Treatment Action Campaign is arranging a march in Cape town city against Xenophobia Violence for MONDAY 02 JUNE 2008.  Meet at Keizergracht, next to Cape Technikon in District Six at 10AM. 

If we don't make a stand against violence of this kind and make the Government fully cognicent of the fact that, we, the people of South Africa find it utterly unacceptable, we, the people of South Africa, will experience this horror again ..... and the  next time it could be you and me they come after.  We have the history of Africa to know that this is our future if we don't stand together NOW and stop the tide before it becomes a flood, before it becomes the norm.

In Hout Bay the police and security companies put out the flames of hate before they claimed the township and did any long term damage.  The greater community of Hout Bay and Llandudno protected the foreign nationals by going into the township and evacuating the people who were targeted.  I believe this confused the residents of Imizamo Yethu who did not expect our intervention.  Let us clear up that confusion for them.

Let us show them on a greater scale that we do NOT accept xenophobic violence and we will stand against it, together.  On Monday, make yourselves seen and heard in this peace march. I have never been on a march before, but self preservation seems like a good enough reason to me.

Please, for all our sakes, stand as one ...... Make yourself available for few hours on Monday and stand united.

Here is a list to all IOL Xenophobia stories

It has been a long day for this wingless Flygirl, and it is still a long day for many more volunteers unable to say - enough, I am going home.
Many Aids Law Project and Treatment Action Campaign volunteers have been working with little sleep from 08h30 to 02h00.  They are tired, dead tired.  This evening I left at 20h50 whilst many were unloading truck loads of donated foods and loading up others to do yet another run.  They have been doing this since Friday last week.  This is a YouTube clip of a meeting at ALP and TAC

This YouTube clip was filmed and put together by :

JOANNA HIGGS
serendipitous enterprises
www.gotrolley.com

I found I needed to click on High Quality in order for it to work - but then I am blonde.

The video is not about violence - There are plenty related clips for you to view on that subject - to our shame.
The video is about what many saw coming and tried to avoid with peace marches.
It is about the people - where do they go now?

Please note that there is a change of address for donations: it is 50 Canterbury Street off Roeland Street near Fruit and Veg.  It is no longer Longmarket Street as in the clip.  The people of Cape Town have been wonderful in their response and ALP / TAC needed to move to bigger premises.

But something has to change.  We are treating the symptom (the emergency), not providing a cure (people need to feel safe for re-intergration).  The Government of South Africa must take responsibility and has been quite shameful in relying on volunteers to do its work.  This is a National Disaster.  It needs to be treated as such.  Between 18 000 and 21 000 have been uprooted in the Western Cape alone. Our Government has to take action to avoid what is coming next:

What is coming next?

From my experience in Goma / Rwanda: 

3) Hi-jackings of volunteers.
In the early stages of the Rwandan Relief Effort in 1994, the Relief Volunteers were careful but relatively safe, but as the weeks went by, the vehicles and the goods they carried into the camps became targets.  It is only a matter of time before a volunteer is hijacked - by South Africans in the townships. The majority of volunteers are young white women.

4) Making the refuges reliant on aid and avoidance of solving their problem.
When I off-loaded food this evening in Khayaletsha at one of the refugee camps, one man said to me: 'This is why we stay', indicatiing the food we had brought.  I went cold.  The same thing happened in Goma. The Rwandan refugees became reliant on our relief aid and when we wanted to withdraw, they tried to take some of us hostage, demanding assurance that the NGO's would not evacuate and leave them.  I don't believe that we have anything to fear from these refugees as they are surrounded by hostiles and very scared, but making them reliant on aid will not solve their problem which is; can the South African government ensure the safety of the people who are living within its borders?  Or are we just another African failure?  The fact the we have to ask ourselves this sickens me.

P.S. Thank you very much to everyone who has helped in their own way.  TAC and ALP will probably hand over their operation to one of the other relief organisations end of this week, hopefully a government one although faith in government is sub zero right now.  TAC and ALP are lawyers after all and although they have been extremely effective jumping into unknown territory (relief work), the Government really needs to get off its backside and take over from many of the volunteers who responded to the emergency in the absence of Government action.

Today Christopher, one of the seven Malawians sheltering in my home, was given a temporary place to stay with his part time employer.  Doug and Dawn came to fetch him and his few possessions from my home early this morning.

Two other Malawians decided to risk a return to Imizamo Yetu in Hout Bay. Should the township return to relative normality, the other four Malawians will follow on Monday.  Their concern is the danger that one of them may be isolated and they become the unlucky victim.  Many Malawians have given up hope in our country and returned to their own.  Malawi is a peaceful country with little crime, but it has a poor economy which is why they came to South Africa.  But the fairytale rainbow nation is nolonger and has become a nightmare for many...

