Better advice ............... leave ?
jh
----- Original Message -----
From: <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, October 13, 2008 11:33 PM
Subject: [OM] Re: Off topic: Another brush with South African crime
> Better buy a semi-automatic weapon.
>
> Chuck Norcutt
>
>
>> -------Original Message-------
>> From: Dawid Loubser <dawidl@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Subject: [OM] Off topic: Another brush with South African crime
>> Sent: Oct 13 '08 14:31
>>
>>
>> Hi Guys,
>>
>> This is very off-topic, but I just wanted to give you a bit of insight
>> to our life here in Johannesburg, South Africa. On Saturday morning at
>> 03:00, whilst my fiancee and I were asleep, we awoke to an ungodly loud
>> crash as our glass sliding door in the room next to our bedroom was
>> smashed.
>>
>> Two black men entered and made their way to our bedroom. It was the most
>> frightful, awful few seconds as I was realising this happened while
>> trying to wake up. Luckily, I could close our door in time, but it did
>> not have a key, so we had to hold the door closed with our hands. We
>> remained quiet / calm (well, on the outside, in anyway) amidst the
>> threats (they wanted to have the door opened, which usually results in
>> rape and death around here) and with us not giving way, were expecting
>> bullets to fly through the door (and us) at any moment. For the second
>> time, but somehow more acutely this time (compared to when we were
>> hijacked in 2005 with two guns against our heads), I had to make peace
>> with the fact that we will most likely die. This is not a good thing to
>> truly, really experience. Don't think they kill swiftly here without at
>> least raping the woman and torturing the men.
>>
>> I think our quiet insistence made them unsure of what to expect when
>> they open the door, and ultimately made them less insistent to enter.
>> For a while, my fiancee held the door on her own while I found and
>> loaded my (inherited) single-shot shotgun, which I would have had to use
>> if they did enter, but which would have been a very big problem since
>> there were more than one of them, and I had one shot at a time. I am
>> glad it never came to that, and ultimately they left, but not before
>> taking what they pleased from my house, most expensive of which were two
>> Apple Powerbook 17" computers. I cannot explain the gut-wrenching fear
>> we experienced as two helpless people trapped in their bedroom with
>> violent barbarians literally pushing against our body strength to come
>> in and have their way with us. People see things like these in the
>> movies, and they think they will be rambo, but wait until you are in
>> such a situation.
>>
>> I am shocked anew at the complete disregard here for life and property
>> in the South African (and, very often, the rest of African) culture.
>> This is not a racist statement, it is a statistical observation based on
>> me being subjected to at least eight acts of crime in the past seven
>> years. There is no attempt at subtlety, they break in and break and do
>> as they wish - as if it is their right to do so.
>>
>> The continuing violent crime against the white minority here is
>> tantamount to genocide, it seems to be getting worse and worse. Some say
>> this is society is now the product of the Apartheid-era undoings, but as
>> a young white South Africa who had absolutely nothing to do with that, I
>> am still subjected to this barbarism. You face an enemy who does not
>> reason, does not feel, and has nothing to lose - an animal.
>>
>> To give you context, we live in a town-house complex with electrical
>> fencing around, and guards who patrol every hour. Yet, they directly and
>> easily came to us in this way. And we are just average people, and
>> people on average die when this happens - and it happens daily.
>>
>> Anyway, I know there aren't any other South African members on this
>> list, but wherever you are, I would not wish this experience upon my
>> worst enemy. If you live in the sort of place where you don't need to
>> create a prison for yourself, please go out and have a safe,
>> incident-free evening walk for us over here...
>>
>>
>>
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