I’ve seen it in the movies; read articles about it in the paper and heard about it on memorial days, but I’ve never grasped the fear that arises and remains in people who have suffered traumatic experiences in their everyday lives. Possibly because I’ve never experienced it. Real life crime that happens to people all around the world. It’s so foreign to me. I know it happens but I never expected it to happen to us on the race. Maybe I’m ignorant or maybe I’m too trusting in the people around me, but the reality is, it happens; on a day-to-day basis to people around the world and…it’s scary.
This is a firsthand recount of what happened to us, written by a squad mate on that night:
“We had all gone out to dinner for my birthday and all walked back to our house at about 9:45pm. We stayed up talking for a while and were all asleep by about midnight. I suddenly woke from a dead sleep and really felt the Lord’s presence telling me “wake up wake up…think. What’s going on.” I immediately became wide awake. As I was laying there my eyes began to adjust to the dark and I noticed someone crouched down at the end of Rachael’s bed, but Rachael was still sleeping. I stared for a minute convinced it was one of us. I became aware very quickly that this person was aware that I was awake and watching them. They were very still and stared at me the whole time…but I couldn’t make out the face. Suddenly I again felt the Lord urgently saying “THINK.” I bolted upright and said “What are you doing?” At this point it clicked: there was a black man crouched in our room staring at me. At this point, I was the only one awake. He came at me so fast I didn’t have time to move. He stood over top of me and then half straddled/sat on me…attempting to make me be quiet. In that moment it was too much and I let out a blood curdling scream as I struggled to push him off of me. In that moment everyone woke up and started screaming as I ran across the room yelling “GET up there is a man in here!” He attempted to grab my purse but [another squad mate] grabbed it back from him thankfully. He did however get a hold of my wallet which only had 50 rand in it and my credit cards which have been cancelled. The room was utter chaos as he sprinted towards the window. [Another squad mate] jumped up and tried to grab him to see if he had taken anything but his sweatshirt ripped and he got away. The police came and took a statement and AIM people have been notified. It really was the most terrifying thing in my life. Everyone is extremely shaken up and jumpy.”
This incident affected us all and this was the moment when fear crept into our lives. Real genuine fear. I thank God that he kept me asleep during the actual incident because I never saw the man so I’m not as fearful as others. But this was the first time I’ve seen real people being affected by these incidents. Real people experiencing real fear. It was scary.
After the incident, burglary bars were put in place on all our windows.
Despite the incident and the effects it caused, I know God will get us through this and He will not let fear take over our lives. He says in Deuteronomy 31:6, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Praise the Lord that He was present with us during that night and He protected us physically and emotionally. And THANK YOU for those of you who continue to pray for us daily. I totally believe your prayers protected us that night so thank you, and please continue to keep us in your prayers for the rest of the race. We appreciate you a lot!
