The Final Countdown

I don’t know if I have ever paid attention to time as much as I have since being in South Africa. Maybe it is because no one else cares about time so I’m trying to keep track of it for an entire nation or maybe it is just being away from what I was used to in the States. Either way, I have watched clocks and calendars a lot this past year.  I counted the days until the first retreat in November, I counted down until Christmas, until my trip to Cape Town, until the second retreat, until my parents came--I seemed to be counting down days all the time which is something that I had never real done before.

It started out when I spent the majority of my first month sitting in the office at the Kwaz.  There is only so much that I was able to do at that point so I spent a lot of time reading while waiting for the phone to ring.  Time seemed to move so slowly on those days.  I am sure part of it was my expectations of what I would be doing at my site and part of it was just learning the slow pace of life compared to the United States.  I am still challenged by the pace of life and the phrase “just now.” Coming from a culture were now actually means right away it is hard to adjust to nothing starting on time.

If the feelings about time have taught me anything it is patience.  I have come to realize that it doesn’t help if I worry about church not starting on time or if I’m waiting for hours for someone to pick me up. Things will happen when they happen and I just have to go with it.  It doesn’t do me any good to get frustrated so I might as well relax and enjoy the day.

The final countdown I have is the one until I will be back in the US and it is at exactly two months from today. I have often thought about what that first day back will be like and am both excited and scared.  I am so excited to see my family and friends again but, at the same time, it will mean the end of my time in South Africa.  It means leaving people who have become my family and leaving a place that has taught me more than I ever could have learned in a textbook.

During the first few months, when there were still over 300 days left, I honestly didn’t know if I would make it this far.  But now, with only two months separating me from Lincoln, I am embracing every day that I have left in South Africa.  I have been given an incredible opportunity here and will continue to have amazing experiences for the last 50+ days at my site.  I know that July 10^th will come and I will have to say goodbye to the Kwaz but for now I am looking at each moment as a blessing.  I’m using every day as a chance to love these people, this place and the life that I am living.  Each activity, day of work, and conversation continues to become more and more precious.  I challenge you to do the same—Embrace the moment, love the people around you, and look at each day, person, and conversation as a gift. Because that’s what they are.

"Nothing lasts forever so live it up, drink it down, laugh it off, avoid the bull, take chances and never have regrets. Because at one point everything you did was exactly what you wanted."

Not All Taxi Rides are Created Equal

The majority of my transportation, especially long distance, is done in a minibus taxi.  These ‘taxis’ are pretty much vans with four rows of seats and filled with 15 passengers.  They go everywhere around the country and even to other places in Africa.  Below is a picture of a taxi rank, although most of them are much busier than and not as clean as this one. 

There are two things that I really struggle with when riding the taxis.  The first is that the taxi doesn’t depart until it is full so you never know when you will leave.  The other problem I have is that they are always so hot! For some reason no one likes having windows open no matter how hot it gets so I often arrive at my destination feeling sweaty and gross.  Somehow I often get stuck in the back row which is the only row that they cram four people into.  Oftentimes the last person to get in that row has to wedge themselves into a four-inch space.  Not much fun.

Last week, when I was going to Pietermaritzburg, my tolerance for the taxis was maxing out.  Going from Estcourt to PMB only takes about an hour but waiting for over an hour for it the taxi to fill is more the rule than the exception.  This time, after 90 minutes of waiting, the taxi was full but for some reason the rank manager decided we should go in a different taxi so all 15 of us had to get out and move to another taxi.  I had been in the back by a window which was great because then I could control how hot it was by me.  However, upon moving to the other taxi I ended up being the last one to have to squeeze into the back row, of course. After squeezing into a spot barely large enough for a small child we were on our way but with no control of the windows it naturally got very warm. I got to PMB and told Elise, another volunteer, that I don’t know how many more of those I’m going to be able to handle!  Then, right on cue, my return trip to Estcourt was very different.

Because there are so many taxis in one rank it can become confusing and difficult to find the one that is going where you need.  On my way back to Estcourt we had just gotten on the interstate when an older woman a few rows ahead of me started asking about where the taxi was going.  Granted, I couldn’t understand most of the conversation as it was in Zulu but I did hear her saying, “Tugela” several times which is another hour past Estcourt.  She was realizing, too late, that she had gotten on the wrong taxi.

She soon began to cry as she did not have enough money to then make the trip from Estcourt to Tugela.  Without pause, a girl sitting next to her began asking everyone to put some money together for her.  Through everyone’s donations the woman was given R75, more than enough to make the next leg of her journey.

I watched the whole thing in awe and humility.  God knew that this was just the thing I needed to renew my spirit as frustration and annoyance had begun to take over.  “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” is a Zulu expression meaning, “A person is a person through people.” In other words, we do not get where we are solely by ourselves.  There are so many people around us that make us who we are and help us along the way. The spirit of Ubuntu filled that taxi as a group of strangers were willing to help another stranger for no benefit of their own.  Such a small but awesome experience to be a part of and one I will not soon forget!

“Africans believe in something that is difficult to render in English.  We call it ubuntu or botho.  It means the essence of being human.  It speaks about humaneness, gentleness, hospitality, putting yourself out on behalf of others, being vulnerable.  It embraces compassion and toughness.  It recognizes that my humanity is bound up with yours, for we can only be human together."

-- Archbishop Desmond Tutu