Safety In America

My family and I came to America about seven years ago and when we first arrived here, we were convinced that this must be the “safest place on earth”. It is easy to see how we could think this, coming from a very different and hostile environment. My husband and I both grew up in South Africa; we were young adults when our country became known for its political violence and turmoil due to the oppression of people’s rights for many years. We got married and started a family during the uncertain years when Apartheid finally unraveled and came to an end.

Those were years of wondering whether the country would be plunged into a bloodbath and whether our family would be alive the next day or not. Thankfully, none of our worst fears came true, but we kept on leading very uncertain lives. We grew up having burglar bars (iron bars) in front of all our windows and doors, and by the mid nineties you also needed a proper alarm system, a guard dog and, if you could afford it, some electric fencing to protect your family and property.

You could not get any car insurance without installing an alarm system and a steering lock and even then your vehicle had to be locked inside your garage or it would be stolen. We woke up many frightful nights with the alarm going off. A few times my husband caught thieves red handed; these were dreadful times for me, having to scatter to get the firearm out of the safe while frantically calling the police, always not knowing if the thief was armed himself and if we would survive the ordeal. We were lucky, some of our possessions were stolen over the years, but we have loved ones and friends who paid with their health and even their lives.