This last two weeks had been a rough one in our community. Crime got to the point where the people in our local township* took matters into their own hands. They took hold of 2 persons they felt are the culprits and have necklaced** them. Plenty others that managed to escape are now on the run for fear of their lives. This is coming from a community that is exhausted of living in fear every moment of the day. Their children are raped, the women are not safe to walk alone and drug problems are rive. Poverty and unemployment are causing a total breakdown of morals.
If you have read the book series, "The Maze Runner", the things happening just down the road from me, sounds like a scene out of one of the later books. It is as if a serious brain virus took hold of our community and turned good people into animals.
But as a fellow member of the community, I understand the fear. I understand why they are upset. I can even understand why they feel the need to take matters into their own hands. I can understand why they feel the need to attack would be offenders like animals. They want to take back their community. They want their kids to be safe, their wives and daughters to walk without fear. The honest people want to share the tradition of Ubuntu*** without fear of being exploited. They want to enjoy their limited material blessings without fear of being robbed or even murdered for it.
Living in South Africa you are daily bombarded with news of murder, drug problems, armed robberies, farm murders, rape stories that leave you sick to you stomach and corruption in our government, starting with our dear President Zuma. And ultimately we see the corruption in our defense forces, especially our police force. As citizens we don't know who to trust anymore. There are times where nowhere feels safe. Justice seems to be in the favour of the criminal. Our nation is beyond rational thinking when it comes to crime for most part. We are like cornered animals, we will either take the beating that is coming or we will fight tooth and nail to protect ourselves and those we love. But there is no denying, South Africa is on a knife point when it comes to the issue of crime.
I have to stand up for those who genuinely try to do their best in the up-keeping of the law. We do have politicians who still believe they can make a difference for the better of the people, who want to serve the people of South Africa and not just their own pockets. We do have policemen and women who are in the force because it is their calling. They want to make a difference and protect the community. I salute these people and pray that God will provide us with more people like these. I pray for protection over them. These people are the blessings in our society.
As I were trying to sleep last night, listening to the sounds of gunshots and stun-grenades going off just a couple of kilometers from my bedroom window, terror gripped me. I realized how fragile peace is. I counted myself blessed. I have a solid house, with every kind of protection possible in place. My heart bled for those in the township who where trapped in their flimsy houses, fearful of what sounded like a war breaking out just outside their not so sturdy doors. And in many ways it is a war. It is a war against the crime in our community and the apathy from our government to do anything about it.
South Africa is a beautiful country, with beautiful people. Under all the fear and filth of our current situation, we are still a country with warm hospitality and a heart for each other. Most of us want to embrace each other in unity and build our country up again. We want to make South Africa work. We are still a blessed nation as many of us still carry in our hearts the dream of unity in our rainbow nation. We know that each colour has beauty of its own and combined we are a bright light to the rest of the world. We are a blessed people, who can still make jokes and laugh when our national team makes complete fools of themselves. We still stretch out hands to help each other. We still get upset about the things that goes wrong. We want to make the difference needed to stop the crime and corruption. We are blessed because we still have the passion to make things right in our hearts.
I thank God for blessing us in this beautiful country, for blessing us with 21 years of peace. I pray that He will continue to bless us. That He will stand by us as we try and ward off the evil that surrounds us. That He will bless us just a little longer with peace. I know this is all just birthing pains of the End Times, and that we can't continue avoiding what is to come. Let each day be a blessing as we try to make the best of the time left to us to commit to sharing God's Words.
Yes we are suffering and things can go really bad really quickly, but we are also extremely blessed. And when fear over takes my senses, I will count my blessings.
*this is what us South Africans call areas where the poorest of poor live. **necklacing is the act of putting tyres around a persons neck, pouring fuel over them and setting them alight.
*** Ubuntu is a term used for brotherhood, for having compassion and showing humanity to each other.
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