vlak by 'n modderpoel
in die die bosse langs
Schipolweg
Delft
7100
Kaapstad
8000
15 Augustus 2005

Liefste Kim

Hoe gaan dit met jou?
Ek hoop jy is veel meer gelukkiger waar jy jouself nou bevind. Dis tog jou ouma wat gesê het dat die Here jou lyding kom wegvat het. Ek hoop dis waar wat sy sê en jy is die pyn van die lewe gespaar, my kind. Maar ek is seker jy vra ook vandag hoekom. En tog wonder ek wat jy dink nou dat jy nie meer hier is nie. Nou dat jy nie meer die pyn voel nie. Ek wonder of jy ons sal vertel, wie dit was wat jou lewe uitgeblus het? Of was jou lewe miskien lank al reeds uitgeblus? Wie weet.

Die maan het jou siel kom haal by 'n poeletjie water. En so het hulle jou die volgende môre gevind. Lewensloos. Nie vêr van jou ouers en ouma se huis nie. In Delft op die Kaapse Vlakte, waar geluk en pyn so na aan mekaar lewe. Dag na nag en somtyds altyd nag. Niemand het jou hoor skreeu nie. Of miskien het hulle gehoor en net gemaak of dit 'n hond was wat kla. Honde loop mos die hele plek vol en soek na iets om te eet, want hulle is altyd honger. En hulle staar altyd na jou met sulke gelukkige-sad ogies. Amper soos 'n honger kind. Maar die is 'n ander soort honger wat jou verteer het.

Ek weet nie of jy gehoor het nie, maar hulle het glo iemand inhegtenis geneem, wat klaarblyklik verantwoordelik is vir jou moord. Hulle kan nog steeds nie sê of jy ook verkrag is nie. Ek wonder of dit die daad minder grusaam sal maak in hulle oë? Dis snaaks hoe die onskuldiges soms uit die vlees moet gaan, voordat die om hulle, hul lewenswyse verander en dan eers luister na die pleidooi van die kinders. Maar ek het nou genoeg gepraat. Ek dink ek sal weer vir jou skryf. Maar ek weet in jou onskuld sal jy rustigheid vind, al is jy so wreed vermoor. Jy sal bly glimlag, soos jy nou elke dag in die koerante verskyn.
Jy is maar altyd 'n lady.

Met vriendelike groete en deurnis

George A. Hill

Copyright * 2005 George A Hill. All rights reserved.

----TRANSLATION----

letter to kim


close to a pool of mud
in the bushes next to
Schipol Way
Delft
7100
Cape Town
8000
15 August 2005

Dearest Kim

How are you doing?

I hope you are much happier where you are now. After all your grandma said the Lord came to take you away from this suffering. I hope there is truth
in what she says and that you have been spared this pain, my child. But I am certain that today you ask why? And I cannot help but wonder what you are thinking now that you are not here anymore. Now that you feel pain no more. I wonder if you will tell us who took your life away? Or maybe your life had ended a long time ago. Who knows?

The moon came and fetched your soul at that pool of water. And so they found you the morning after. Lifeless. Not far from your mother and grandmother's house. In Delft on the Cape Flats. Happiness and pain live so close together here. Day after day and sometimes always night.
No one heard your screams. Or maybe they heard, but made as if it was only a dog howling. Here dogs walk all over in search of food, cause they are always hungry. And they always stare at you with happy-sad eyes. Almost like a hungry child. Only this is another sort of hunger that consumed you.

I don't know if you heard, but they arrested someone who is supposedly responsible for your murder. They still can't say whether you had been raped or sodomised as well. I wonder if it will make the act less gruesome in their eyes?

Funny how the innocent must first suffer before we act. Enough said.
I will write again. I know that in your innocence you will find peace eventhough your left this earth violently. You will always smile, like you do on the pages of the newspapers most everyday.

You will always be the lady your grandmother so fondly talks off.

Sincerely,

George A. Hill

Copyright * 2005 George A Hill. All rights reserved.

(kim was only six when she was raped and murdered)

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