Comments on other things amanzi: proudly south african

Some years ago when I was hitching back to South A...

2009-08-22T09:32:03.580+02:00

Some years ago when I was hitching back to South Africa from Zimbabwe to sneak back into Medical School I got dropped off around midnight on a road side not too far from the family of a friend. I phoned the family awake and asked for a lift and a bed. They sent their teenage son in a bakkie (pick-up or ute) to collect me.

It was such a beautiful site, I jumped onto the vehicle and banged on the roof screaming: "RY BROER!!!!" (Drive!!!) before he could even greet me.

We left behind two well built men with tyre irons standing in the darkness. Maybe I was paranoid, or maybe I was seconds away from a violent death. I wasn't prepared to find out if they merely good Samaritans that walk the streets at night helping the hapless change tyres.

Gee Bongi! i am sorry that happened but glad you ...

2009-08-20T07:28:07.594+02:00

Gee Bongi! i am sorry that happened but glad you are alright. No one should have to live that way.

It's just so wrong.

Well in South Africa, where I have lived for 38 ye...

2009-08-19T00:15:12.470+02:00

Well in South Africa, where I have lived for 38 years, you can be careful, quick or dead.Well done Bongi for precautionary action, thereby supplying the ungrateful and undeserving with another health care provider, to tend to their broken bodies, when presenting for treatment!
We all face these dilemmas in an emergency.Kevin Bloom's new book Ways of Staying details this dilemma well.No helpful solution there though! keep ducking the bullets.

At least now you have an excuse to get a new car.

2009-08-18T13:46:53.089+02:00

At least now you have an excuse to get a new car.

It sounds like you behaved like any sensible perso...

2009-08-18T08:49:19.704+02:00

It sounds like you behaved like any sensible person would...I'll always happily take my chances with a lion in the bush than a man with an AK...and I don't think its about having a "victim" mentality...its about having a "survivors" mentality...and anyone in medicine knows that it is not just a semantic difference.Truth is,if you've had any military training,thats what you would have been taught to do.Personally though,I do think you should put your faith in a 357 with hydrashock bullets.Wanna buy a slightly used one??

Jabu I live very near to Bongi. Not sure of the ex...

2009-08-18T06:47:09.462+02:00

Jabu I live very near to Bongi. Not sure of the exact distances but in the same town.

I too live with the Lowvelder telling me I live in a war zone. I find my reality far removed from many of my peers. Maybe I just refuse to hide in the bushes and become lion bait.

I have heard about all the bad stuff and know that I am a potential victim, but until I am a victim, I refuse to be one.

John the punctuation police and people like you really need to take a dump. Facts are that I find Bongi's writing satisfactory and easy to understand, so the odd typo or spelling error creeps in, seriously who gives a shit?

Bongi, I can tell a tale of a drunk, at night that survived by grace alone. I can tell of sitting on the side of the road waiting for someone to tow me and wondrful people I have met stopping to assist not to rob me.

Maybe I am just luckier than most?

This is why, when I found your blog, I read a sing...

2009-08-17T22:58:35.902+02:00

This is why, when I found your blog, I read a single post, then added it to Google Reader, and THEN read many, many pages back.

It's not just a medblog. It's an africa blog that's accessible to me. (Most of the ones I've found are too african for me to "get", as an American, or are boring. And I love reading all I can from/about southern Africa)

Thanks for all the posts <3

john, sorry about that. it usually takes me a few ...

2009-08-17T20:11:40.144+02:00

john, sorry about that. it usually takes me a few reads and advice from friends to get rid of the typos. i didn't read through this before i posted and friends haven't helped me in my evil ways yet.rest assured they will gradually be corrected. i'd prefer if you pointed out specifics and then i could classify you under the group friend too.

An insightful comment, and an interesting blog. Bu...

2009-08-17T18:21:47.117+02:00

An insightful comment, and an interesting blog. But, good Lord, the last post is riddled with typos.

Guy: you'll have to forgive me if I'm disinclined ...

2009-08-17T17:57:10.406+02:00

Guy: you'll have to forgive me if I'm disinclined to agree with you; recognising the criminal element of the SA society is not a "fear of (his) own creation". It's a reality. How you deal with it, of course, is different. The very fact that Bongi remains in such a crime-filled country is testament to his lack of fear. Recognising he was in a potentially dangerous situation is just sensible. He then took steps to avoid becoming a statistic. I no longer live there so I don't know what I'd do above flat-out panic. My brother (who does still live in SA) would probably do exactly what Bongi did!

Bongi, I am delighted "the criminal element was fortunately absent".

When we are young... There is satisfaction in putt...

2009-08-17T17:51:04.983+02:00

When we are young...
There is satisfaction in putting yourself in difficult situations in life and work, surviving them and finding what you are made of. How much you can take?

10 years later...
You are no longer testing yourself so to speak, but have accepted these difficult situations as normal operating procedure of life/work. You understand that this might be somewhat irrational, but you continue because you feel that part of what separates you from the pack is that you, can handle anything, a lot of it, and more importantly are in total control. You say to yourself, that you don't have to do things this way, you choose to.

10 more years...
You begin to feel the burden of these things. You now endure them. You begin to ask yourself why you must endure them.

-SCNS

guy, yes schoemanskloof is safer because there are...

2009-08-17T15:12:22.112+02:00

guy, yes schoemanskloof is safer because there are so few people, but if someone of questionable moral fiber were to turn up the chances that something happened would be higher than in nelspruit. yes in nelspruit we rub shoulders with the criminal element probably every day, but the opportunity for them to do something is diminished because of all the other people. there, the opportunity was ripe. only the criminal element was fortunately absent.

that road isn't totally deserted. i drive it a lot at night and a bit closer to nelspruit from where i was i often see people walking along in various states of inebriation.

the car had no chance of being hijacked but the wallet with cash in my pocket may not have been so lucky.

you are not the first to ask about the biltong. in fact that is what most of my colleagues also wanted to know, but alas i left it where it fell.

Bongi You live in a fear of your own creation. Not...

2009-08-17T14:50:57.435+02:00

Bongi You live in a fear of your own creation. Nothing happened did it? The more deserted the area the safer you are. I would rather be taking photos in the Schoemanskloof at midnight that in downtown Nelspruit.

Nobody wants to hijack a busted car anyway. Wheres the buck, we making Biltong?