12:34 pm Tuesday 6th May, 2008

Greetings, I come in peace.

Yes, we all know that line is from The Poltergeist. The title, by the way. 

Now here is the stage that i was talking about a while ago when mentioning the war. They are coming down south here and they came in all guns blazing. The first attack on the town was on the western areas, around the borders of the city. There was a full fight trying to repel the rebels, but they are quite the force.

During the night I could barely sleep, thinking of what was going on in the fight zones, how many people had died for the sole purpose of…well I’m quite unclear of the purpose that the rebels have been fighting for. All night, especially early in the morning i could hear the bombs dropping on the houses, the guns shooting down anyone that stood in their way and if there was the slightest taste of a betrayal, well you’d have to hear it to believe it. Those rebels would stop at nothing, especially themselves to achieve their goals. All of that attacking last night was to probably just to set up base. Soon enough, they’ll get some reinforcements to strike from the east. While the government (damn it) will try and stop them from coming in anymore, they’lll blow us out of our teepee’s. Not really. We have regular houses here.

So why don’t I go to the government (ugh) you ask? I’ll tell you why. Because I’ll get rejected out of there like a NBA player. I could have said something else but I’m just not in the mood for metaphors. Too damn worried if I’ll get bombed or not. Maybe i should just go home, but then I’ll just be giving up, wouldn’t I?

They should be attacking any time soon but they haven’t done anything severe yet. I hope the government don’t get too cocky about their armies and think that the rebels are ‘just a bunch of terrorists with AK-47’s. I can’t hang around here too longer, otherwise Il’l be dead meat. Gotta make my move. Soon. 

12:18 pm Tuesday 6th May, 2008

G’day mateys

I finally found that guy I was talking to (his name is Jake Sherman), which lead to some contact details, which ended up in a very successful information-getting-session. Also known as an interview. I got so much useful information on topics that I wanted the most about her lifestyle, and also things like how she survived it all and how she avoided the rebels. Here’s just a little snippit of the interview of Elizabeth Sherman:

 T: When the rebels came to your village, did they take many P.O.W compared to taking lives?

E: Well, when they came, they just started to throw firebombs at our houses. That got most of the villagers running amuck around outside. After that they took the lives of most of the females and took all of our children away, which they used for child soldiers. Later on, they took all the men and examined them, and if they thought that the man was good enough, they would work for them doing all sorts of dirty jobs. If the men refused to work for them, they would torture them into doing it or just end up killing them after a long period of torture.

I’m not saying that that is great information, which it is terrible to hear anyone who has their lives taken like that, but it gives you a perspective from a first hand source. That information could also be helpful to myself, when I am in a crisis situation like that.

12:05 pm, Tuesday 6th May, 2008

Hello.

Well, remember that guy I was talking about earlier who said he had a daughter living in the areas of the war (I said she was a relative but it turns out to be his daughter). Well she said that most of the fighting has moved off into another area. This man (I really must get his name) also said to me that she was going to move down here with him. I’m not sure thats the best idea I’ve ever heard. She’s been living on a battlefield for several years, and luckily enough she’s survived the worst shes ever going to get, so she moves off into what could possibly be a larger and more violent war zone, down here. This is just my opinion but STAY UP THERE.

I’m going to get me this guy again (not in that way) and try to get a hold of his daughter (again, not in that way) and squeeze out any information that i possibly can get out of her. So long.    

11:28 am, Tuesday 6th May, 2008

Hello all!

Lately i’ve been talking a lot about what the other people in this area around me are talking about, so i thought this would just be about how I’m getting through my life here.

Every day of this life is a struggle to get through some of the more simpler things, but are made more difficult due to my social standing in this community, and also other obstacles that I face like the military, for example are turning a ‘bit’ corrupt and paranoid of my every move. One day, when I was sitting at my home minding my own business, which I am pretty sure that I haven’t broken the law in any way, when two soldiers knock on my door and asked if i had any experiences or participation etc. about  the new ‘gang’ thats apparently being formed in the underground, that are accosiated with the rebels.

To answer princessleia’s* question, ‘why don’t you seem to mind?’, reffering to the wars in South Africa, I don’t really mind that much about the actual fighting itself, but the effect that it is bringing on to all of the surrounding areas that have been affected by it and the deaths that have been bought on by unnecessary killings, which a lot of them do happen.

Also, back to the soldiers who randomly inspected my house for any drugs, guns etc. also told me that the war is going to ‘migrate’ down to Cape Town here, which I have been hearing a lot of street talk about it but I never thought it would happen.

I thought i saw the war being promoted down here, it was on the news and on the papers, that ‘they’ are coming down here. But not everything that you see on the media here is most of the times the government (yes I know, I have mentioned the word ‘government’ a lot, which I’m trying to cut down on reffering to them every second line but I just can’t help it) make these stories up to try and get you either convinced, paranoid or just plain scared of what is going on in this world. I think that they are probably most likely making this story up just to get us to try and…I can’t finish off that sentence with one ending.

