Xenophobia

It means fear of foreigners, and it's quite a big deal around South Africa as of late. South Africans are feeling like the Zimbabweans, Mozambicans, Malawians, Zambians, Somalians, Swazis, Ethiopians, etc are stealing jobs and are causing crimes. So, throughout various townships, there are people going door-to-door and attacking anybody who is not a South African. This violence is not affecting white non-South Africans as the violence is isolated to the townships and black African immigrants are being attacked, robbed, and even killed simply for moving to a new country to try to better their lives. I'm really at a loss for words. I'm devastated and I'm heartbroken for what's going on. We have developed a number of relationships with "foreigners" whose lives are now in danger. One good friend of mine had three people killed on his street before he was able to flee to safety with his family. Please join us in praying for understanding and compassion to sweep across this country and that these senseless acts of violence would come to an end. I want to reiterate - we are not in any danger, but a number of our friends are. Please pray.

Here's a broad overview of what's happening, and if you poke around here, you'll find a number of articles. This site is providing updated news headlines in real time.