Take a bite out of crime

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One of the first things you notice about South Africa is that many people live behind barbed wired fences.  The staticians say that Johannesburg is just about the most dangerous city in the World not in a war zone.  On my first night in Joburg, one of the guys who had picked me up from the train station told me about a "smash and grab" -- this is when someone smashes your car window when you are driving, has a gun, and steals your car.  It hadn't happened to him, but he knew people who had.

New Town fan park in Joburg

Crime is an interesting thing.  I have lived in Sarajevo and Belfast and felt safer there than many places I could find myself in American cities.  As I was preparing to come over, one of my hosts in Joburg said that you can't trust any strangers there.  The American Government had put out a travel advisory for South Africa.  I had Malawians tell me that they were scared to go to South Africa because of the crime.  So definitely some things to get psyched out about, but I have long since decided that I cannot my life in fear.  Trust my God and try to avoid doing really stupid things -- with me the latter being a difficult task.

Police were everywhere in South Africa.  The government clearly decided that they did not want any International incidents during the World Cup.  Many of the homeless and other so called questionable characters were shipped to areas outside the cities. 

My foolish sunset walk just on the other side of the fan park

And what happened?  On the stupid count, I had two occurrences without incident.  I took a questionable walk from New Town to Auckland Park after sunset by myself and I got lost on the highway system while nearly running out of gas.  I actually witnessed an attempted carjacking in Malawi, but nothing in South Africa.  Everyone treated me very well.  I did not have one incident or problem with a South African anywhere I was.  As I was in the airport on the way home, I was asked to do a lengthy survey by the Government.  Towards the end of the interview, they wanted to know if I came away with a better opinion of South Africa and whether I would come back  I thought about it and answered "Yes." and "Probably".  They say that most places that host a large International Sporting event lose a lot of money; thinking about those last two questions, I think it was money very well spent.