I lived in South Africa through what was referred to there either as the Terrorist War or the War of Liberation.
Whether you agree with these names or prefer to call it a civil war, it was a time when bombs were being placed in restaurants, buses, bars, shopping malls, office buildings, train stations and sports stadiums. Our young men were conscripted into service on both sides of the conflict, which lasted for 23 years.
I was a teenager when this war began in 1966. I was at University and I was dating a guy who was very involved with the ANC. We had security police following us all the time. One Sunday night after we’d been to a film festival he asked someone else to take me home. In the morning I heard on the news that three of his friends had been arrested and were being held under the South African version of the Patriot Act and that my boyfriend had fled the country.
During the eighties the attacks accelerated. My kids grew up in the thick of it – it was all they knew. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when conscription ended one year before my oldest son graduated high school.
During this time every building and shopping mall had strict security- similar to what you have at the airports now.
My sister has lived in America since the 70s and on one visit to South Africa we went to a mall and she commented to the security personnel that she had never seen anything like this in America. Their reply? “You must live in a very dangerous place.” They could not conceive of a place where you did not need that level of security.
When I came to the US in 1999 it was a relief and a joy to live in a country with no need for security checks everywhere. And then came 9/11. And it all went back to “normal” for me.
I went to NYC within days and spent two weeks there documenting the work of volunteers, firefighters and rescue workers. I interviewed many people who had been on the scene and some who had missed being there by a quirk of fate.
One interview stands out for me – Frank Fazano. Frank was an EMT in the military and he was on his way to the Trade Center for a meeting that morning, but got caught in traffic. When he heard the news on his car radio he went to help.
It saddens me that America has had to experience the effects of terrorist attacks and things like the Patriot Act, the War of Terror, young Americans going to war and all the after-effects this has had on the country.
But it is still a great country and I am glad I am living here now.
