BIANCA MATHE-REICHALT , 38
Bianca is originally from Zimbabwe and her husband , Michael is German . The couple met in Switzerland and their first daughter ( Zoe ) was born there . The family relocated to Port Elizabeth in 2012 and have since welcomed another daughter ( Mila ) and a son ( Thando ). What was the biggest difference between your experience of having a baby in Switzerland and here in SA ? The biggest difference between having children here and in Switzerland was the period when I returned home with the baby . In Switzerland , I had insurance covered home-visits from the midwife . She came to check that I was healing properly , the baby was feeding and growing properly as well as that I was coping with the demands of a new baby . All this happened before my 6 week check up . There was constant monitoring of the new mom and concerns were raised early enough . In addition there was a support facility in the city where one could go anytime at no additional expense to consult on any concerns regarding the development of the child as well as the challenges for the parents . I found this to be absolutely helpful as a young mother with no experience with babies . Why did you decide to return to SA and raise your family here ? I get asked this question a lot . The basic answer is that it made sense for us . We had met in Europe and loved it there . We had great jobs and really didn ’ t leave to escape something bad . In addition , although we come from really different backgrounds our values are the same and we gel really well together so we did not really intend for this sojourn to make us culturally closer either . We did however think that it would add so much value to our family and our relationship to experience a bit of the African sun and hospitality and we love new experiences as well as travelling . Port Elizabeth made sense because it is close to home ( in my case ), with a way of life that is familiar to at least one of us . What do you enjoy most about raising children in Port Elizabeth ? The best thing by far is really the friendly people . It is no exaggeration that PE people are friendly . We have made such great friendships . We like the fact that as a blended family , we are always met with friendly smiles and positive curiosity . Our children have friends of all hues and we like the diversity of our circle of friends . We however realise that people are still shy to interact with people from different backgrounds and race . We hope that more and more people venture out of their comfort zones and enrich their lives with more diversity .
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