The first time South African Litvak Robert Brozin came to Lithuania, he was most surprised by the fact it was in color. It sounds funny, one of the creators of the large restaurant chain Nando’s says, but that his first impression of the land of all four of his grandparents because he’d only seen Lithuania in black and white photographs before. When he cam back again for the fifth time in late March, he already had a number of interests going here, both business and representing the Litvak community in South Africa.

“Most Jews in South Africa have roots in Lithuania. There is a total of about 80,000 Jews here and I think about 95 percent have Lithuanian roots. It’s an interesting fact that the Jewish community in South Africa is very tight-knit, and the majority of Jews who have remained living in South Africa marry Jews from the community. My son is also married to a Litvak girl. We still maintain many Litvak traditions in the family and even have dishes from Lithuania…”

Read more in Lithuanian here.