Jenni van Huyssteen

Tears started rolling down my cheeks once I found myself seated on the plane, watching the city of Tripoli from the window as it vanished below me. I felt as if I was saying goodbye to my home, since I knew there was no turning back at that point.

My name is Jenni van Huyssteen; I am South African and I teach at an international school.

My passion for teaching brought me to Libya in 2009 after being accepted to teach in one of the language centers in downtown Tripoli. In no time, I felt at home. I continued to teach until the 2011 revolution when I was compelled to leave with other South African citizens owing to the unrest in the security situation.

During my absence from Libya, I had the chance to teach in another country but only enjoyed the experience a little. However, I kept on learning Arabic and the Libyan dialect to use them with my friends when I returned here. A couple of years later, I was very fortunate that I could manage to come back. The reunion with my former students, with whom I had kept in touch, was warm and welcoming.

The 2014 airport incident caused the security situation to be disturbed once more shortly after I started working. One of the families I knew asked me to go with them to their hometown Mizdah until the situation calmed down. However, after my boss's warnings that the situation was dire and may exacerbate unexpectedly, I sadly felt myself forced to leave again.

Now, after 13 years of confronting everyone, and with the encouragement of my daughters, I have disproven the myths and misconceptions that foreigners have about Libya and shown that anybody can live here. Also, if there is one thing that I am entirely sure of, Libya is a home where I belong, and I will spend the rest of my life teaching and improving its upcoming generations. A daughter, some close friends, and a bank account are the only things I have left in South Africa; everything else is here in Libya. I even invite my foreign friends to visit me here, so that they can discover and realize the reason why I love Libya.