WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-04-27 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
Vusi Jali still has bullets in his body, a relic of his life of violence, but a recent wilderness encounter has seen him turning his back on crime.
Jali’s transformation could be attributed in part to a non-violent man of books.
Librarian Hector Mgobhozi selected him as a likely candidate to participate in trails being offered by the Wilderness Leadership School in iMfolozi Game Reserve.
Speaking to the Sunday Tribune from his home in Groutville on the North Coast of KwaZulu-Natal, where crime is rampant, Jali, 36, described himself as “an angry man”, one who had not hesitated to do armed robbery or deal in drugs. He spent two-and-a-half years in jail, and was only released on March 17 this year.
Before the trail he had never seen wildlife, and two things in particular stood out for him. One was that the rangers on the trail carried guns only to be used in self defence as a last resort. For Jali, a gun had served only one purpose: to further his criminal activities.
The second was how, on his second morning on the trail, on the banks of the Umfolozi River, he had seen rhino and buffalo drinking.
“They were not aggressive or dangerous. Then I realised that was the same water I was drinking and that they were also God’s creatures,” said Jali. “My heart and mind suddenly changed. I had been looking for life in the wrong direction. God did not create me to kill and do all the wrong things I was doing.”
That was the moment when he began to enjoy his wilderness experience, but this transformation was not sudden. He said in jail he had asked God to change his life. He believes the trail is where that plea was answered.
Bonded
An Alaskan conservationist participating in the trail, Mike McBride, bonded with Jali and the two became so emotional about what they were experiencing, they wept.
Jali said he now avoided his criminal acquaintances and did not drink liquor. “Even if I don’t have money in my pocket, I have been able to change,” he said happily.
According to conservationist Paul Dutton, McBride had been so impressed by the change in Jali, he had offered to pay for two other similarly disadvantaged people to go on the trail.
Dutton said Groutville was at the centre of a host of up-market housing developments mushrooming along the coast. As a crime hotspot, it had the potential to do damage to the tourism trade, with the possibility of hijackings and other violent incidents along the N2 motorway.
Dutton believes if people like Jali can take the message home that there is another way of living, it could make a difference.
He said meeting Jali again after the trail had left him in no doubt as to the life-changing impact that the wilderness trail had on people of any race, religion or creed.
“Vusi might be considered ‘a drop in the ocean’, but gaining some measure of self-esteem will no doubt change his attitude and be infectious to others living in the depressing environment of Groutville without any meaningful work opportunities,” said Dutton, who believes this Wilderness Leadership School initiative needs to be expanded.
“The magic energy of self-esteem can, in the long run, encourage greater effort in expanding skills and therefore enhance greater opportunities for work,” said Dutton.
Renowned conservationist Ian Player feels it is not enough to transform hearts. “We have to find jobs for these people so they don’t return to a life of crime,” he said.
He thinks organisations such as Business Against Crime could find this an ideal way to win hearts and minds.