basic mobile phone.

There are some affordable options for phone landlines or mobile phones in South Africa

Options include:

  • German landline to SA landline
  • Lycamobile – Lycamobile is a British mobile virtual network operator operating in 23 countries
  • Mobile VOIP – With MobileVOIP, you can make cheap VoIP calls from your mobile phone.
  • Airalo E-Sim
  • Fraenk E-sim
  • Rebtel – With Rebtel, you can use any kind of phone to call any kind of phone, anywhere in the world.
  • Telmy – telmy is for customers of any cell phone or conventional telephone networks who are searching for unlimited low priced telephone communication
  • VoipStunt – VoipStunt is a free program that uses the latest technology to bring free and high-quality voice communications to people all over the world. When you use the free VoipStunt software, you can call regular phones in various popular destinations for free or call at an incredible low rate to any other phone on the planet.
  • Lebara – We make it much easier for migrant communities to stay connected to family and friends back home.
  • Mytello – Mit mytello super günstig vom eigenen Handy oder Festnetz ins Ausland telefonieren.
    Kein Vertragswechsel, keine Grundgebühr und keine versteckten Kosten.

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South African Communities

Feeling homesick? Connect with fellow South Africans living in Germany through communities that offer friendship, support, and a taste of home. Whether you’re looking to share experiences, ask questions, or simply find a familiar accent, these groups are here to help you feel closer to home. Discover the best spaces to stay connected and feel supported on your journey in Germany. Church Groups American Protestant Church in Bonn – from August they will have an Afrikaans-speaking pastor, Ds Mario Weyers. If you would like more info feel free to contact DeWet Herselman Kirche in Aktion, het kampusse (gemeentes) in Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Offenbach en Mainz. By elkeen van die kampusse is daar SA mense betrokke.  Heimat in Christus – evangelische Freikirche e.V. 📍 Robert-Bosch-Straße 51, 74523 Schwäbisch Hall. Pastors: Elemans (South African) & Ricarda Scheepers. 📧 Contact: ricarda.scheepers@heimat-in-christus.de For Christian Events have a look at cvents Facebook groups South Africans in Germany South Africans in Baden-Württemberg  South Africans in Berlin South Africans living in Bonn South Africans Living in and around Düsseldorf, Germany South Africans (Saffas) living in Dusseldorf & NRW South Africans in Franconia South Africans in Frankfurt am Main South African Doctors in Germany – A group where South African trained doctors can support each other and give advice to those wanting to make the move to Germany 🙂 South Africans living in Freiburg South Africans in Hamburg South Africans in Munich South Africans in NRW South Africans in the Stuttgart Region SAD – Suid Afrikaners / South Africans in Deutschland South Africans in Germany cultural events South African Christian women in Germany South African Ladies Living in Stuttgart Websites This website -We have an online community on this website. You can join groups and find people with the same interests. To be part of this community, you will need to register on our website. Registration and memberships are free.Some of the groups are- Rugby, Wine lovers, Parents with toddlers, people living in “city” SA Munich – Your Southern African gateway into Bavaria WhatsApp Community Join Our South Africans in Germany WhatsApp Community! Are you a South African living in Germany or planning to move here? Connect with fellow South Africans, share experiences, ask questions, and support each other in our WhatsApp Community! To keep our group safe and free from spam, we don’t publish the direct link. If you’d like to join, simply send an email to admin@southafricansingermany.de with a brief reason for wanting to join. We’ll get back to you shortly with the link and welcome you to our community! Events Social events. Concerts or exhibitions by South African artists in Germany. Webinars and Online get-togethers. For Children Adventures in Odyssey – “an award-winning audio drama series created for ages 8-12 and enjoyed by the whole family.  Episodes often start with the grandfatherly Mr. Whittaker (“Whit”), who runs an ice cream shop called Whit’s End.  They last an average of twenty-five minutes and bring biblical principles to life, through a balance of fun, faith and imagination” Blogs, websites and Youtube chanels International Expat communities Internations – Connect with expats in your city Expat.com Wereldwyd – “Hierdie inisiatief is die ideale platform vir elke Afrikaner wat tans in die buiteland woon, maar graag steeds in voeling met sy geboorteland wil bly” Other organisations Sage Net  – network of South African and German organisations. This includes clubs, companies, associations, and authorities, as well as individual members. AHK  – Southern African-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry Related content

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Keeping in touch virtually

As an ex-pat, it is essential to keep in touch with family and friends from back home. We yearn for news and contact with loved ones, and although we cannot always be physically together, we can at least try to keep in contact virtually.Here is a list of online events that you can do with your “hartsmense” either here in Germany, where it is easier to organise the delivery of items, or in any other country for example, South Africa. This is just a short list of some ideas,  you can search online for “online team events” or ” online cooking classes” etc. to find more ideas. Virtual Events in German Beer tasting – Beer delivered to your home, online tasting with a Sommelier Wine tasting – A selection of wines is sent to your home, online tasting with a Sommelier. Cocktail-making courses. They also do Gin tastings as an online event. Eventbrite – In the kitchen: Virtual food and drink events & classes Organising an online birthday party. You can also put together your own box and send it to everyone, and come together via Zoom, Skype, or other apps. Here are some ideas for making it more fun Teamgeist – Online dating, Beach events, Krimi’s, and many more Kiyana, who comes from South Africa,  offers traditional Indian cooking classes Virtual events in English Social Escape Room from your home Online team games, including trivia, murder mysteries, and even a campfire event 🙂 Quaraoke –  Online Karaoke Birthday parties –  you can organise a hamper or party box, have it delivered and organise an online meeting or game night. Charades or Pictionary are great cost-effective ideas. Here are some hamper ideas Charades, Pictionary, etc. Below is a video explaining how you can play Pictionary and charades online. You can use a website like random word generator to generate words for you Websites with some more suggestions Musemhack has a list of great ideas Virtual Teambuilding (or friendbuilding) ideas, like Movie night, Quizzes, Virtual happy hour Online Trivia with friends Video Conferencing apps Apps like Zoom, Skype, Teams, Google Meet and Cisco Webex can be used for online meetings. Schedule regular “face time” or group chats to make it more personal.WhatsApp is also great for group chats, and they now have the option to send video messages Sending online or physical cards You can create and send an online card on the following websites Bluemountain 123greetings.com/ You can also create cards online and have them delivered in South Africa Q-Photo Cards You can easily create a beautiful and custom online card on Send a smile and have it conveniently delivered anywhere in Germany via the German postal service. Groupgreeting.com – Create a virtual group card and have all participants sign the card. This is a great way to commemorate a special occasion, such as a birthday, graduation, or retirement. With our easy-to-use platform, you can even add photos to make the card even more personal and memorable. Social media Social media like Facebook and Instagram is a great way of sharing photos and experiences. If you would like more private photo share options look at Google Photos, where you can create and share albums, or Flickr or Dropbox Related content

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