People helping People- if you can, please help them

Noordhoek, Kommetjie and Soetwater residents offering refuge to the refugees from Ocean View - Di Davis of The Big Picture Company (film producer) is one.  Mosques offering aid www.capeargus.co.za

Foreshore - A Mother and Daughter (the Goldbergs) attacked by South Africans for handing out aid to  Zimbabwean refugees www.capeargus.co.za

Who is fanning the violence, using the criminal element and inciting the people?  These acts are nationwide. If there is a political connection, who has the most to gain from  national instability now?  Who is the man who cannot wait to be President of South Africa?  If you think Jacob Zuma is not another Mugabe then you do not know Africa at all well and failed History ........  This violence is only the beginning .... 

www.thetimes.co.za   In this article the reporter has very carefully refrained from mentioning that the next president of South Africa will be Jacob Zuma who is now leader of the ruling party, the ANC.  Why does the reporter avoid using his name?  Because we are deathly afraid of Zuma coming to power.  There is a rising panic in South Africa and we are being led to believe that jumping out of the pan and into the fire (deposing Mbeki and putting Zuma on the thrown) is the answer.  Unfortunately the majority will ensure the inevitable burning that will come with his reign .....

www.foxnews.com - South Africa, meet your next President
www.wikipedia.org - 2008 South African Riots (Our Future is our Past, Unless we Change it)

You Tube - Umshini Wami - Bring me my Machine (Gun), You're Pulling me Back - Jacob Zuma's party song
Translation from Wikipedia

Lyrics

It is winter time here in the Cape and that is when Llandudno flying kicks in with low clouds, fast changing conditions and NW going SW winds.  A group of pilots met in the car at Llanudno Beach as is our habit and then took fewer cars up to take off on Little Lions Head.  No-one has flown this mountain since the fires - not that I know of anyway, and it was good to see the flowers and vegetation starting to take root again on the stony slopes.

Flights were phoefies but Michelle did her first flight from this mountain which was great to see and three wingless people got to share our incredible perspective of the world with Ian getting in two tandem flights on his Vertigo sponsored glider.  Then we were off to Dunes in Hout Bay for coffee, beers and snacks.  A lovely winters afternoon :-)  Here are more images in the Gallery.

My neighbour, Rhett has property in Hillbrow, Johannesburg.  We see images in the local newspapers of people looting shops belonging to foreign nationals.  But what of the 50 people killed?  Here a woman is hacked to pieces, her body strewn across the street.  What could a woman possibly do to deserve this? This is life and death in Africa simply because you are from the wrong tribe and in the wrong place.  People shake their heads in sorrow and disappointment saying we are unravelling into another Zimbabwe.

We are certainly losing it in South Africa, and so very, very fast now .......

www.iol.co.za - Now Violence hits Cape Town
www.thetimes.co.za - The Flames of Hate have Consumed our Dream
www.thetimes.co.za - South African photographer burnt alive
www.latimes.com - Fiery Deaths - A return to the Old Ways
www.sabcnews.com - Xenophobia = Racism (SABC is the Government mouthpiece)
www.bbsnews.net  - USA - Call for Justice
www.bbc.co.uk - United Kingdom - Mbeki
www.bbc.co.uk - UK - Take back our streets

It is with great sadness that many of us in Hout Bay and Llandudno evacuated Malawians, Zimbabweans and other foreign nationals from Imizamo Yetu tonight.  The Xenophobic attacks that have run riot in Gauteng came to Cape Town last night and to Hout Bay this evening.  It breaks my heart to see people, men, women and children packing up their small possessions and walking out of Mandela Park as Imizamo Yetu in Hout Bay is known by the white community.

Xhosa's stand by the roadsides laughing and chattering excitedly watching the xodus.  They are happy.  As the sun set, I drove into the township to talk to my Xhosa maid and Malawian gardener, neighbours and of opposing factions, to see how they were and if they required shelter.  Rumours are rife that the 'foreigners' homes will be burnt to the ground tonight at 10pm.  I worry that although Cynthia is Xhosa, her home, her husband and her children might get caught up in the ugliness if the fires do start. A blaze in such close confines could engulf them and they might lose everything.  But Cynthia and Lawrence, both of the Xhosa tribe are confident that they will not be effected.  They say that the fires and looting that were started last night in Du Noon near Milnerton and other parts of the Cape, sending hundreds of people fleeing for their lives and one man, a Somalian murdered, will not come to our small valley.  But as a foreigner, knowing what your neighbours could do to you, what they are doing in other parts of the Cape and the country, would you stay?

