Poor chicken, might as well get used to being in the pot!
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Love the beautiful mamas!!Happy birthday Madiba!
Today was full of surprises… One of those days that I really felt like I’m living my dream and I totally love it!
Was supposed to be working on my laptop this morning, when I ran into the old lady that kind of supervises the campsite, when she told me that it’s pension day today and she’ll be going to join the queues to collect her pension. I’ve been waiting for this day, because it happens not too far from me and it’s very interesting because there is also a bit of a market that springs up around all the queues. So off I went.
There were some long queues, very brightly colored lovely beautiful mamas and also some younger women collecting children’s grants. The queue for the men was exceptionally shorter. Everyone waited quite a while for the money guys to arrive, but when they did, everything happened very organized and surprisingly fast. As soon as the people collected their money, they would first go and sit somewhere and count their money, it almost looked to me like they were praying. Then they’d go off and do some shopping for amongst other things, live chickens-probably to become tonight’s dinner. There was also ‘amasi’ (sour milk that they like to drink or use to dip their bread in. I didn’t dare taste it today, but I only just remembered that we used to drink it when I was a child in Natal and that I really loved it. It’s kind of just like yoghurt. I’m going to have some next time)
When I arrived there, I was so overwhelmed by all the beautiful mamas and of course wanted to take millions of pictures, but they’re not always so keen on being photographed and wanted money. I bought a bag of oranges and handed them out. Of course there were way more mamas than oranges so they had to do some sharing and I would never have had enough even then. But there were many happy faces and next time I’ll do it again. It was such a nice feeling, they were all just so thankful. I only took a few pics today but I’ll go visit them again next time. It was also so great to randomly meet my bead-mamas amongst the other people, they were also so happy to see me. It feels like I have a lot of friends here. And my language is also slowly improving, although I know I say just about everything wrong but they understand me a little now and then. I also bought a handmade round reed mat for R20, that’s supposed to be used to pack fruit on, but it’s a bit big for my table, so now it’s become wall decoration.
I then had a brief session with Thobile and Ninti, they both did very well in their surfing competition during the holiday. And it was so wonderful to discover that Thobile’s reading has improved quite a bit during the holiday!! I’m so excited about that, and so is he. He says he just started to be able to recognize words and was practicing reading bits in a surf magazine! Aesome!! And Ninti is almost getting the alphabet down, although we’ll still have to use a lot of patience.
The third surprise was for Snooks and Fika when I finally gave them their clothes that came with Milli, from Emma all the way from Cape Town. They were super excited! I went with them to their house and watched as they were trying on stuff. They are very very happy! Even Fika who didn’t get much, because it was really girl’s stuff. Snooks said her favourite thing is the dress, that’s kind of like a princess dress…oooh she loves it! I don’t think Fika will take his new hat off tonight and he’s definitely going to cuddle with his football soft toy… Happiness.
As I was sitting there 2 other ladies came in. Fourth surprise. One of them I know from Gogo’s house where I first stayed. She works there and doesn’t speak any English. They were saying something I didn’t quite understand, but got the idea they were sad that I didn’t give any of the clothes for their children. I’ve never met their children or even knew that they had. So, well, they asked me to give them a lift home, which I was a bit reluctant of, because I know that road is bad…but I agreed so off we went. On the way we picked up one lady’s mother as well and another guy carrying her window glass…When we got there they asked if I wanted to see their houses. Of course I said yes.
So when we got to the first lady’s house, it was so strange, almost déjà vu, but different. The woman’s sister was outside washing dishes with the 2 little girls and her face looked like a mixture of her and someone else I knew. And the 2 girls were so pretty. Their house feels like such a happy home. Then after not too long, my bead-mama friend Esther arrived and it turns out she’s the grandmother of the 2 little girls and the mother of the 2 sisters. Then it all made sense! It’s so amazing getting to know people a little bit and seeing how their families ties together!
So then I took some family photos and was taken to another couple of huts in the area to go and take some more pictures of the families. It was something I thought about doing before I came here and now it’s just happened without even planning it! I have to print a lot of photos when I go to Umthatha again!
Thank You God, I’m so happy today!!
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