South Africans reel in horror at the news of an outbreak of a rat virus in the infamous Pollsmoor prison in Cape Town, South Africa. I feel buckets of empathy for the prisoners, as I have for many years. What was out of sight, was out of mind though. The conditions have been known to be appalling for decades. Certainly, the abysmal environment hasn’t been inducive to rehabilitation of the prisoners. In a nation, damaged by an apartheid past which is likely to take generations to seriously come right, it would be constructive to create healthy prisons with a system of rehabilitation. Instead, it would seem from reports, the oppressive and overcrowded environment has simply maintained past trauma. If is like this ‘inside,’ why should it differ outside? How can one expect released individuals to return to society and contribute positively to society?

Parallels can be drawn with the ongoing refugee crisis. Until major personal tragedy gains headlines in the media, politicians seem to avoid related issues. Chaos and crisis need to arise, crisis which we can relate to on a personal level as we imagine ourselves in a similar context. Such is our growing response to the rat revelation. Now that its gotten out of hand, we hear about it, and ‘they’ are forced to deal with it.