British family reunion barbecue in South Africa turns into bloodbath

Retired David Thomas, 67, wife Brenda, 61, and close friend Shaun Vorster, 51, were tackled to the ground and tied up as victim Heila Kilian, 63, died before them from a single shot.

A Brit has described the harrowing moment a family reunion barbecue turned into a bloodbath when five armed men attacked his South African home and shot his sister-in-law through the heart.

Retired David Thomas, 67, wife Brenda, 61, and close friend Shaun Vorster, 51, were tackled to the ground and tied up as Brenda’s sister Heila Kilian, 63, died before them from a single shot.

Despite the horrific scene, devout Christian Brenda told their attackers that God still loved them – quoting scripture with a knife to her throat.

The group was enjoying a barbecue at 10pm in the back garden of their Questus Lighthouse home near Stilbaai, in the Western Cape when suddenly the men in masks and boiler suits pounced.

Father-of-two David was dragged into the darkness, had his head smashe

South African ‘Braai’…as Explained by a Foreigner

Previously, I mentioned several unique things South Africans do that I got to observe in the time spent living in this country (away from my homeland, The Netherlands).

Recently, I saw some people walking barefoot in the local supermarket. This phenomenon comes along quite often, and my initial reaction was to offer assistance. “Did someone take your shoes?”, I asked.

Unimpressed, the girls mentioned no help was needed, and explained to me that this was their way to stay connected with the earth. Later in the queue, one of them was definitely connected with a slice of ham, some used dental floss and a cash receipt.

I forgot to mention the braai as a specific subject, as I feel this deserves a dedicated article in itself. A braai, or braaing, derives from the Dutch word ‘braden’, which means roasting.

Some might argue that a braai these days is considered more of a social event, which also just happens to involve the roasting/grilling of meat on an o

Jislaaik, check these lekker Afrikaans words foreigners should know…

Thanks to SAFFA’s (South Africans abroad), there are a lot of Pommies, Greeks, Aussies and various other nationalities who know what “jislaaik” and a ‘braai‘ or “boerewors” and “biltong” is …but when they visit our shores they don’t know the more important words…like babelaas, bakkie and tekkies!

And so they travel around South Africa in a dwaal,  unaware that when you told them to turn left at the robot you meant traffic light. So they pitch up verrrry late and you want to give them a moerseklap. But wag ‘n bietjie and show them this brilliant graphic from Traveller24 with, as they say, “some of the Afrikaansist Afrikaans words out there, to sink your teeth into.”

24 Afrikaans Words Demystified… according to Traveller24, some might disagree…

South Africa is full of interesting people and places. But as with any tourist visiting a foreign plac