The formation of friendships was easy for most participants, as they managed to form bonds with individuals from different countries, including South Africans. However, most of the participants preferred having friends, particularly from Zimbabwe because of sharing the same country of origin in a foreign land. South Africans were described as unfriendly to non-nationals. For Nomsa having friends in Hillbrow was not ideal because friends might influence one to engage in activities
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which might put one in danger. The people she called friends were her church mates and they would meet at the church on weekends. Most of Peter’s friends are Zimbabweans who come from Plumtree, Bulawayo and Tsholotsho, and a few are South Africans. He met his friends at Jozi housing, where he is currently working as a contractor. For Melody, most of her friends are Zimbabweans from Bulawayo and she met them at the different places she had worked in Johannesburg. She said it was important to make friends since one does not live in a vacuum and has to socialise with different people. Siphiwe and Sibongile stated that they have friends from Zimbabwe that they met in South Africa. The friends Joshua had were from different countries illustrated in the below quote:
I have lots of friends since I am a person who works with people, where ever I move I am like a mayor. When walking the streets, I am stopped by different people such that my wife gets angry at it. My friends come from all nations some are Ugandans (Joshua, 20 June 2016).
The participants maintained communication with friends and family members with whom they resided when they first arrived in the country. Mandla mentioned that he does communicate with his friends from time to time and added that some of his friends had moved to Vereeniging, Pretoria and Cape Town. For Joshua they communicate when there are important issues:
We still communicate, but people are always busy. If we visit each other they will be a reason like death. It is hard to meet by the flats; we meet at the parks because the securities in some place where my relatives stay do not allow people to enter the buildings without identification documents. This is a problem because some of the family members do not have documents (Joshua, 20 June 2016).
The issue raised by Joshua that he would meet with his relatives at the park affects the issue of feeling at home since these migrants have to produce valid documents in order to be allowed access to the buildings. Such practices are not available back home in Zimbabwe. When relatives visit one another, they are accommodated in the houses and discussions or meetings do not take place at the parks. For Thembekile, family members are very important such that they communicated nearly every day, and when a family member had a birthday they would meet to celebrate. She explained that as family members they had stokvel and burial society clubs. The
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stokvel and burial society clubs consisted of family members such as her brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins. The burial society assisted them to repatriate the body of a family member in times of death. Thembekile shared her story of how the stokvel group assisted:
As family members, we contribute R300 every month from the beginning of the year. We are fifteen and this money is taken to Discount foods a supermarket in Hillbrow, every month to pay for the groceries that we would have selected. The groceries will be taken from the supermarket in December, during the festive season; we share it as we will be preparing to leave for home [Zimbabwe]. Before we leave for Zimbabwe we make a party to celebrate working hard and being alive (Thembekile, 21 June 2016). Among participants, it was clear that churches had become places of networking, socialising with others and receiving guidance. The participants attended churches which they used to attend when they were in Zimbabwe. The participants described attending church as helpful since they received advice on problems they encountered. Nomsa specified that she received a lot of help from the church and attending church services allowed her to avoid being in places that can put her life in danger. Some participants viewed the church as a place to obtain contacts, which assisted them when they were looking for jobs. For instance, Arnold at their church Forward in Faith Ministries in Hillbrow, they had a youth social group on WhatsApp where some church members would post jobs on the group chat. In support of Arnold, Sibongile described the role of the church:
I go to church almost every day, they have assistants and pastors, who assist when you have problems such as sickness, family problems and when you are looking for a job, they help with prayers (Sibongile, 20 June 2016).
Gerald and Thembekile pointed out that they did not attend church. For Thembekile, it was mainly because of her job which required her to be at work on weekends. She stated that she consulted with prophets in times when she would be facing challenges in her marriage and at work. The reasons why Gerald did not attend church were intriguing:
I don’t go to church because the church wants when one is committed to oneself. I know that I am not yet on that stage. The next thing I go to church and my friends who are thieves they call me to go and steal with them and that time you will be in need of
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the money. To me, it is not proper to go to church knowing that I participate in stealing (Gerald, 3 July 2016).
The participants specified that they are still in touch with their family members, relatives and friend whom they resided with when they arrived in South Africa. Some of the friends had relocated to other parts of the country, and they still communicate with them. They made new friends and most of them were Zimbabweans. South Africans were described as unfriendly towards migrants and this explained why the participants had friends from the same country of origin. However, some participants had friends from different countries. The participants attended church, this was important as they met people who would inform them about available job opportunities. To some, a church was a place where one received guidance and in times of hardships, church members assisted others facing challenges. Some participants stated that they do not go to church. The participants also shared their experiences on the importance of maintaining their cultural values, this follows in the next section.