Posted by:
scmd
(
)
Date: July 14, 2017 07:05AM
Tevai Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> overit Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > So what REALLY gets me angry is that parents
> > (mainly mothers) post gushy facebook statuses
> abou
> > their son/dsughter getting called to dangerous
> > areas for their missions. EG, "So thrilled to
> > announce that our eldest son, nephi has been
> > called to serve in Durban, South Africa!" with
> no
> > concept of the danger that poses to a young
> white
> > guy. Do they really fail to comprehend that it
> is
> > unsafe to drive with the car windows oen, or
> with
> > doors unlocked, that hoe invssion, murder and
> rape
> > is so common place that South Africans are
> leaving
> > in tens of thousands just to live fear free
> lives.
> > But all the mormon mommies are "Oh how
> > wonderful/what a blessing,etc" It makes my
> blood
> > boil!
>
> I have been to South Africa---and while I was
> there I survived two different instances where my
> life was imminently going to be terminated had it
> not been for the very kind and fortuitous
> intervention of two different people on my
> behalf.
>
> I was in Tshwane/Pretoria (in the first instance),
> and on my way to Polokwane/Pietersburg (in the
> second instance), which is a long distance from
> Durban, so I have no experience with anything in
> the Durban/KwaZulu-Natal/Indian Ocean part of the
> country. Nevertheless, what leaps out at me is
> that LDS missionaries probably do not get to
> choose their areas of contact, and therefore they
> are not able to choose "safer" areas in their
> provinces or cities over "less safe," or actually
> positively-known-dangerous, parts. One important
> component of personal safety in South Africa is
> certainly the right and the ability to choose
> one's level of danger---and I am concerned that
> LDS missionaries probably do not have this right.
>
>
> In the first instance above, I THOUGHT I was in a
> totally safe area (in every possible way, it could
> have been a film double for Woodland Hills,
> California, the community in Los Angeles I grew up
> in), but I was just-off-the-plane ignorant and I
> went exploring, not realizing that the "safe as
> home" look and feel of the land didn't necessarily
> convey the warnings I needed of potential
> dangers.
>
> In the second instance above, I was mistaken about
> where the on-ramp to the N1 freeway was, and even
> though I had a detailed street map of what was
> SUPPOSED to be the general area I was in, the area
> I then blundered into (and was then trapped by
> traffic in), was a total BLANK on my street map
> (on the map, it looked like a gigantic swath of
> perhaps agricultural land, rather than a very
> highly-populated community with streets, etc.), so
> I had no idea where I was, or how I could get out
> of the growing-ever-more-serious and incendiary
> situation I suddenly found myself in.
>
> My serious question is whether the LDS
> missionaries who are out-and-about are being given
> proper instructions about where to avoid, and what
> to do if they suddenly realize that their lives
> are in danger. Cutting and spearing implements
> (many improvised) are enormously common, and in
> many areas rape is just as common, and mob
> situations can easily get out hand, most
> especially if there is no sangoma around to
> diffuse the sudden escalation in mob violence. (I
> still thank the woman who saved my life in the
> Pretoria suburb of Lynnwood, and the sangoma who
> saved my life when I blundered into the outlying
> Pretoria-area township.)
>
> Plus, on a purely practical basis: although being
> instructed to keep the car windows up and the
> doors locked are important advisories, even MORE
> important to is to teach the missionaries to
> "Reflex LEFT!!!" (I twice got into dicey,
> potentially catastrophic, situations when I was
> driving, and EACH TIME, despite my knowledge to
> the contrary, I reflexed right---as I had been
> taught to do all of my life, of course---which
> almost resulted in me causing head-on
> collisions!!! I am very grateful to the South
> African drivers who were driving in the opposite
> direction on those occasions, and who were, thanks
> to their driving skills, able to avoid my sudden
> driving idiocies as I careened hard and head-on
> into THEIR lanes.)
>
> A common South African saying is "Get wise!"
>
> If LDS missionaries are in Africa (ANY part of
> Africa) they need to "Get wise!" fast. Their
> lives could, very seriously, depend on it.
This is scary stuff. I've only had three nieces and nephews reach missionary age, and none went. (Two were from wife's side with less LDS influence, and one chose not to delay his education.) As the others approach missionary age, my wife and I have decided that we will covertly attempt bribery [with as much college money as we can afford without jeopardizing the college funds of our own offspring] to dissuade any niece or nephew who is called to what we consider a dangerous location. It's always possible that the kid we attempt to bribe might tell his or her parents, which would cause friction within the family, but I can live with the friction more easily than I can live with something predictable happening to one of our nieces or nephews in the mission field. We will also offer financial assistance to any niece or nephew whose parents make financial support for getting through college contingent upon serving a mission. I hope my siblings and their spouses are not so backwards as to metaphorically twist their kids' arms in such a manner, but I've seen it happen before in the extended family with people I would have sworn were too enlightened to engage in such practices.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2017 07:07AM by scmd.