I am up rather late this evening as I am taking a day's leave tomorrow and escaping to the countryside for two days. The economic recession has really cut into everyone's budgets and a two day holiday will be quite satisfactory after all. I am worked like a beaver all week on unfinished projects and am now twice as exhausted as normal. It always ends up huge mission to leave home, but this time tomorrow I'll probably (hopefully) be completely relaxed and able to ponder on the year so far.

The time has flown so quickly that the sun is shifting back into our hemisphere and it always seems that once we reach the halfway mark that the rest of the year is downhill.

I wanted to report this terrible episode in our neighbourood that has upset my children this evening. I will first put a little background perspective to the story:

There is a lot of unrest in my country caused by a lack of resources and a terrible lag in wages and salaries against inflation. Our preparations for the 2010 World Soccer Cup are being delayed by striking workers demanding a 15% wage increase. The magnificent projects beginning to take shape are as a result of team work that extends to everyone who has a hand in the assembly - from the designers to the labourers. I imagine the hardest jobs are the hands on actual construction teams, who will after all the building is completed will no doubt be laid off. There are huge expectations of the profits that will result from the actual event. Sadly however, these common people will simply go home back to poverty and strife. I am so for them being given the increase in the light of the incredible gain from such a huge publicity stunt that will be viewed by once again billions of people worldwide.

Just this evening there was an incident of unrest in our neighbourhood. We had only earlier being watching the news on television where a demonstrator was forcibly removed from his taxi by police for obstructing the roadway and held by the throat and legs and thrown into a police van. My children and I discussed the various almost racist and brutal behaviour meted out by people in authority. It was for this reason that the teacher who molested my daughter so severely ran away from justice. I too believed that two wrongs do not make a right and I did not want his persecution in jail on our hands. I wished that he could have had a good hiding, but not by thugs who would have in fact inflicted HIV and all kinds of living hell on him. I knew we had to turn the other cheek even though we were traumatised by our broken child at his hands.

My kids related various incidents of brutality that they had seen or heard of in the past and we all agreed that this country was still evolving as far as Human Rights are concerned.

Then a bizarre event unfolded after they had left to go to a local club to socialise with their friends. We heard sirens blaring and our neighbourhood watch radio calling for assistance. We suspected some unrest over issues such as housing shortages and wage demands. I was concerned about the children being out, but we knew the noise was from the opposite side of the neighbourhood. Not so, the children and their friend had received a distress call from the friend's family that the crowd of demonstrators had dispersed right into the grounds of their communal residence. They rushed over to see if they could help. It turns out that the neighbourhood wattch had caught the intruders and tied them up on the ground. They then removed their shoes and threw cold water on their ankles. They were then shocking them with tazers repeatedly. Their blood curdling screams to call the police spurred on their abusers. My children and the youngsters gathered around were yelling and taking photos of the adult people behaving so badly, and the adults were retaliating that they should delete the photos. My own son said he was so hyped up that he screamed at the police when they arrived that he had never seen something so wrong in his whole life. The police took over the situation and were very angry with the neighbourhood watch. They would have a lot of explaining to do.

I am so sorry for the victims of this type of abuse. All the while this was going on my daughter was sitting in the house of her friend - and his father was plying her with red wine. She came home bemused by the events of the evening and totally traumatised by the screams of these men persecuted for making a stand about their grievances. My son was in a state of shock and anger.

I am awed at the irony of this story. My daughter was repeatedly abused by someone who should have protected her. We could do nothing to ease her pain, except heal her through therapy and the passage of time. Yet here were grown men who could see their adversary as unarmed hungry men cowering on the ground. They could not restrain themselves from punishing them for trespassing.

I know they saw these intruders as a threat. But we cannot see the real evil that walks among us. I am aware that this anger and torment meted out to the men tonight was referred anger from past transgressions we all suffered at one time or another. The angels among us constantly call for restraint.

What we see and what we perceive are not always correct. I am proud of my son for his actions tonight. The father who gave my daughter red wine and cold water to the captives had no idea of how to protect his family.

The evil among us is not so transparent. There will be repercussions tonight, for once again the youth will speak up. They are our future and the lessons some so called responsible adults are teaching are about how not to behave.

The children are our future. They are learning fast. I am hoping that this is one lesson they will never forget.

Nothing goes unseen.

Take care,

Eve