The Daily Maverick visits a white, Christian family who moved into the centre of white fear: Hillbrow in downtown Johannesburg. JESSICA EATON finds out why. (Photos by THAPELO LEKGOWA)
The father of the family says:Nigel takes me out to the balcony overlooking Kapteijn Street and points at all the people he knows. “The best way to keep safe around here is to know as many people as you can. If you know people, they won’t hurt you.”
This is the philosophy Nigel has adopted after being held up at gunpoint for his cellphone a few minutes from the apartment in their first week in Hillbrow. “After that, I gathered a bunch of people together and we went to the corner where it happened and we prayed. We prayed that my heart would stay soft, that the community would stay safe and that God would rescue the guy from his sin.” That night, “we went and bought as many fish and chips as we could and handed them out and we just sowed love where there had been violence”, he said.
Hope in Hillbrow: ‘If Jesus lived anywhere, it would be here’ | Daily Maverick
The previously lived in a safer neighbourhood but decided to move into a less luxurious home and to live as humble as possible.
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