Why couldn’t they live close by? What did you think about it?—That your maid’s family was so far away and she was taking care of you? The words that followed; I remember the look of shock on her face…
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"I can only tell you things that happened as I saw them, and what the rest was about only Africa knows." – Oom Schalk Lourens
It was to the backdrop of dust and fynbos that I was served my first vetkoek for breakfast (by a regte egte tannie nogal).
Hastily, we rushed into separate rooms to swap our formal kit for more comfortable party attire. I walked downstairs after finally accomplishing my feat of finishing a magician’s change of clothes, only to realise that I was in an empty apartment…
So when the power went out in our home in Croydon-near-the-power-station that one fateful day, we just sat. Waiting. For hours. Shaking our proverbial fists and swearing (non-proverbially) at Eskom for yet another unscheduled power cut. Six hours later…
Many years, five children and a new continent later – staring out into the garden of my North London rental and wondering about the friends of my youth – I thought…chocolate Marie Biscuit fudge, and attacked aunty Google with shameless desperation.
By the time the shenanigans of our tale began to spiral, the night was in fact still young. It was about 1am and after a few other stops we ended up at Eastgate shopping mall. The boys had just finished a couple of trolley races and now a few of us were just sitting on the roof parking lot, shooting the breeze while listening to some of our favourite tunes (probably Linkin Park).
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Time did its thing and High School sprung upon us. We exchanged the palm tree sentinels and long walk up the Derby Road driveway at Leicester Road Primary for the dark corridors and tradition-soaked bricks of Jeppe High School for Girls.
She arrived with a smile on her face, hips for Africa and the biggest, most extraordinary, summer hat on her head. My mom knew straight away. This was the lady.
We bundled in the car; excited to see some wildlife at the sanctuary down the road. No time was wasted upon our arrival—out the car and in with the animals…
It was our first trip to the Pilanesberg with our 2-year-old daughter Chloë and we were excited to introduce her to African wildlife. On our drive down, we imagined her little face… seeing a giraffe or a zebra from her story books for the first time.