Letter from the Publisher

10/...		.../IFP
I have had a long, reproachful letter from an American academic. "Yours is a very serious, very respected, publication of importance to those concerned with international affairs. It diverts when, suddenly, at the back you are confronted with details of distressed Afrikaner kiddies and the problems of penniless old age pensioners. This is indeed a worthy cause, but not in a newsletter addressed to an international audience. Leave the work to others, more suitably equipped for the job." I am not surprised. It is by no means the first such complaint that I have had. My problem is that when you become involved in such a project, it is virtually impossible to become uninvolved. Further, I am only too conscious of the fear, desperation and anguish gripping so many White families in SA today: and which, with this month’s huge hikes in interest rates, are destined to become immeasurably worse. Day in, day out, we encounter the most heartbreaking cases. One that came up this month concerned an 82-year old widow and her disabled son, living in a very depressed area and surviving on State handouts and charitable gifts of food and clothing. Both had been ill since March with this horrible "boomerang" flu and, because of the cost of medicines and other items, had not kept up their burial society payments. A week or two ago, the old lady died. Her minister got in touch with the insurance group, to be told that the policy had lapsed because of non-payment. How much was outstanding? R250. Hennie Kok and I said we would pay that. No go. For reasons I still don’t understand, a further R1 800 was now required to pay for the burial: at R7 000, including the cost of the grave site, among the cheapest available.		Imagine the fear and grief of the son, left alone, incapacitated, poverty stricken and faced with a bill, for him, of inconceivable proportions. That’s why Hennie and I carry on with this sad task: because we can do a little to relieve such extreme human misery and confusion. This month I must thank Pastor D J Carter of the Immanuel Church, Randburg, for another R500 deposited to the account of Mission Rescue. Mr Carter and his congregation have been truly noble friends. I must also thank all those kind folk who have given us donations, swamped us with blankets and warm clothing. If I have not written letters of thanks to all, please forgive me. Again this issue of APN required massive rewriting. Now I am enabled to make a quite incredible offer to someone in a specialist field. A Cape Town friend, a bookseller who has now left SA, has sent me a brand new set of Encyclopaedia Britannica, still untouched in their three unopened packing cases. He says I can offer these for sale at R7 000: and, on a successful sale, I can keep R3 500 for Mission Rescue. I understand that retail this set costs more than R11 000, with the price destined to soar still further with the collapse of the rand. Anyone interested should please phone me. PS. I have had a lot of problems with my fax. I now particularly appeal to the writer of a letter about the Anglo/Boer War. Only the last sheet of his material came through; and he did not sign the letter. I need this material urgently, so if he reads this, would he please phone me at once. Download this article
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