So I’m just goin to try and prove it official that the war is moving down south, which if it isn’t, then I just wasted some time.

12:41 pm, Thursday 1st March, 2008 

Howdy, partners!

Yes, I know that does sound a bit like I’m one of those westerners who don’t know the meaning of civilization it is was the best and only I could think of. Apoligies.

So anyway back on the regular topic, I tried to get some more opinions of the people around here and about 90% of them are absoutely useless, 9.99% didn’t speak english, not even knowing what I was talking about and the other .01% just offered me drugs or pulled a weapon on me. But it seemed like a lot more people did that then just .01%…

But there was this (hopefully) useful guy that said he had a relative living in the war areas, so i might be able to squeeze some information out of them when I get to that ’stage’.

I have also seen some small, local papers that are just full of people’s opinions about what is going to happen, how is the country going to be like after the war is finished and all sorts of topics like that. I want to get involved with one of these papers and put my own piece out there but it looks like the place is restricted meaning if i go around that neighborhood I’ll probably get shot.

I’m still trying to get my word out there but I’m just continuing…barely

11:47 am, Thursday 1st May, 2008

Hiya, friends!

Around in  Africa, theres been a lot of civil wars going around with the ‘rebel’ gangs, which raise what they call child soldiers. They do this by going around villages and take the children away from their families from a young age and train them up to be killing machines. Anyway, thats what ive been hearing from some local talk.

 Im not in the danger area from the civil wars here (not immediate anyway). All of the fighting has been happening in other regions of South Africa, more north of here. But my information sources around here are pretty scarce, TV is directly controlled by the government, which the news doesn’t show much about the wars because of the government who don’t want to get the word out of the war much, which if they did, well, lets just say that there will be quite the amount of panic and chaos. But it’s not like no-one’s completely helpless about it. I have seen videos of some protests to try and stop the war, which i will ((or not)please leave me an opinion) maybe put up a video thats not too violent etc.

 Well i guess i should get more opinions on this subject to get a more educated opinion. But some people around here aren’t too trusty. In fact, i’ve been offered drugs a few times…

Oh well i guess I’d better run off now and get more info on this war. Apparently this place isn’t that great of a tourist location as it is a terrorist location. But that’s the local’s talk.

12:52 pm, Tuesday 6th May, 2008 

Hello chums!

Yes thats right, a new greeting for every new post that I make. That’s going to be one of the challenges for this blogger.

So, ive been talking to my neighbors again and guess what. They’re moving out to Madagascar because of a new ‘disturbance’ in the area. Not really. They’re not moving out. But i had you there for a minute. But if they did they’d probably get mauled by a lion or something…

Im still not yet used to their customs on almost everything except for how they eat. I’ll answer that question later.
Man, I must look like a real dumbass in the average South African’s eyes walking down the street, not having a clue on what could happen to me, yet i still want to find out about what’s happening in South Africa. I should have learned a bit more about the country before I tempoarily moved here. Or should I say ‘done my homework’. 

Well, thats the end of this short post. I guess this was kinda adding on to the first one. But remember im only starting to get the hang of this…kinda

12:24 pm, Tuesday 29th April, 2008 

Hi everybody!

My name is Tyler and im an out-of-work journalist on vacation, which i have been trying to work on some stories for the last year, which i have been working in South Africa for the past couple of months. Ive met a few people in these parts of Cape Town.

They say around here that people don’t often get much of a voice or an opinion because of the dictatorship and the civil war between the government and the ‘rebels’.
Thats against human rights and that is what ive been trying to fight for. But in a country like this, no-one can easily get their voice out about their opinions. I have had no luck recently for attempting to publish my own paper but no-one seems to want to help. I probably sound like a wierdo or a suicidal to the South African’s when i say that i want to get my opinion out, most likely because they’re afraid of getting shot by one of the government’s troops. That’s if they don’t get killed by the rebels.

The new way of people seaking out about their opinions is this ‘blogging’ as they call it. They get really excited for the whole ‘internet talking place’ where they can communicate to each other by writing posts about what they’re feeling or what they’re going to do without the fear of being caught by the police.

The people that live in my neighborhood have told me about their point of view aobut the war, which has got me sympathising for them, seeing the war in their eyes. They fear everyday of their lives ‘what’s going to happen next?’ or ‘how are we going to get through today?’. But there are some people who don’t care what’s going to happen to them because of the war, wether it’s someone closely related to them, a friend or even themselves. But the civilians aren’t all in the dark about what is going on with the war.

Anyway, enough about whatever iv’e been talking about…just kidding

But seriously.

Everything around here is done way differently to what we do back at home (Australia)

Anyway, I think thats enough blogging for me for about the next two hours…then ill start to blog again. This is a start.

plz comment xD