Progress Report

Now that we have more details about what exactly happened in Johannesburg last week, we would like to communicate this to you in order to set the record straight and avoid any conflicting rumors. Piet and Pita were in South Africa for a medical operation. The robbery occurred during the day, a couple of hours after they arrived in Johannesburg on the 16th of November. They rented a car at the airp...ort and went to a bank to get some money. They then drove to a guesthouse close to Sunninghill hospital - where Pita would be operated on - in the affluent Johannesburg suburb of Stanton. However, when they entered the guest house parking lot, a man walked in through the gate. Pita got out of the car and headed towards the guesthouse lobby as Piet finished parking. The man walked up to Pita, pulled out a gun, placed it against her head and told her to give him the bag she was carrying which contained their money and other important valuables. When she hesitated and refused (not realizing how serious the situation was) he shot her. The bullet went through the front side of her forehead. While the bullet missed her brain and exited the skull again, the hole in her head started bleeding profusely. When Piet heard the shot he jumped out of the car and attacked the robber who had grabbed Pita’s bag and bracelet as she lay on the ground. The robber fired his gun at Piet’s leg (though the bullet missed) and during the scuffle the man dropped the bag and ran out of the parking lot. However another robber then appeared. Piet attacked this man as well but when he heard Pita crying and saw her lying on the ground, he ran back to help Pita and the robber ran away with their valuables. Pita was conscious but bleeding heavily. They managed to walk to the lobby where they asked the staff (who were shocked and scared) to get a towel (to stem the bleeding) and call an ambulance. The ambulance and the police arrived about 10 - 15 minutes later. Piet and Pita were then taken to Sunninghill hospital and she was rushed into intensive care. The doctors quickly stemmed the bleeding and gave her new blood - which probably saved her life because she lost about 4 liters of blood. Meanwhile the police interviewed Piet. They told him that this was the 5th robbery in Stanton that week, and they suspected that the robbers had followed them from the bank. The next morning Pita was operated on. The doctors successfully removed splinters of bone from inside her head and patched up the entrance and exit wound to her skull. The police have, so far, been unable to apprehend the culprits or retrieve their stolen valuables. However Pita survived and she is now recovering well - and that is what is most important. As they say in Uganda: God is good, all of the time!

Have just copied this report from Facebook which Arnout keeps updating. It will tell you all what we know. Keep praying as they are both very traumatised as you can imagine.