At long last.. after eight agonising years of loss and certain disdain.. there happened a little miracle.
Some may not realise the significance of this delightful incident which took place on June 6th 2016..
After being trashed into jail without knowing how or why the fabulous manipulations were set into place just for a simple chap like me.
A devoted husband and father working thousands of miles away from home, months at a time under terrifying and dangerous conditions.
This all for the benefit of those alone back home, and a chance of future economic stability.
I missed being with them so badly while i was away so long and found that on my brief leaves back home, I had become more of a stranger and a disturbance to the daily routines than a member of the group.
It was heartbreaking for me to see, but there was no immediate alternative and i kept my head down and excelled at my work further .
Saying anything made no difference, and i found one day i had been booked to see a psychiatrist for assessment.
My son and wife waited for me so gallantly, but my visits became more of a hinderance than a pleasure.
The two of them became very independent as there was more than sufficient money to make up for my absence.
And .. they were very busy all the time..
Contentedly they spent months alone in a silent house with no dad on the couch. No one to wash the dogs or service the cars.
No braai on a saturday . No rugby supporter.. or role model to emulate.
Well as you may gave guessed.. my stay away was extended rather unexpectedly.. with my roughshod arrest and ludicrous conviction by a kangaroo legal system in the arab spring.
Snatched out of the mainstream and thrown into jail and interrogated under extreme duress without anyone knowing where i was.
For nearly a week i was kidnapped and tormented by the manipulators of this crime.. and led to believe a whole sequence of deviated events.
Made to sign bogus statements in arabic under great duress.
Held under the most appalling conditions, I suffered such humiliation and cruelty as I longed to explain what had happened to me... to my dear wife and child back home.
No such opportunity was afforded and my seat flew empty back home to south africa where my wife and child waited days long at arrivals for me.
What a shock two weeks later to hear via the grapevine, that i had been arrested in kuwait with hashish in my cargo.
What a lot of mumbo jumbo and not possible by any manner of means..
The shock and humiliation they had to endure was unbearable..
I was muzzled and shut away out of contact with anyone in order that i did not figure out , or determine in any way, what had happened or what had caused this comedy of errors.
Days.. weeks.. months... suffering.. shame... heartrending distress... i languished in a pit of snakes and vermin criminals.
To cut a boring story more towards the point i originally was so delighted to share with you...
My son at home grew up without me for eight of his most formative years.
He managed well considering the most miserable humiliation he had to endure as the whispers of my predicament grew to a cresendo.
At school and all round the neighbourhoods..
Bravely my wife and 9yr old son waited in hope every day, with rumours that i would soon be pardoned.. released and exonerated.
My court appearances were an absolute fiasco....all in arabic..
witnessed by British FCO embassy representatives. David Curtis.
Nothing was said, and i was advised to stay quiet. Behave and be patient.. i was sure to be granted a reprieve soon.
Five years of waiting alone at home.. my dear ones finally gave up all hope for my release.
My wife had taken advice from a junior school teacher councellor that all contact with the child and father must cease.
To adapt to a life with no mention of me at any time.
The child became completely cloistered even as his uncle requested to see him at school.
No contact.
I begged over and over for a mobile number and his email.
All to a flat and categoric refusal.
And then one day, out the blue, a month before my mother died of a broken heart...by special diplomatic delivery ...a court document for my divorce arrived.
There were numerous demands for fair distribution of my assets which i happily signed over.. and more.
I gave them all i had worked for my whole life.. willingly .
Still the boy remained shut away and was obsessively shaperoned every minute of the day.
I missed him so badly and heard brief reports of his numerous talents...academic and sporting successes.
All credit to my as "widowed", ex wife.
She managed her "project"... from cradle to matric.. so far A+
But here i sat.. excommunicated and muzzled.. until i managed to get a tiny phone connected to the internet.
I wrote numerous letters to my mother .. my father and a few dear friends who had written to me.
I wrote most importantly to my son expressing my love and requesting a simple response.
None of those letters ever found him.
My wife read them all, and tore them up.
Dear friends that visited me here hand delivered letters to the doorstep but to no avail.
Even the headmaster imposed an iron curtain on me , never replying to any of my mails and refusing entry of my brother.
Eight years it took as someone somewhere.. i suspect one of his more sensible schoolmates .? Convinced him to reply to me.
Finally he linked with me on facebook... acknowledging that he had no good reason not to reply and that i should have no hard feelings.
Well.. i was so stunned and elated..and I pored over every word, savouring its nuance and seeing his face writing that.. wondering what was going through his mind ?
I had to weigh up my response carefully and after a long while thinking... I replied briefly of my great relief.. and that we would have plenty of time now .. to catch up.
What a great step forward this has been after all these silent years.
How many of my dear caring friends have known of this but have been too afraid to confront my now ex wife.
Still i love her.. and hold no grudge.
A terrible burden she carried alone
A rage... a reprisal or a reason to judge
My errors.. my heart.. never back home.
My dear son .. my absolute delight
My reason for living
Now blessed with new insight
Ive missed years of giving
Im so tired now .. no more fight
Still i love them both so much...
Dont think ill ever be right
But at least theres a flame now burning bright.
My boy now connected...the end is in sight.
Thank you my caring friends for following my plight.
My duty now to return to you all the great things youve done
And to include you all in this story a happy ending and then some
We are going to have a party with no expense spared.
Right through the night till the rising sun.
My tears of joy and my heart once again bared.
All this for you.. Michael.my son.
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