This has been another week of contrasts for us. We went on a little road trip with Chris last week. On Wednesday we drove to the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa to see some of the natural sites in that area. The area we went to was west of Kruger National Park about 4 hours drive from Manzini (where we live). Nothing prepared us for the awesome beauty we found. Once again, we found ourselves saying over and over “This isn’t anything I would expect Africa to be like.” The area looked more like California, Utah, Colorado or Idaho than Africa. We marveled at the beauty and kept trying to remind ourselves that we were in Africa, not the U.S. We stayed at a small historic mining town in the mountains (about 4200’). It was a quaint little village with excellent accommodations in renovated houses from the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. They all have that English touch and the look from that time period. The food was great and very reasonably priced. We even had a huge claw foot bath tub in our bathrooms! The only thing that reminded us that we were in Africa was the people constantly wanting to wash Chris’ car or asking us to buy nuts and the row of stalls selling handicrafts every place we stopped. There was so much to see and it was such a wonderful respite that we ended up staying two nights instead of one.
On Friday morning we headed back to Swaziland planning a stopover in Nelspruit, S.A. to shop for some things we can’t get in Swaziland. We slowly meandered through the hills taking our time enjoying every last second of the beautiful country side. Our first stop in Nelspruit was at Builder’s Warehouse. It is a new store in the newer, modern part of Nelspruit. When we pulled into the parking lot, Chris reminded us that we were back in the real South Africa and therefore we had to take our cameras, phones, etc. with us when we went inside the store and we had to keep all of our valuables out of sight. Even though we did that, we still felt like we were back in the U.S. The store looked just like a Lowe’s’ or Home Depot. We even remarked that the only clue that we weren’t in the U.S. was the type and name of the heaters they were selling.
From Builder’s Warehouse we drove to the old downtown area to go to a fabric store Chris knew about which sells a lot of great African print material for very reasonable prices. As we drove into the downtown area, 2 or 3 guys started running towards Chris’ car waving us down. None of us could remember if they got in front of the car or if Chris stopped to hear what they were saying but they kept pointing to her car saying there was something wrong with the tire. She waved them off and kept going. But since tire issues have been such a problem for her lately, she pulled into an empty parking spot about a half a block up the street. The parking/”security” guy tried to tell her she was parked too far from the curb. Chris told him she was only going to be there a second. She pulled the keys out of the ignition when she turned off the car and opened her door. The next thing we all knew, the guys that originally tried to stop us were running towards the car. Chris told them there wasn’t anything wrong with the tire. Then they started pointing to what they thought was wrong with the car. Chris started to get back in the car and all of a sudden there were at least 4 or 5 guys surrounding the car. We did not know what was happening because it all happened so quickly. Jeri remembers one of the guys opening the back door and fumbling around with all of our stuff. She thought somehow he was trying to find something to fix whatever what wrong with the tire. Then we realized what they were doing and we were all screaming “Stop, get out, don’t do that, give it back to me, etc.” He grabbed at some coats and the next thing she knew, he found her purse, the door slammed and he was gone! Gary took off after them and then so did Jeri. Chris was screaming at the parking/”security” guard to do something and stop them, and he just stood there looking at her, shrugging his shoulders. Chris got out, locked the doors, and started to go after us. We decided to try and find them where Gary thought he had last seen them. Gary almost got hit by a speeding car as he ran across the street and Chris returned to the car, afraid they might come back and steal the car. We went back to the car when we realized how futile this was. We had no idea where the guys went and realized we shouldn’t be chasing after a bunch of thugs. It was such a helpless feeling—we were yelling and saying “they stole my purse”. Not one person stopped what they were doing to help. They looked at us like we were crazy. We were in a very crowded area with many street vendors around so someone must have seen it. We realized later that they are probably as scared of these men as we were. We were safe but Jeri’s purse contained both she and Gary’s passports, our camera, two cells phones and all of the misc. stuff that goes into a purse.
We got back in the car, stunned, and, drove into the next block where we saw a couple of policemen walking. We told the two policemen that we were robbed and asked where the Police Station was so we could report the crime and get an affidavit of the theft, so we could get back across the border. He told us how to get there, and said it was close and we could walk. He pointed to a security/parking guy who would watch my car. We then discovered that we were less than a block away from the Police Station! We weren’t too sure about walking to the Police Station or leaving the car but they kept insisting it was ok. The security/parking guy walked us to the Police Station and even took us inside and made sure we were in the right spot and that someone was going to take care of us quickly. Chris brought her laptop with her to be safe. Actually, the Police took our statements pretty quick. It only took us about an hour or so. When we finished we walked back to the car, distrusting everyone we saw on the streets. We were pretty shook up and in shock. Chris drove us immediately to a store similar to Target to get a new cell phone. We did stop and have some dinner before starting on the road. The rest of the trip back to Swaziland was uneventful – thank God.
As we have relived those few minutes several times, we keep reminding ourselves that things could have been much worse. We could have been hurt and they could have taken both of our purses, Chris’ laptop and even her car. And luckily Gary had most of the cash in his pocket. It gave us just a glimpse into what people who are victims of physical assaults and robberies much worse than ours must feel like. In church we heard about a family in Mbabane that were robbed at knife point outside their home and Chris heard about a pastor friend of hers that was driving to Johannesburg last week and was stopped by thugs and robbed of 13,000 rand (around $1700)
One of the thoughts we have all had to deal with, were the feelings of anger at being robbed. Each of us has had to put it all aside and realize that being angry at them does no one any good. It is just sad that life is so hard for these people that they have to resort to this kind of behavior. The event is certainly not ever going to take away the feeling we have in our hearts for the people of Swaziland.
Below are some pictures of the area we visited before this unfortunate happening. As we said in the beginning, this has been a week of contrast. Take in some of the beauty you see below and it will calm you as it did us.
The Blyde River flows through this whole area--most of the waterfalls are on the Blyde River
In the area of Bourkes Potholes
The Potholes--looks more like Utah!
The Blyde River-shows a perspective of how deep the gorge has been carved over time.
Royal Hotel in Pilgrims Rest, where we stayed ($30/ea incl. a huge buffet breakfast)
Sign in the bar--Church Bar--actually an old church that was hauled up the mountain piece by piece--took 6 weeks
The cabin where we stayed
Living room
Our bedroom
Wonderful clawfoot tub
Berlin Falls
Lisbon Falls
One of the hikes we took---notice the view?
At God's Window
Walking through the rainforest
The Pinnacle
Mac Mac Falls--named because so many of the miners were named Mac-something(MacNeil, MacFarland etc). They tried to divert the river and in the process made two falls--hence the name MacMac
