Dear South Africa – What Would It Take for You To Love Me?

Sometimes when you read those comments on Facebook or news sites that sound so negative, you imagine a mean-spirited person, another troll trying to make other people’s lives hell. But if you look closer, sometimes that person loves South Africa as much as you do. Sometimes that person is just hurting so much…

Yesterday an SAPeople follower – who lives in South Africa (and asked to remain anonymous) – wrote a couple of “negative” comments, and after we hid one, she wrote to us privately and said “I have deleted my comments for the respect of the group” and added “some people have experienced the worst of South Africa. Sorry for my bitterness.”

She said: “I truly wish the best for South Africa [but] everything is so difficult right now. There is so much poverty and crime. You feel so helpless.

“I was a proudly South African. But really I wouldn’t say such mean things about South Africa if my heart wasn’t in Africa. Each day brings a new heartache. A new horrifying story. I love South Africa. There is just too much so terribly wrong.

“We are a nation full of heartbreak…”

We asked her to write down her thoughts. Here they are. A love letter to South Africa…

To the place I was born into…

I wish you knew how much you break my heart.
I know you are not good for me.
You are an emotionally abusive partner
That I love so so much,
But hate so so much.

How could you make me fear for my life?
Each and every day
My family, friends, dogs and cats
Get poisoned by you.
It is nothing new!

I have to fear each and every day
That everything I care for will be swiped away.
If you are my love, my partner,
Why are you not protecting and supporting me each and every day?

What am I doing here…
If I did not love you so much my dear?
Am I not trying?
Am I not doing enough?

What would it take
For you to love me
Just as much as I love you?!