August 6, 2015

Cheryl Sulski

Cheryl Sulski was born in Namibia, then known as South West Africa, and moved with her family to Cape Town, South Africa, when she was about eight or nine years old. The move came from strong family pressure to raise the children in a Jewish environment, and Cheryl went from a Catholic school to a Jewish day school. She spent much of her life in South Africa, working in banking and finance, including life insurance, pensions, investments, securities, and trust companies, before marrying and stepping away from work to raise her two sons while her husband traveled long hours to his ranch.

Rising farm violence, the loss of the family support system as her two younger brothers left for California after their compulsory military service, and concern for her children's future led Cheryl and her husband to immigrate to Dallas roughly twelve years before her interview. The family chose Dallas because her mother had already moved there and the collapse of the South African rand after 9/11 made it the most affordable option. She recalled the enormity of packing a shipping container and a friend's advice to never let possessions possess you, and she faced mixed reactions from those who called immigrants cowards and others who felt she had done the right thing.

In Dallas, Cheryl found a job at a Jewish day school that she says fell into her lap, and she continues her professional development through the Jewish Federation, Brookhaven College, and the Shelton school. She also teaches religious school and was struck by the range of religious observance in the community compared to the more unified congregation she had known in South Africa. Raised in a strongly Zionist home, she first visited Israel around age 21 and returned three decades later. She and her family maintain South African and Jewish traditions, shopping at a local South African store, and she remains deeply grateful for the opportunities and welcome she has found in Dallas.

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