En route (Xenophobia Experience)

by Ubong-abasi Okoro (Nigeria)

I didn't expect to find South Africa

My last experience of a Xenophobic attack was has a result of ignorance. I and my team went to a tour rendezvous in the cozy city of Johannesburg. The tour was scheduled to take a minimum of two weeks, but due to the happenings in the city, we were lured to stay almost a month. Prior to the travel, which took us all the way from Lagos, Nigeria, we were not properly sensitized by our receiver. The last thing we knew or heard about South Africa was that of political apartheid which we thought was by far extinct. On getting to Sun City which was our arrival point and take off port to the city, our receiver who was our business associate wholly harbored us in his four-bedroom apartment. He was conscious not to speak anything that would make us change our minds, and I was skeptical about his countenance towards us. Though we were four in number, I still felt insecure about staying around others. Before we departed to Johannesburg for the main business, we had heard a series of stories about hate speech and nepotism, but our receiver kept altering the stories, stressing that they were mere rumors. Even though they sounded true, we still believe him, because he was a permanent resident in the city and he would know a lot of things happening in the country. While on the way, he showed us a lot of tourist attractions which I thought was second to none to the ones in Nigeria, but something was still smelling fishy... The city was inhabited by more whites than blacks, which baffled me greatly...I knew the whites-only reside in big and developed cities in the country. On getting to Johannesburg, we stayed in a hotel that night and our receiver footed our meal bills. During the night, we heard the news about xenophobia, hate speech, and nepotism in the country. The newscaster further stressed that all black inhabitants or hotel boarders MUST vacate or relocate to the rural cities, that the would-be an outbreak of xenophobic attacks the following week. Everyone in the room except our business associate froze, he was indifferent and we became suspicious of him. The challenge was that we wouldn't continue with the rendezvous and we couldn't vacate the hotel that night...Even if we vacate, who would lead us to a rural city? The next morning, the news was noised abroad of black houses and hotels burned down..People were attacked and killed at intervals...I became more scared when we took off in a taxi along with the city, and we encountered places been burned before our very eyes...I didn't expect to find this in the tour rendezvous. it was a heart-rending experience.