For South African grantees who had been detained and harassed, and who were dealing daily with the lethal effects of apartheid oppression on families, workers, children, elderly and vulnerable people, getting out of the country was a welcome respite. They came full of hopes of lessons and insights from the so-called ‘First World’. These were often dashed.

Eddie and Lizzie Leeuw, from King William's Town, in the Eastern Cape, were surprised at the level of denial in Europe about what was happening in South Africa. They gave many talks about the situation at home, where they were being continually harassed by the security police because of Eddie's involvement in the Belydende Kring and his willingness to conduct the funerals of activists. (Eddie said he was nearly refused entry to Holland because the South African immigration officials had tampered with his passport to make it look falsified).

Just before they left home in 1986, Lizzie had suffered a frightening attack but she said when she and Eddie related such events, they were simply not believed:

Eddie gives several examples of Europeans dismissing their accounts of daily life:

The same happened in London and Holland. A Dutch minister tried to stop the couple speaking in his church because he didn't accept what they were saying but there was a group of anti-apartheid activists present who insisted they spoke. Eddie said: