Years ago I saw a movie that was filmed in Africa, which demonstrated this point quite well. Here, in essence, is what I got from it.

An African guy ran into the compound of a new white settler. He claimed fellow villagers wanted to kill him. He never really explained why they wanted to kill him. The white settler hid the guy, defending him from the villagers. She genuinely felt she was taking a high moral position.

One day some villagers made it past her security and hacked the guy to death. When she found the body she was dumbstruck. She thought the villagers acted savagely, pursuing and hacking an innocent person to death.

She resentfully grieved until she met a man who explained a different story.

As the story unfolded it was revealed the person they killed was a thief, and he distressed so many villagers until they took a vote and decided to kill him. The man explained how many times they warned the thief before eventually deciding enough was enough. He explained that supplies were already scarce, and many families would die if their supplies were stolen, so they could not be tolerant of thieves.

The man's words shed a whole different light on the reason for the killing. Instead of the villagers being savage killers, they were really very caring and patient, before being put in the position of having to dispense the ultimate punishment for what they considered a serious village crime.

The lesson for the settler was to be very careful about getting involved in local disputes. You may not be getting the correct story from any side, including the side of the apparent victim.

I have tried to draw out evidence of the same, from my exchange with Masimba Musodza.

I think a discussion on how to give support is crucial, and should be a separate thread. Those who want to support African causes should get involved in that debate.

franksta, maybe you can start a new thread using the extract from my first response on this thread.