Sunday, May 27, 2007

How Safe is Safe?

So my blogging stopped as suddenly as it restarted..lol; had something to do, i imagine, with the fact that i had cable tv and internet installed that very week. The phone people (cable and wutless??) originally told me 20 days to installation, when i checked back two weeks later they told me another 5 weeks...i however got a voip phone (for international calls) installed the very same day i applied....not from c&w.


Anyway, if you don't know by now, i have moved house. This should be my final move for a loooong time, as i am in the process of purchasing the apartment into which i moved. This apartment is very centrally located yet quiet and homey. There are automatic gates that need either a code or a little device to open, and although there are no security guards, i think we all felt pretty safe. Well i sure did, though the few apartments that had signs indicating that they were further protected by a private security firm did give me cause to wonder in the early days. Well that feeling of security was certainly shattered in the wee hours of Saturday morning, when the quiet of the night was interrupted by repeated screams.


I had awoken about 30 minutes before the commotion started and had made my way into my bedroom, getting up from in front of the tv...i fall asleep in my settee almost every night!  I was actually not feeling very sleepy and had gotten up to use the bathroom when I heard what I thought was a child crying. It turned out that it was a young lady who had awoken to find an intruder in her apartment, whose purpose it seemed was to rape her. Thank god her fighting and screaming drove him to run away even before neighbours could react. I am hoping here, that eventually they would have reacted. Of course I also could not get back to sleep; by time the police and security firm left it was about 4:30 am. I tried to go to sleep, but every time i would doze, something would wake me and i would jump up, adrenaline pumping...i think i finally got to sleep at about 7 am (it was bright and sunny then) and i still had to lock my bedroom door before i could feel comfortable enough to sleep!!

This incident drives home the fact that you always have to be smart about your personal security, even if you are in the 'safe haven' of your home. In places i have lived previously, i would for instance try to get home a dawn when i think it would be safer than in the early morning when it is still dark out. At this complex however, that fear was no longer with me and i happily head home at 4 am after a night of uhhhhhmmmmmm relaxation...but now I must ask myself 'how safe am I really?' and know that no matter what time it is, I have to keep an eye out for any danger that may be lurking.


I give thanks still that i have never been robbed or attacked (does this count?) *knocking on wood*


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12 comments:

Enchantress said...

I'm glad the young lady is okay...as well as you. I think the number one thing is personal security. Never let your guard down and come/go when it's "safer" as you previously did.

Over here there are several apartment complexes with gates, but those complexes seem to have the most crime. People leave the walk-through gate open allowing others who do not live in the community to enter and when the main gates are broken they are not always fixed promptly. So, all in all I guess we cannot depend on others to protect us...criminals always figure out how to manipulate the "system".

Stay safe Kara!

Yamfoot said...

oh dear. Sorry to hear that.

Did the lady not have burglar bars? An essential for anyone who lives in Jamaica in my opinion.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Kara - Jamaican Woman said...

post ur crap elsewhere

Mad Bull said...

You know, I went thru a very similar experience when living in an apartment complex near to Queens High School. It would seem like all was safe and hunky dory, but then they started breaking into cars and stealing radios, then they shot and killed the security guard, then they robbed and beat a person living there, (though he was gay and we all assumend it was more of a lover's spat) and then they came into the complex at gunpoint and stole a motorbike... then I moved, thank God. Read about the security guard here...

Anonymous said...

Hmmpfh. I had to read smaddy else blag fi find out sey yuh own property.

Thanks for telling me. LOL.

Anonymous said...

Oh, regarding the post...LOL...I came so quick to come cuss yuh that I didn't even realize that mi neva respond to the post...

I have to say as a single woman, that has been the most terrifying experience of my life. To this day I haven't moved back into another apartment building, and I can't live in an apartment with fire escapes unless there is grill on the window, which defeats the purpose. One morning at 2 a.m. I heard someone on my fire escape and then saw my bedroom window go up. I started screaming so loudly I woke up the entire building which scared the intruder away. Thank God I'm not a heavy sleeper....thank God the lady is ok. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

Kara - Jamaican Woman said...

SE...i really hope that name isnt as a result of anything i did...LOL

and thanks mad bull...way to make me feel safe...hmmmmmph

owen said...

are you really safe anywhere? I'm sure some of the safeest people find a way to hurt or injured. To answer your question to safe would be having a less than 30% chance of something bad happening to you at any one point

Unknown said...

It is tuff being safe in jamaica or is it the world .... you just keep safe ok... btw i am tagging you and pleez blame MB for this ok... go to this link for instructions http://hecklefind.wordpress.com/2007/06/19/8-random-thing-about-me/ hope you enjoy

Anonymous said...

Every where I've lived since being on my own has 'security' at the gate and/or automatic gate. I find when you have those things,it sometimes lull you into a false sense of safety.

Nickiesha said...

an people ask if mi live inna prison. LOL. me wi stay behind my bagga grill dem! although dem never stop "Mr. Canada" from barge rite een...ROFL