'I'm okay', says SA mother from Afghanistan
The South African woman whose family was killed in Afghanistan believes God saved her life for a reason, Beeld newspaper reported on Tuesday.
In a phone interview with the Afrikaans daily, Hannelie Groenewald said she would have wanted to die with her husband and two teenage children, "but God clearly has other plans for me".
"I have peace in my heart. I know where my husband and children are," she said in Afrikaans.
Groenewald said people from all over the world were carrying her in their prayers.
"I am okay."
She was currently staying with friends and hoped to be back in South Africa within about a week.
"Then we have to hold the funeral. My life revolved around my husband and children and now they are gone. During the day it is okay when I am busy, but the evenings are difficult when I realise I am have been left behind alone."
Her husband, Werner Groenewald, and children, Rode, 15, and Jean-Pierre, 17, were shot dead on Saturday by the Taliban at their home in Afghanistan.
The family was doing aid work with the Partnership in Academics and Development (PAD) in Kabul.
Hannelie Groenewald was at a clinic in Kabul where she worked when the attack happened.
The department of international relations was helping to secure an emergency visa for Hannelie Groenewald so that she could return to South Africa.
"An emergency visa is given by the department of home affairs, but we are facilitating the process," spokesman Nelson Kgwete said.
(File photo: Gallo Images)