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My heart is bleeding for my country tonight

354 replies

TrixieLou · 12/07/2021 22:03

Name changed and posting here for traffic.

I have been resident in the UK for 15 years but I am originally from Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. My country is on fire. It has been mentioned on the news today but the football has completely overshadowed the story. My family live in the worst hit area. Shopping centres have been looted and destroyed. Thousands of criminals have been shooting, looting, throwing grenades and setting off bombs. I had my father on the phone earlier and could hear gunshots in the background. The police and the military are doing nothing. My brothers are currently blocking off their roads with their vans. They are armed with guns. Most of their neighbours are there too. They are watching thousands of angry protesters approach from the valley below. Gunshots. Fire. Bombs. There is black smoke billowing in the air from trucks and cars being set on fire. Thousands of people are walking on the streets carrying merchandise from destroyed shopping centres. People are shooting at each other. They have said that this is only the beginning. Private homes will be next. The homes that house my family and friends. My family are scared for their lives tonight. I just had my father in tears on the phone, telling me he doesn’t know what is going to happen tonight and that he loves me. He never got to meet my new baby.

Please pray for South Africa tonight. Or send good thoughts if you don’t pray. They will never recover from this. They were already on their knees.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Allington · 13/07/2021 15:01

Very revealing

Also working in township non profits. Then trying to socialise with suburban white South Africans

Allington · 13/07/2021 15:02

The racism was mind boggling

Sexnotgender · 13/07/2021 15:03

You’ve started your own thread now @Allington so maybe stop hijacking this one?

TiredButDancing · 13/07/2021 15:03

@Allington

Still waiting for *@mnhq* to explain why they won't allow reference to the 'C' community. Have offered to introduce them to members of this community who adopt the word as their identity.
Allington - I agree with everything you've said and it's a constant bug bear of mine too. Comments about "they" not "needing" to steal TVs etc is like a red flag to a bull for me.

But be that as it may, OP and others are worried about their specific family right now and it's not unreasonable that they are focused on that. I don't blame you for feeling resentful that your dd and friends face this ALL the time (with very little acknowledgement), but it doesn't take away from the pain those families in Natal are experiencing now.

As for the "c" community - I 100% get it. The closest comparison is that the n word is used by certain members of the black community and that's okay. But I think the fact that the rest of us can't use it is a closer analogy. I'm fully aware that in SA, it's the accepted and preferred terminology, but DH and I are very careful not to use it here because we understand that even if people understand the context, for people in THIS country, it is very uncomfortable.

I saw an article recently that Waitrose is changing the name of their K* Lime Leaves. As a south african, I am pleased because even knowing full well that the word was not used in the South African context, it always made me very very uncomfortable and I am pleased that Waitrose has decided to respect South Africans on this, even though they're not even in their own country.

Allington · 13/07/2021 15:15

@Sexnotgender

You’ve started your own thread now *@Allington* so maybe stop hijacking this one?
Sure, once it is acknowledged that so many communities face this most of the time. That it is a privilege to feel threatened every few years.
Porcupineintherough · 13/07/2021 15:17

How is stealing a television going to put food on your table

Well you can sell it. Or, if not, at least you now own a tv.

A race to the bottom is nothing to fear if you are already on the bottom with no security, no safety and no hope of a change.

Situations like this occur because the risks and benefits - both of the status quo and of rioting - are not equally spread across society.

Bringmemoonshine · 13/07/2021 15:21

@TrixieLou I hope your family and friends stay safe (as I wish for everyone, but this is your thread and your fear must be overwhelming) This is so sad, another tragic chapter in the story of this beautiful country. The fear that everyone must be experiencing in KZN is heart rending.

Satears · 13/07/2021 15:33

@Allington I am not white, neither are my friends and family who are currently fearing for their lives.

Coyoacan · 13/07/2021 15:34

It is so awful, the man they are rioting for has bled their country dry and made things worse

My understanding from ever so far away is that the peace that Mandela negotiated was the only peace available but did not do very much to change the existing economic and power structures.

As for Zuma, I refuse to judge him on what I have learnt about him from the BBC because the BBC is incapable of neutral reporting nowadays.

I hope this situation calms down soon with a minimum of harm and

Flowers to all those worried about their loved ones.

shouldistop · 13/07/2021 15:40

Sure, once it is acknowledged that so many communities face this most of the time. That it is a privilege to feel threatened every few years.

