A Long Walk Home

Before arriving at the house for the World Cup, I stayed in a part of Johannesburg called Auckland Park, just on the border of an area called Melville, known for being the artsy/bohemian part of town and is the location of 7th Ave (from the hit South African soap "7 de Laan"), which holds several nice restaurants and bars. In order to avoid going out every night for dinner, the first day I arrived at the Auckland Park guesthouse I went to the grocery store to buy food. My plan was to utilize the kitchen in the house rather than walk around at night and spend money at restaurants.

After turning down several offers to go eat out for dinner, I was asked by a guy at my house to head over to 7th Ave to get some dinner because he hadn't been there yet and wanted to see what it was like (as did I). I said no at first, but then I changed my mind, because I had heard so many things about the area and I did want to go check it out. So, Simon and I headed off for 7th Ave to get some dinner. We ate at a really nice and posh restaurant, called Melon, and then decided to check out a few bars. We went to one called Six and then ended with a Mozambican one called Xai-Xai. Around 1am and after talking to the bartender a bit, we decided to head home and asked the him what he thought about us walking back...a walk of about 5 minutes. He said it would be ok, but offered to escort us home. We agreed, and I thought with a local guy we would have some extra security.

We headed out of the bar and down the street toward our house. We followed the bartender's lead as he crossed the road several times and continued to look behind us to check for potential followers. As we got to our street and started to turn the corner, I looked up to see 3 guys standing outside of a parked car (with 1 or 2 others in it). They saw us and immediately and briskly began to approach us. At this point, our escort completely disappeared, never to be seen again, and it sort of became every man for himself. I quickly sensed danger and my first instinct (as it has been before) was to run. So, I sprinted toward my house, around the group of guys, but as I ran and was being chased by one guy, I looked ahead and saw a very dark street and was not 100% sure that it was the right one, especially since I didn't see the guard in the street who patrols the front of my house. So I made the decision to turn around and head back toward the lit, and more traffic-heavy, street but doing so forced me to dodge around the guy who was chasing my and back toward the other guys and their car. I basically ran into a different guy, and having no idea if they were armed and also what measures they would go to, I stopped running and surrendered. I put my hands up to show my position and two guys quickly approached me and began to dig through my pockets. They took my phone, my wallet (which only had about $20 in it), my ring and they ripped my necklace off of my neck. While the guy who took my wallet was asking "How much? How much?" wanting to know how much money he was stealing, the second one was feeling my keys in my pocket and repeatedly asked what they were. I pleaded for him not to take them, saying, "No, those are just my house keys!!! Please, no!" Fortunately, they left the keys with me, and quickly got in their car and left. Through the whole thing, I was feeling very scared, but they were almost just as scared and frantic as I was, knowing they were committing a crime and maybe afraid they were going to get caught.

After the guys drove away, I went and found my friend, Simon, who was face down on the sidewalk around the corner on the more lit street toward which I attempted to run. I helped him up, and he was bloodied on his hands, elbows, and knees from being pushed on the cement. He had his wallet (cash, ID, plus 3 credit cards) and his keys, so that really sucked. We sort of jogged back to our house, and were able to get back in with my keys. We woke Trish, the owner, up so Simon could get back into his room, and we went to the kitchen to clean up Simon's wounds. He also had to make a call to cancel his cards.

I wasn't too shaken up about it...mostly just pissed off at myself and the whole situation. Simon was pretty upset about it and started tearing up a bit. I felt bad for him, because he was physically hurt, but I am just grateful it didn't turn out any worse. Thieves in Joburg shoot people for anything from a diamond ring to a cell phone, so I am very fortunate they didn't' have (or at least use) any weapons. I am very nervous for all of the visitors coming for the World Cup. It could turn out very bad for South Africa, but I'm still optimistic that people's experiences here will be positive and they'll want to return.