“I liked my role in South Africa, but I was seeking a new professional challenge.”
By Gemma Raw
As we continue to tell the relocation stories of international social workers who’ve made the move to the UK, we chat with Adult Social Worker, Sonwabile Spayidile, who shares his inspiring journey.
Having grown up in one of South Africa’s poorest provinces, where life was really tough for him and his family, he never dreamed he’d be working in adult social care in North Yorkshire. In his own words, though, “it doesn’t matter where you come from, it’s where you’re travelling to that’s important,” as he talks openly about his ambitions and love for the profession.
Sonwabile, could you tell us a little about yourself?
“Yes, certainly. I spent almost 9 years practising as a social worker in South Africa before moving to Leeds in November 2022 to work as an Adult Social Worker for North Yorkshire County Council. At the moment, my partner, who is also qualified in social care remains in South Africa while I settle in. Hopefully, she’ll join me in the coming months.
“As a person, I am always looking for professional challenge and coming to a completely different country to work in a totally different environment offers me this.”
How did you find your way into social work?
“To understand my journey into social care, it helps to know where I grew up and the opportunities that were available to me. I was raised in Eastern Cape Province, which is a particularly poor rural South African community. While it’s a special place to me, and somewhere I’ll always call home, there were limited opportunities. Growing up, my family was very poor. I lived with my granny for most of my childhood and when she passed on, I went to live with my aunt and uncle before moving to live with my birth mother when I started University.
“From a young age, I was determined and encouraged, though, to get an education and graduate from University.
“For years, I wanted to be a journalist because I was, and still am, fascinated by learning about people and telling their stories. I passed all my exams and applied to study journalism at University but my family could not afford the fees and a scholarship was not available. It was only when speaking with my English teacher that she recommended that I consider applying for a scholarship in Social Work that I researched the profession. The more I learned about social work, the more it appealed to me. I was already helping people in my community. Having grown up with very little, I was familiar with the challenges disadvantaged communities face. It was painful to see their struggle. There were people in far worse situations than what I had ever experienced, and I was keen to help.
“So, in a way, I’d say that social work found me.”
What roles did you hold in South Africa?
“It’s a bit of a long story, but it was a real struggle even applying for a social work scholarship. At the time, I did not have the right ID Documents to complete my registration, but I pushed through and worked hard to get all the documents to be able to study social work and began my studies in February 2009, almost 14 years to the day!
“As soon as a I started studying, I knew it was the right career for me. But I was under no illusions about how hard it would be to gain employment after qualifying. You see, social care support is in high demand in South Africa but there are very few adult social work jobs because the system is massively underfunded.
“This did not dissuade me, though. I qualified in 2012 and graduated from Walter Sisulu University in 2013.
“It was difficult finding my first social work job. I had a friend, though, who I’d studied with and who was working in Johannesburg, which is quite a distance from Eastern Cape. I needed to find a way into the profession, though. So I joined him in Johannesburg, where, after much perseverance, I found my first social work role in 2013 at a Family Life Centre for FAMSA, a non-profit organisation specialising in supporting families and relationship counselling. I was here for a couple of months before I got a call from the Provincial Office of Eastern Cape offering me a Generic Social Worker role in a community not far from where I was raised.
“It was a good opportunity as I would be supporting similar communities to the one I had grown up in. I started the role in 2014 and that’s where I stayed until I relocated to the UK at the end of 2022.”
What was working as a generic social worker in South Africa like?
“I realise that adult social work in England can be challenging, but the challenges in South Africa are more intense. As social care is still an underfunded service, the caseloads are overwhelmingly high. At one time, I had a caseload of almost 300. As a General Social Worker, I supported older people, those living with HIV and AIDS, as well as helping families under considerable social distress. Safeguarding children also fell under my responsibility and so it was a big role – too big for one person.
“But I loved my time practising as a social worker in South Africa. Having myself experienced some of the hardships people were facing, I found the role very fulfilling. I was helping people to help themselves even in the most difficult situations.”
What has been your proudest moment to date?
“That’s an easy one to answer. I was the first person in my family to graduate from University. My family was immensely proud of me. We couldn’t afford to buy a cap and gown for my graduation and so I took a temporary job in door-to-door insurance for a month so that I could save up enough money to buy my graduation outfit. That was a proud moment for me.
“I am also proud of what I do for a profession. In South Africa, there are not as many male adult social workers as there are female. I see my role as being somewhat of an inspiration. It doesn’t matter where you come from or who you are, it’s where you’re travelling to that’s important. For me, I am able to offer hope and support to other people, and I’ll always be proud of that.”
What made you decide to move to the UK?
“As much as I liked my role in South Africa, I was seeking a new professional challenge. Before I contacted Sanctuary International, I had been researching coming to the UK but then the Covid-19 pandemic hit and paused my plans.
“The good thing to come out from the pandemic, though, is that the world seems more connected. It became easier to reach out to others who’d made the move and I felt more confident about applying for roles.”
How did you find Sanctuary?
“I was already signed-up to receive job alerts with Sanctuary International when somebody else I know asked if I would be happy for them to refer me to Sanctuary’s international relocation team, and I said yes.”
How did Sanctuary help you on your journey?
“My experience of Sanctuary International has been great. As soon as I sent in my CV to express my interest, they sent over details about a suitable role in North Yorkshire. They were clear on what would be expected of me within the role and took the time to understand how my experience and skills would be of value to adults living in North Yorkshire.
“They advised me on what documents I needed and managed to secure an interview within two weeks.
“Naturally, I was nervous about the interview. Although my English is good, I was worried that they might not understand my accent. Plus, I’d never left South Africa before and so it was daunting, but they gave me lots of advice to put my mind at rest.
“Although the process was quick (I was in the UK within three months), I was never put under any pressure. To obtain the right documents, I had to travel to different offices in South Africa and this was hard. Not only was it costly, it was also time consuming but Sanctuary were very understanding.
“They also helped me find a great place to move into in Leeds. Again, there was never any pressure – they wanted me to have somewhere I would be happy to come home to.
“Hannah, one of my Sanctuary consultants, was a great help. She introduced me to a group of people on WhatsApp who were also relocating from South Africa to North Yorkshire. While we’re working in different teams and arriving at different times, we support one another.”
How have you adapted to life as a UK social worker?
“It’s a big change but one that I am happy that I’ve made. I continue to receive excellent training from North Yorkshire County Council, which has made the transition easier. To thoroughly understand the safeguarding rules and regulations in the UK and the council’s processes, I’ve attended a full programme of online and face-to-face training. Now, I am putting that training into practice.
“For me, the role will enable me to professionally grow as I gain experience in supporting vulnerable people in a completely different part of the world.
“It’s nice to work within a team who all share the same goal, which is to be able to be there for people when they most need us.
“I miss my daughter, my partner and the rest of my family, of course, but I know that they are proud of me, as I am of them.”
If you'd like to start the next stage of your career in the UK, get in touch with Sanctuary International or browse our current vacancies.
