When Johan Green came to America, it was for education. He had no idea that within a few years, he would be a citizen.
Green, who is the settled minister at the Temple Congregational Church, completed the process of officially becoming an American on Feb. 22. It’s the culmination of a long process, he said, and bittersweet, he said in a recent interview with the Ledger-Transcript.
“I’m torn, honestly,” Green said, about his decision to give up his citizenship as a South African.
Green was born and raised in South Africa, he said, and his 12-year-old daughter still lives there. In order to become an American citizen, he had to renounce his South African citizenship.
“When you do that, they deem you a traitor,” Green said. “So I think I will always be torn about that.”
Green said when he first came to the United States to study theology, he didn’t intend to stay here forever. He’s been interested in theology since he was a student at Tswane University. But when he became interested in the subject, he was three years into a business management degree. His mother encouraged him to finish he degree before pursuing theology studies.
But Green finished his schooling in 1992 – a year before South Africa announced the end of its compulsory conscription into the South African Defense Force. Green was called to service, and served until he was discharged as a 2nd Leuitenant.
After leaving the military, Green went into business – working in banking for six years, then as a corporate manager. Eventually, he started his own business, Supreme Carpets, a flooring business, which he grew into the top three flooring companies in South Africa.
In 2004, he sold that business and purchased a supermarket.
“Within six months, I had lost everything,” Green said.
Not, he said, because business was bad or mismanagement. His store was targeted by a drug syndicate, and was continually robbed. Green was even issued a death threat.
“It felt like we were in a Hollywood movie,” Green said.
But, he said, when he lost everything and had to start over, it was the start of putting him on the path to where he is today – an American citizen.
Green decided to finally pursue theology studies. He prayed for guidance, and God told him where to go, Green said.
“I had a vision of a huge steel bridge, with two sides, coming together like a zipper. On one side of the bridge was a church, and I knew this was the ministry. And on the other side was a graduation cap. And across the bridge was the Statue of Liberty. I knew God wanted me to study in America,” Green said.
Green came to America to study at Nyack College for his doctorate degree. First, he was on a student visa, and later, began working for a ministry in Virginia and applied for a religious visa.
It was not until he married an American citizen in 2015 he decided to begin the process to officially become a citizen. Though the marriage didn’t last, and the two divorced in January of 2018, he knew he still wanted to complete the process, he said.
His two sons, now adults, also decided to become citizens as well, he said. They came to the United States with him. His oldest son, Gavin, who is 21, has already been a citizen for more than two years, and is currently a member of the United States Navy. His younger son, Brendon, who just turned 18, will go through the process of being naturalized through Green’s citizenship.
Green was sponsored by Bill and Linda Kivela of New Ipswich, who he met while serving a stint as the minister at the New Ipswich Congregational Church.
Green said the process took several years and multiple interviews in which his background, history, education and qualifications were strictly reviewed.
“They really grill you,” he said.
There are obvious differences, Green said, in his new life. Rugby, a hugely popular sport in South Africa, isn’t on the radar in the United States. And he misses the tradition of braai – a type of open flame barbecue that is a huge part of South African culture.
“But for each loss, I have so much new,” Green said.
Rugby has been traded for the new sports of ice hockey and football – sports he never followed in Africa.
And, he said, his biggest gift has been able to become fully entrenched in a different culture.
One of his first experiences of culture shock happened to Green while talking to another graduate student while on the subway from New Jersey to New York. The other student was writing his thesis on Nelson Mandela.
“I thought he must be talking about a different person than who I thought Nelson Mandela to be,” Green said. “All human lives are lived through a skewed lens. Your textbook is as accurate as the political party in power allows it to be. That’s what I have learned.”
And, he said, that broadening of his view is something he’s applied to his ministry.
“We can only know about God that which our cultures have taught us,” Green said. “The more cultures we engage, the fuller our view of God. That is the message I’m now trying to teach.”
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.