Dear South African Community in Panama

When I was invited by the newly formed SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIETY OF PANAMA (SASOP) to address the community in an open letter, I was pleased to accept and to extend SASOP my best wishes in the task ahead - Knowing that there are always big challenges in projects of this kind, but also knowing that the values and mission that this project represents will be readily embraced by the community.

When the founder, Michell Sierra, approached me to talk about SASOP I knew immediately that this project was the natural next step for the South African community in Panama because of two main things:

1) incorporation and 2) integration. By incorporation I mean a place, a venue, a site, an entity that can amalgamate and bring the community closer together; and by integration, I mean an entity that can bind the community to its environment.

And a new environment it is, one that has not necessarily been easy for all of those who have adopted it, as it often happens with people who leave behind their roots to start again in a new place. I can personally relate to that feeling as I myself had to uproot my family once and live in a different country than mine as an expatriate for many years. But luckily, like I told Michell when she was talking to me about SASOP, there is always people in that new environment who are willing to help. People who are willing to extend a friendly hand and to offer guidance and assistance.

Assistance has many faces, but I believe that the most important aspect of offering assistance is directly related to information, because information is a link to everything else. The lack of information is like going into a building where all the doors are locked and my hope is that the SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIETY OF PANAMA will help unlock some of those doors, where members will have the opportunity to navigate in a more informed environment and will be able to access opportunities and links to possible solutions and ways forward.

The South African community in Panama has grown in numbers and numbers can represent power and strength when you bring them together. This project has an opportunity to reflect strength and at the same time capture the opportunities that a community that binds together can bring. Therefore, integration of the community within the Panamanian society makes a lot of sense, because it’s an opportunity to participate, to be listened to and to act within the parameters that are important to all societies. It’s a way to say we are here; we are valuable and we want to be a part of it.

I therefore congratulate the SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIETY OF PANAMA for it's initiative and I encourage this new organization to move forward with their projected values and objectives. I hope to be able to assist SASOP in any way I can and I look forward to addressing the community again in the future, through this same venue in relation to other subjects of interest and relevance.

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J. Mantovani
Honorary Consul
Rep. of South Africa
Panama