Oh sh*t! Just thankful you are both ok.
best regds
jez
ps - At least you have an excuse to get Windows laptops now...
On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 4:31 PM, Dawid Loubser <dawidl@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> 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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