110612, PATIENCE

PATIENCE.  Is what God taught me in the last year. It was a hard one but I think I finally learnt the lesson that I cannot rush things around here.  I must trust God that all will happen in His time. 

If I don’t, trouble keeps on taking place.  I trust people that I never should’ve.  I’ve learnt the hard way here in Coffee Bay, that you can really only trust God and no man. 

But there are a few exceptions as you come to know with welcome relief.  And when you do, you realize that you always knew who these people were, even since the beginning.  And that is important, to know whom you can trust.  To know who your brothers are.  These people become your family.  I thank God for such people.

Another thing.  Yesterday was Sunday and I pretty much stayed in bed all day.  My friend Danica who came to visit for a week from Cape Town, left the morning back on the bus and I went nowhere.  It’s been extremely windy over here and I’ve been tired from the tent flapping around all night.  I slept most of the morning, didn’t realize how exhausted I was, not used to so many nights out in the week either. 

Somewhere in the early afternoon the dogs were barking and I was hoping it’s not anyone for me.  Turned out to be Nobulele and her friend.  I knew there was only one thing they wanted:  to borrow money.  Since it has become an issue for me lately that people want to borrow money from me and everytime it’s  the same people and now they are even bringing the rest of the family as well when they need money. 

I decided to be strong and say no even though I wasn’t sure what was the right thing to do.  I just didn’t like the attitude, the way they just expected it from me, and when I said I don’t have money for them, she insisted that I go and have a look, like she didn’t believe me.  Well, I had a bit of money, which I’m keeping for petrol (Coffee Bay has been without petrol now since last Wednesday at least, we’re hoping to get petrol tomorrow) and whatever I may need.  Nothing I wanted to give away and since I’ve been learning the lesson that when you give your little finger everybody knows what happens after that, I kept to my word.

Anyway they just kept on sitting there and looking sad until I didn’t want to sit there anymore and stood up for some fresh air and then told them once again that I don’t have money for them, trying to explain that I can’t just hand out money every day when someone asks me, I just got ripped of twice in one month, plus they always say they’re borrowing money from me and then never returning it.  I don’t mind borrowing money even if I don’t get it back, but when people start to make a habit out of it I just don’t like it.  Even though I know the Bible says that that if someone asks you, you mustn’t refuse…

Today I walked to the other side and when I was leaving Margaret came, together with Lucy and she said she wants to do a job for me, fixing my thatch bundles.  And together with Lucy, the three of us agreed that she is going to do it and we’ll talk again about how much I’m going to pay her.  I completely trust both Lucy and Margaret and I’m not even worried that they won’t charge me a fair price.  In fact I won’t be surprised if they charge me so little that in the end I feel like giving them a little bonus.

(Mama Margaret happens to be one of my most special older bead mamas, who lives on the other side of my rondavel hill.  The other day when I took Danica to the rondavel, she came past and looked at the roof and agreed it wasn’t a very good job that was done there with the smaller poles.  It just so happened then that it was her very own son who did the job for me.  He came back soon after and finished the job.  And I had a nice talk with him.  We can’t let the good youth get corrupted.

I also spoke to Mama Gloria last week and she is going to cut grass for me, together with some of her other mamas, I guess.  I hope someday I can join them and take pictures of them doing it!  Yes! I just had the idea that I would love to put their pictures up in the Reading Hut!! So we can remember the good people who built it…

Collected some more nice driftwood pieces from the beach today.  Seems like after the bad weather there are quite a lot at the moment.  I felt like I had to take advantage.  I’m still not sure what I’m going to use them all for, but got the idea today that they will look beautiful in a Bonsai bowl…  So I got a new dream today that went with my idea for eventually doing pottery..!

I want to make special bowls out of the clay, plant Bonsais in them and make them extra special with the driftwood..  I really hope that I’ll have the space for that some day…  My community craft centre idea will have to realize!