The police are on high alert and assure me that they have enough staff and vehicles to contain any violence - that Imizamo Yetu is small enough to keep under control.  And it seems true as there is a high police and private security company presence everywhere. One policeman says he too has friends in Imizamo Yetu and that his two room mates are in fact Zimbabwean.  As I load up seven of my gardener's Malawian friends and all their possessions in my Toyota Fortuna, a police van siren cuts the night and comes careening up into the township intent on putting out trouble spots before the people themselves become inflamed with the dreaded blood lust.  You have to stop the blood rage before it begins otherwise all reason is lost.

As I drive out of Imizamo Yetu, my car heavily ladened with precious cargo, a large convoy of expensive 4x4's rushes in following the same road that the police van took.  Perhaps more Hout Bay and Llandudno home owners intent on getting their employees... and their friends out of danger.  Near the intersection to the main road near the Hout Bay police station, a tense young white man with a bakkie (pick up) is helping a tall black man load his belongings into the back of the vehicle.  The black man wipes a tear from his eye.

What is Xenophobia?
Xenophobia is a fear or contempt of foreigners or strangers and people different from one's self.

It is the euphemism we use to describe the racist criminal acts mainly Xhosas and Zulus (black South Africans) are practicing on black foreigners for reasons of jealousy, theft and murder. They are chasing these people away, killing them and then stealing their belongings.

They are attacking the weakest first , those unlikely to fight back - the Malawians, Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and Somalis.  When they have finished with them ......  who will be next? 

We have to stop this now.  South Africans have to stop this now. We need to show our people that this bad behaviour is NOT acceptable. If we fail to take action, our silence will make it seem acceptable.  These people are being killed, their houses and businesses burned.

What are you doing about it?

Gran and I are back from Safari at Aquila Private Game Reserve 2 hours outside of Cape Town.  There are some things you need to know about Aquila's accommodation in order for you to enjoy the best 'African' experience it has to offer.  I will go into detail this weekend and post photo's to illustrate.  It is actually quite important if you want to avoid disappointment. You need to know what is available in order to make the right choices for you.  Here is a link to the Aquila Accommodation I am working on.  Not finished yet...

As far as game viewing is concerned - animal sightings are abundant and guaranteed. There are reasons for this. As a child of Africa who has game viewed in Hluhluwe, Kruger, Lake Kariba (Zimbabwe), Virunga (Zaire gorillas) and numerous other private game reserves, the experience was less than the proclaimed 'Real Africa'. However, for the Internationals, Aquila is ideal as it offers guaranteed game viewing for those with only a few hours to spare in their short holiday in which to see our beautiful country. From this point of view, Aquila Private Game Reserve Safari's fulfils an important link in the South African tourism industry.

For international paragliding pilots coming to South Africa in November for the Pre XC-Open World Series in De Aar, this might be an ideal  opportunity to stop overnight at Aquila, which is on the N1 between Cape Town and De Aar, to view the Big Five.  Info to follow ....

Muriel Van der Leeuw, my Grans 87th Birthday

I have added a permanent link in the Accommodation section under Travel Guide with my own photos.  It may be of interest to those visiting the country wanting to see the Big Five for themselves right here in the beautiful Cape or even to those who live here and would enjoy a day in the bush.

Clicking on the banner below to go direct to Aquila's own website.

My family and I enjoyed a lovely lazy Sunday in the Riebeek Valley.  It was wonderful to see the Royal Hotel in all its restored glory and Maxwell took good care of us when we stopped for teas and coffee to experience the colonial splendour.

L'Atitude restaurant and bar is under new ownership and has also enjoyed a complete make over since I last saw it.  Modern, contemporary and chic all rolled into a comfortable blend of afternoon unwind.  They still make great pizzas and the vibe is relaxed, friendly and classy.

There were lots of goodies to buy and I am now the owner of a pair of fantastic sheepskin boots.  They fit so well I can't bare the thought of taking them off.  So warm and cosy on such a winters day.  The leather man who makes them is fortunately situated close by at the Strand near Cape Town and has a stall most days at the Pavilion near the fish market.  He also makes good quality sandals.

There were plenty of tasty treats from olive tapenades to olive home made soaps, chutneys, local wines, port, farm butter, Rose Water Turkish Delight, bakes and cinnamon pancakes right off the griddle.

It was lovely to see David Bellamy from the Art Francolin Hotel again and Kiara, Ange and I enjoyed the off beat eccentric rustic artiness of the place. 

We had a lovely afternoon :-)