Does it come with a badge?

Thursday night was quite eventful (I know it’s Saturday now – but this is the first time that I’ve had to write about Thursday so let’s play some catch-up?).

The evening kicked off with me leaving work a bit early to attend the first Police Community Forum for Sector 3 (my hood at the moment). I got to meet some of my neighbours and the very helpful and efficient Captain Adams who is our SAPS liaison.

We had to elect a chairman first, and we picked Howard who organised the meeting in any case and seems to know the most about what’s been happening in our area. And then we had to pick a Deputy Chairperson too. The lady who was initially selected said she would do it provided they would allow her to publish the matters discussed because she was also part of the press. Captain Adams would have none of that, and that is how I became the Deputy…hehehe…yeah for crime fighter me!

I guess I am also not allowed to publish it here then? Oh well, I won’t go into specifics in that case – but in a nutshell we got feedback and stats of all the crime in our area over the last week (which is quite an impressive amount for such a small area but I’m guessing I’m not allowed to tell you exactly how much!), and we discussed two matters which was of specific importance to our neck of the woods. It took a bit of time to get it all discussed and the next meet will be on the 19th of June. We all got Captain Adams cell number which he has promised to be available on for us 24 hours a day – I wonder if he realises that most of my neighbours NEVER sleep.

In light of the recent unrest and xenophobia attacks throughout South Africa, I will just say this: It’s not right. There are a lot of innocent and vulnerable PEOPLE getting hurt and killed just for being different. On the other hand you can see that the citizens of this country are also fed up with government’s incompetence in sorting out real problems of illegal immigrants and the problems that come with them (drugs, crime, housing, unemployment). Still, it’s not right the way that it’s being dealt with. And personally the whole thing looks way to organised to me to just be some random fall-outs between neighbours and if government really were opposed to the attacks (as they say they are) would there not be a more serious show of force to curb it? We should all be appalled at what’s happening, and if you’re not then perhaps you should consider who would be next once these mobs have killed or driven out the first lot of people they don’t like at the moment.

My own neighbours quite surprised me at our community meeting too. These are meek and mild mostly retired folk. And more than one of them told the police in so many words that if they (the police) didn’t sort out the problem in our area they (the neighbours) would start doing it themselves. They aren’t talking about wide spread mob action like we’ve seen on the news or anything, practical non-violent but still illegal things was what they are planning to do. When you allow that to happen, where does it end? Who decides what’s right and what’s wrong when people start taking the law in their own hands in any matter and to any extent?

Is this the beginning of the end for this rainbow nation? Was it a sham to begin with, can it really have an end in that case? or is it a speed-bump on the road to peace for SA? Who knows…we’ll all have to wait and see. I still maintain that if you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem. You’ll have to decide for yourself where you stand in that equation…

On a more positive note: straight after the doom and gloom of my very first community police forum we (Troep and myself) headed over to Brackenfell for a mid-week snoek braai with some good friends.

I was a bit apprehensive about going out on a “school night” since I knew that Friday was going to be a big day again at the office. But JacoStein (your house mate picked this nick for you if you were wondering how I got to it ) offered to give up his bed for the night so I could sleep over and not have to drive back home in the middle of the night.

The man (JackStein) knows his pillows, let me tell you! We had in depth discussions about what the best pillow is and how many gives the best nights rest, and what exactly you need to do to get the most out of a good selection of pillows. I would go as far as to say he is the only pillow expert that I know. I think the next time I need to go buy some new ones he will have to be my consultant for the day. And I slept like a baby in his bed, other than my own I’d have to say this is one of the best beds around to sleep in. Thank buddy, hope the living room wasn’t too uncomfortable?

The snoek was delicious, done over an open fire the way it should be done with some clever tin foil manouvres and a secret sauce whipped up by JacoStein for the basting of the fishy. We had it with corn on the cob and garlic rolls. (I don’t care about the other people at work – garlic is tasty good for you and it keeps vampires away – that’s good enough for me).

Hot topics of conversation centered mostly round the upcoming Seepkamp that they will all be attending in July. *sigh* I used to go to that camp religiously – in fact, I once resigned because I couldn’t get leave to go and I made it clear in my employment contract that it wasn’t optional for me.

Seekamp is a magical week for anyone who has ever been there. It gets organised my a handful of students and young working people (usually anywhere between 15 and 30 dedicated individuals who put their heart and soul into the project) who then take roughly 100 to 120 high school kiddies down to Boknes for a week of fun and learning. A large percentage of these kids are from foster care homes and orphanages, and even the rest that do pay are subsidised by the efforts and fund-raising efforts of the organisers – Ekwilibruim Staatmakers (used to be R.A.U. Staatmakers). At times I really miss being part of something this special. It’s fantastic sharing that week with great friends and people, but the part that you never expect is how much you get from the kids. I can honestly say that on every single of those camps that I was part of there was at least one kid that would just creep into my heart, just with their stories and by being who they are. I wish I could run into them again now after all this time, and maybe…just maybe…that week would have meant something really special to them too and given them something positive to remember even when life gets a bit rough round the edges?

The fund-raising is done by way of special projects and also by donations made by companies and private individuals who want to make a difference. If you’d like to be involved in any way, there are loads of ways to do that. There are opportunities for sponsoring T-shirts or taking out add space on the 2008 camp T-shirt which every camper gets as part of the experience. Also various opportunities to donate food, blankets and other items that they need to make the camp a success. You could also sponsor a child who cannot pay for him/her-self to go. If this is something that you’d like to get involved in then you could have a look at this site here or get in touch with Ekwilibrium Staties here.