Meaghan Barrett

Professor Whitney Harris

Dance 1010
Sorrel Jakins

Sorrel Jakins was born in South Africa in a small town called Kaapschehoop. His dad

was a farmer and his mom was a homemaker. He learned at a young age how to work hard to get

what you want, and to make friends with those that he did not like. His dad taught him very

important life lessons like the color of your skin, and how you talk does not matter in life. 

At a young age Sorrel learned he was not like other children. One day Sorrel told his

father how much he hated the Africaanos (these are the Dutch people in Africa). Sorrel’s father

looked at him and said, “Well, that is something that you can fix.” The next day, Sorrels father

went and picked him up from school and took him to an all Africanos school. The moment Sorrel

walked in, an Africanos kid walked up to him and said, “Nat of sop,” a couple of times. Sorrel

not knowing what he was saying, the kid realized Sorrel only spoke English. “Nat of sop” means

are you a nationalist, or do you support the SAP which is the South African party? In the end, the

kid hit him. After that day, Sorrel realized he was a nationalist. After Sorrel had grown to love

the Africaanos, his dad decided it was time to send him back to an English school. Sorrel did not

want to go. He talked like the Africanos and the kids at the English school hated the Africanos.

His father also made sure to raise his family in a home that did not have racial discrimination. 

On the farm, Sorrel’s friends were all black. They would invite him to go and participate

in some of the rituals and multiple other dances. These dances ranged from rain dances, to

planting, harvest dances, and other styles of entertainment. The dancers were colorfully dressed,

some were masked, others would paint their faces, seeking to get others' attention and build up
the excitement. The drums and voices were the music for these dances. Sometimes the family

would have to leave before the festivities ended because Sorrel’s family would have an early

start the following morning. 

Sorrel grew up on a farm, and had to wake up early and work with cattle. When he would

go to school, he would smell like cattle.  A little girl would always make fun of how he smelt and

would ask to be moved away from him. Sorrel got rather tired of her always making fun of him.

Her long blonde braid was sitting in front of him, and he put it in the bottle of writing ink. He

and the other kids watched the braid grow darker with ink. Everyone started to laugh and she

whipped around saying, “Jakins has done something,” spraying ink all over the children. His life

was not easy because he was poor, but he never really knew he was poor. He had lots of freedom

to go to the mountains and could even go to stores. He enjoyed buying a bottle of ginger beer and

a candy bar of English chocolate, when he had the money. 

When Sorrel grew older, he started working for the US IBM in South Africa. Congress

decided to make a law that there would be no US companies in South Africa. Overnight his job

disappeared. Sorrel, not wanting to lose his job working internationally, talked to his IBM

employers and said, “I travel all over and I get my job tickets from Colorado, but I get paid in

Johannesburg. Can’t I get paid out of Colorado?” The guy from Colorado said, “Yeah, we can

keep paying you, but first we need you to go get a green card from the American embassy.” 

Doing a Business transaction is a great way to get a green card. Sorrel came to Utah to

work for BYU. When he went back to get to Africa to get his family and bring them over to the

states the US changed the law for their Visa to be here. When Sorrel flew back, he was not

eligible to be in the US. When he arrived in New York, they told him that he could not come into

the country. He asked what to do. They told him, “Look, we will put you in a hotel and
tomorrow we will fly you back to South Africa.” It took him some time to understand why, but

he told the people that he had a ticket to go to Salt Lake. They had to let them go through, but

they said, “Look, there is not an immigration judge in Salt Lake.” He told them that was not his

problem, but they had to let him go through. They arrived in Salt Lake.

 Sorrel later got his Visa to work. There were some hard things for Sorrel and his family.

They really started to feel homesick for things they could only get in South Africa like ginger

beer, which is almost like a root beer, and English chocolate. He hates the American chocolate.

When he first put his kids into America schools, he got a call from the principal telling him that

his daughter was in serious trouble. Sorrel went down to see what had happened, and the

principle said, “Your daughter has lied about what race she is.” The principal showed Sorrel that

she had put down that she was an African American. Sorrel not seeing what the problem was 

said, “So what? She is an African American.” The principle was furious over this. Sorrel saw this

black girl coming down the hall, and explained the situation to her that his daughter had put

down that she was African American. He told her where they were from and the girl said, “I’m

not offended by that. You are actually more African American than I am. 

Before Sorrel had his working certificate from the state of Utah, he could not work, but

when he got it, he could work but not be paid because that would be illegal. Sorrel had to go find

a job because there was no money coming in or out for his family to survive.. Illegally, he went

out and found a job cleaning rooms for a hotel. He said that was the only work he could find, but

at least he was able to put food on the table for his family. This was something hard for Sorrel to

do. Prior to coming to the states, he and his wife made a promise to each other that “We would

do everything above board.” They were not going to try to cheat the system. When they were

trying to get their green cards, it took years. Then, when they went to get their citizenship, this
was also really hard. You have to wait for their currency date to hit so you could apply to be a

citizen. They would call DC and they would tell you what number you were on the list, but Pres.

Reagan had an amnesty for illegals, and they all went to the front of the line. Which would put

Sorrel and his family back two more years before they could apply to be citizens. He went and

talked to the immigration officer and said that this was not fair that they had to jump through all

these dumb hoops. The man said to Sorrel every hoop you have to jump through is because

people have tried to cheat the system. 

Sorrel found that he really did love living here in Utah, although it is not what he grew up

knowing. What he has found is that Utah is his new home. There are places here that he could

explore for days and keep finding something new. It also is really nice to have seasons instead of

just hot and rainy. Snow was a new thing. It does snow in South Africa, but happens only once in

every twenty years. 

Another thing that Sorrel has come to find out is that since he left South Africa without

telling the government he was leaving, they have gotten rid of him as a whole. When he goes to

search his name as being born there, his records are gone. They now have no record that he was

ever in South Africa, and he is a ghost. “Utah is my home now, and I will live here till the day I

die (Jakins).” Sorrel says he is so glad to be here with his wonderful family, and cannot imagine

life any other way. Sorrel’s advice to everyone is, “If you have an opportunity to do something,

do it.” He truly believes for us to make a difference in this life, we have to be willing to take

chances that scare us.

Personal Reflection

I have learned so much from Sorrel. He is an amazing person. Despite the overwhelming

odds and oppression that stood in his way, he kept going. I have learned so much about the South

African-America blended culture and how he has worked so hard to accomplish the miracles that

have occurred in his life. Sorrel has suffered and lost so much from his parents, to his country

that had been his home. Sorrel explained how hard it was at times to keep his faith and persevere.

It was eye opening to hear him talk about how his family has had to adapt and not being as vocal

and open about some points about race, religion, and self. Sorrel talked about how people get

offended for being called what they are. He shakes his head at how stupid and silly people are

about something like race.” It is only skin deep, we all bleed the same color, so why does skin

really matter?” Sorrel asked. 

I think that Sorrel has a valid point that skin is only skin deep. In this world, it shouldn’t

be that skin matters so much as the work of the individuals. This assignment helped me to gain a

deeper love and understanding for several groups of people. Every single one of us has things

that are different about us and it is not easy at times to get along, but the truth is that all lives

matter, not just one group. There will always be some racism, but I have learned that all of us can

work to overcome this through putting ourselves in the other person’s shoes. 

Each of our cultures are different, but that diversity is what makes the world even more

interesting to be a part of. We need each other to have a more interesting life. When you gain

more knowledge about different groups of people, then you are able to gain a larger perspective.

Life is meant to be enriched, not one sided. Sorrel’s story has given me a more enriching sense to

life.