FertilehealthyAiming for success, not perfection…

Yesterday’s post about my home elicited some questions which I thought I’d answer today.

But first of all, thank you to Lynn, for saying my house looks so clean! I’m going to show that comment to my mother, the Queen of Clean, who mops and dusts every day! I get a cleaning lady every Monday and since there are no kids or dogs in the house, it stays fairly clean from week to week.

Felicia wanted to know what Observatory is. Obz, as the locals call it, was thus named because the first Royal Observatory (planetarium) was situated here. It is still home to the headquarters of the South African Astronomical Observatory, with an onsite museam exhibiting various historic instruments and telescopes. We also have a large state-run mental hospital, Valkenburg, in the area, as well as the world-famous Groote Schuur hospital where the world’s first heart transplant was performed in 1967.

Frangipani and yesterday-today-and-tomorrow are indeed plants.

Frangipani (Plumeria rubra), also known as the Hawaiin Lei flower, is native to warm tropical areas of the Pacific Islands, Caribbean, South America and Mexico. Temple Tree, Champa, Dead man’s fingers, Egg Flower (southern China) Amapola (Venezuela) are other synonyms of Frangipani. Frangipani flowers are known for their unique fragrant clusters of colorful, bright, waxy and long lasting flowers.

Yesterday-today-and-tomorrow’s (Brunfelsia pauciflora) flowers are purple when they first bloom. Then over a period of several days they fade through a progression of blues and lavenders until they are pure white – then they turn brown and die (the day after tomorrow?). They smell heavenly!

Nicole asked the million dollar question, one that I don’t know the answer to. I can only give you the facts and how it affects our lives. She wanted to know “Why such a high crime rate?”

I will say this though. The government prefer to look the other way and our Minister of Safety and Security made the extraordinary statement in Parliament last year that if we don’t like it, we’re welcome to leave. A lot of us are trying our best to do just that!

The fact of the matter is that South Africa has become a lawless society. The authorities have completely lost control and it’s every man for himself. A good indication of this is what’s happening on our roads. Traffic rules are simply ignored and driving anywhere is a nightmare! Not surprisingly, our road accident toll is horrendous.

White collar crime, especially corruption, can be found in the highest level of government. Our next president, Jacob Zuma, was acquited of a rape charge last year, but is still facing corruption charges. In the mean time, the ANC (ruling party) is trying to get the National Prosecuting Authority (Scorpions – similar to the FBI), which investigates financial crime and corruption, disbanded.

Some government officials still take part in rallies where slogans like “Kill the farmer, kill the Boer (white person)” are chanted. Farm murders are a fact of life and some international analysts are likening it to genocide. Our president-elect’s signature song is “Bring me my machine gun!”.

There is not a person in this country who has not been touched by crime. Some of us can afford more security than others, but this makes us seem as if we may have something worth stealing. Unfortunately, few robberies are without violence these days. People are brutally raped, tortured and killed every single day, often in their own homes. Car hijacking is rife and the victims are frequently shot, even when they don’t put up any resistance.

Most sickening is the violence against children. Traditional healers (sangoma’s) perpetuate the myth that AIDS can be cured by having sex with a virgin (millions of people in SA are infected with HIV). Babies as young as nine months old are raped. Some children are murdered for their body parts, which are used in traditional medicine.

One of my very best friends has been gang raped by street thugs. My uncle has had a gun held to his head during a robbery. The gun misfired three times and eventually they just hit him over the head with it. One of my ex-colleagues was thrown off a commuter train and killed. My sister-in-law was hijacked outside her daughter’s school a few months ago. They almost drove off with her baby still in the car, but stopped when she sceamed and then shouted at her to take her “fucking baby” My husband’s had three cars stolen. My parent’s house was broken into, fortunately while they were out. My sister and her family were robbed while they were asleep. It is believed that the burglars used gas to prevent them from waking up. I have been mugged twice and my car has been broken into twice. We have had several attempted break-ins at our house, but the security has held up so far (I sit with a pistol next to me while blogging). My local neighbourhood Spar, where I do most of my shopping, has been robbed twice during daylight hours, with shots fired. One of the ladies in my aqua aerobics class was attacked while out jogging about two months ago. One of my blogging buddies and his son were hijacked in their driveway a few weeks ago. They thought they were going to die. My friend Charlotte’s brother, a pastor, was shot in the stomach in his own driveway.

Can you even imagine the amount of stress that we live under on a daily basis? You have to be vigilant every single moment. My husband’s business is in a township where gangsterism and drug abuse (crystal meth) are rife. I fear for his safety every day. He carries a fire-arm at all times.

They call us the Rainbow Nation… But the reality is that the rainbow has turned into a dark cloud that has no hope of ever getting a silver lining. The best we can do is flee… but where to?

This is a video of a news report in New Zealand about the crime situation in South Africa.

I’m sorry for the negative post, especially since you know me as a positive, upbeat person. But you asked, and these are the facts…