Acknowledged by whom?

NCSA · 13/07/2021 15:43

@Porcupineintherough

How is stealing a television going to put food on your table

Well you can sell it. Or, if not, at least you now own a tv.

A race to the bottom is nothing to fear if you are already on the bottom with no security, no safety and no hope of a change.

Situations like this occur because the risks and benefits - both of the status quo and of rioting - are not equally spread across society.

Well done, you've chosen the one part of what I said that can be picked apart. I did think the same after I'd posted it, to be honest.

And regarding a race to the bottom - I wasn't talking about in SA, I was referencing the competitive whatabouttery on this thread.

Sympathy and empathy are not finite. Just because I currently fear for my family and friends' lives doesn't mean I don't give a shit about anyone else.

SouthAfricaMama · 13/07/2021 15:45

[quote Satears]@Allington I am not white, neither are my friends and family who are currently fearing for their lives.[/quote]
This. I am not sure why it is presumed only white people are scared today.

SouthAfricaMama · 13/07/2021 15:46

@TrixieLou so sorry to hear about your father.

namesnamesnamesnames · 13/07/2021 15:57

I'm very sad for those living with the various ongoing and escalated difficulties in South Africa.

I hope all of your relatives and friends stay safe and strong.

99point9FahrenheitDegrees · 13/07/2021 16:13

@Satears, and all the others, thinking of you and all the people in KZN who are afraid for their families, and watching their jobs and homes go up in smoke. I'm from there too, and seeing the frightened children in West Street, or the men holding the line up in Reservoir Hills, and remembering Cato Manor, and the 1980s and 1990s and the fear and the reality of life then, and seeing all the progress and factories just go up in smoke - it is so heart breaking.

480Widdio · 13/07/2021 16:23

@Allington,Could you kindly P* off back to your own thread and stop hijacking this one.

NeedNewKnees · 13/07/2021 16:57

How are everyone’s families today? It all looked very frightening.
My thoughts are with you and your loved ones Flowers

SoHereWeAre01 · 13/07/2021 16:59

Attlington created her own thread and managed to confuse everyone.

It turns out Attlington is better at hijacking threads and criticising people than putting forward her own point of view/ argument.

NotExactlyHappyToHelp · 13/07/2021 17:05

Thinking of you all with family and loved ones in SA right now Flowers.

I cannot even begin to imagine how you are all feeling.

I’m not one for praying but my Mam is and she’s praying for you all.

beastlyslumber · 13/07/2021 17:18

I will pray for you and your family @TrixieLou and for everyone who is fearing for their loved ones in SA right now.

SouthAfricaMama · 13/07/2021 17:21

@TrixieLou and all - we've had an update with 2/5 boys now being accounted for. Hope you all get better news soon.

Thank you for starting this thread. It is a blessing to see these kind messages.

mbosnz · 13/07/2021 17:29

SouthAfricaMama, so glad you've got some good news and reassurance. Here's to more to come!

TrixieLou, I hope you and all the other posters with family on the thread, get some good, or at the very least, better, news soon.

From a fellow Southern Hemispherean - kia kaha, aroha nui. Be strong, much love.

Crockof · 13/07/2021 17:35

To all that are worried just sending thoughts and prayers again. I know we are strangers and maybe it's because of the saying, there but by the grace of God go I, but I am thinking about you all and I do care, op that message about your dad really got me, it's only words but you are in my thoughts.

MissyB1 · 13/07/2021 17:48

@TrixieLou hope your family are ok. We are also living with this worry at the moment. My in laws, including Bil, all live in a town not far from Durban. Things are pretty bad where they are at the moment. Fil (who is 90) watched the supermarket across the road being looted last night - luckily he and Mil are in a retirement complex but I dont know how safe it will be. Bil has joined the neighbour hood watch team to defend their street from attacks, he was also helping to defend the local police station last night!

It's so stressful for dh as we are in UK and haven't been able to see them anyway for nearly 2 years because of Covid. We missed Fil's 90th birthday.

I really hope things start to settle down.

DentonsFringeArnottsWaistcoat · 13/07/2021 18:47

@TrixieLou and @SouthAfricaMama
I’m so sorry for what you are both experiencing, I hope you have good news about your families, and they, indeed everyone caught in this, remain safe. We also have family, living a long way from where we are, in their own country - an often unsafe country (though not SA). I know how powerless you can feel at times like these.