Kritiek Aster — Décorum (23 September 2013)
What a terrible lie: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
Olivetti 45 — This Astertjie was stressing her wedge heels off when the tweets came through warning about a hostage and/ or shooting situation at Westgate “Mall”.
Just seconds ago I spoke to a student friend who told me her friend saw “things” at Westgate Shopping Centre and believes there’s a shooting happening.
Now I’m worried. As a journalist, it is my job and my thrill to go cover merciless accidents, heavy heist aftermath and informal settlement riots … but a hostage situation? Would I go?
I scoured twitter to see whether I read correctly. Go to the external links, Astertjie. Now… Brace yourself.
Phew!
Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, is under siege, you stupid girl, not Westgate Shopping Centre in Roodepoort. Not your area. But what about that shooting? The metro spokesperson doesn’t know anything when you call for information, so you move on.
Sometimes my job can be more merciless than the terrible accident scenes I’ve photographed… I went about my Saturday and Sunday (my weekend to work, we take turns) covering a local pet store protest and attending some skyfskiet thing. I didn’t give it a second thought until Monday morning’s The Star headlines: Terror in Kenya mall.
My heart nearly came to a standstill. Stupid, consumer-driven uninvolved unsympathetic me didn’t even bother to learn that a 6-months-pregnant journalist got shot in the mayhem. That could’ve been me. Ghanaian poet and statesman Kofi Awoonor succumbed to the siege, his son wounded. That could’ve been Meerkat. A South African journalist helped a severely shocked woman to a car that drove her off to hospital, never learning her name. That could’ve been Jeanou.
What if my team were there? What if that siege was here?
I can only hope that the Kenyan government gets the situation resolved soon – and that those terrorists are prosecuted for their inhumane deeds. Kenyan civilians and tourists have nothing to do with your war, people. They have no information, so move on.
My deepest admiration goes to journalist Tom Kirkwood for helping that woman. I hope you learn her name. I hope she learns yours.
I hope my middle class, mediocre fears are overcome so I can become one of the great ones. What a lie it really is, Owen: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
