Calais

It’s 7:05 Sunday morning and Mmapula is awake. Of course I wake up automatically around 6:15 everyday, and I was awake around then this morning, but it’s Sunday, the day of rest, and I thought I would at least not get out of bed until a later time… 8 or so. At 6:47 my host brother/cousin, Kori, was banging on my door, yelling my name. I thought for sure it was something important, something that needed attention right that minute, so I scrambled for the door, unlocked it, and as it opened, Kori stuck his arm around the corner holding out the pegs (clothes pins) and said, “For your washing.”
So Mmapula, how did you spend Valentine’s Day 2008?
Why, thank you for asking! I have to admit it was probably one of the most memorable and fun Valentine’s Days I’ve ever had, I was in South Africa, and I was far from all the commercialism/consumerism in The States. Valentine’s Day is recognized in South Africa, but like a lot of holidays when in the village, the day just kind of passes without much thought. In town there were cards and hearts and bears and coffee mugs and flowers, but Metz, Lorraine, Trichardstal, Balloon, Hlohlowe, Loss, Madeira, Sekororo, and all the other villages around me showed no signs of the actual Valentine’s part of the day actually happening. I was really excited because I was getting out of the office AND going to see some kids, two things that should make me excited. Esther, Loikie, and I all met at Lorraine Cross (where the main dirt road in Lorraine meets the main tar road) at 8 to catch a taxi down the road to the drop-in center in Calais (one of the villages my NGO serves). Oh what an adventure it was going to be! Whenever someone is leaving the office and taking me with them, I’m usually at a loss as to what the day will bring, I’m given very little information, so I just go along with whatever comes my way. I had no idea where this day was going to end up, but I tell you, I spent a lot of time shaking my head and muttering to myself, “Really?”.. sometimes it’s still weird for me to think that I’m living in South Africa, that I’m actually here, that this is my life. It seems that the last stop for a short distance taxi, on the main tar road, is the petrol station (the post office is on the other side of the road) at Trichardstal. There isn’t much around there, at least from what I’ve been able to see, except for the petrol station and the post office. Our taxi stopped at the edge of the dirt petrol station parking lot area, we paid, and hopped out. Esther grabbed some breakfast (she had missed her tea) from one of the women, in a great line of tables, who was selling fruit and then we walked. Did I mention before that I usually have no idea what’s in store? We were going to spend the day in Calais, but I had no idea where this village was and knew very little about the surrounding area because it is a good 20 minute taxi ride down the tar road from my village. We crossed the tar road from the petrol station and walked down a dirt road for kilometers/miles towards an end. In the beginning there were no signs, there were no cars, no taxis, no other people, just the three of us and the open road ahead. We were in the middle of nowhere. Ambling along, Esther and Loikie pointing out fruit trees, picking guava, drinking water from a stream (not me… I’ve got enough stomach issues, thanks), passing huge mango groves, green rainforest type terrain with ferns galore, and the mountains so close. Every time we would crest a hill or turn a corner in the road, I thought for sure the village would be just right there, but I was fooled for a good hour and a half. A couple of cars passed us after we had been walking for awhile, but no one had room for all 3 of us, until the kind man driving the big semi-type work truck. Esther threw up her finger (there are signs to throw up so taxis and possible rides on the road can know where you’re going) and his brakes screeched. After an exchange of greetings and introductions the three of us squished into the front seat next to him. He only took us about 3 km before we hit the village’s edge, but he saved us another 45 minutes on the road (at the pace we were going.. it could have been even longer). We walked, made a few more turns, and all of the sudden were in the middle of many houses… we were in Calais! Esther greeted a woman and her 3 little ones and handed over the rest of the bread and bananas from her breakfast. We picked hibiscus flowers, ate green mangos, and I overheard many a conversation about me in Sotho and what exactly I was doing there while we made our way through the village to the drop-in. The afternoon went quickly. We met with the cookers, Magdeline and Gladis, and checked their record books to see how many of the kids (orphans) had been showing up for food and to see if they had enough food for the rest of the month. I helped Magdeline and Gladis sort beans, stir the samp, beans, and porridge mixture over the fire (they are experts, I am not), and when the food just needed to cook we had tea and bread during a rest. At one point, Gladis looked at me and said, “Mmapula is my relative.” Esther went on to explain that because I don’t have a father or mother or siblings, cousins, grandparents, aunts, and uncles here, that everyone was my relative, everyone was my family. All afternoon drums were heard in the distance and finally, because our curiosities got the best of us, Gladis and I walked over to the primary school nearby where there was traditional dancing and singing. It was set up beautifully. One of the women who had been a cleaner at the school up until last year was having a farewell celebration thrown for her. Kids in traditional dress were dancing, speeches were given, prayers were sung, and Mmapula was sat, yes, right next to the principal, in front of the whole school. The principal and I talked of the challenges her school faced and her ideas for funding. She made the good point that Calais was so far off the main road it was almost like people seemed to forget it even existed. I was invited to eat in the VIP room when it came time for lunch and I requested that Gladis come with me. After plates of pap, chicken, cabbage salad (cole slaw), cabbage, and red gravy were consumed we went back to the drop-in in time to greet all the kids coming from school to eat. While all the kids were eating, I too, ate, again. Magdeline said I had to try some of the food I worked so hard to prepare. (Ha! I tried to stir it all while it was over the fire, but I wasn’t fast enough… so I had to hand the paddle over to her!) After everyone seemed full, satisfied, and ready to go home, I sat against the wall of the building (where all the food is stored) and made my way through a mango the size of my hand, waving at locals passing by, curious as to who I was. When 3 rolled around, miraculously a truck pulled up outside the gate and we were offered a ride to the tar road. I hugged Magdeline and Gladis, thanking them for such a nice afternoon, wishing them well (Sala Gabotse) and telling them that I would love to come back and visit. We rode in the back of the truck back to the tar road and were dropped off, once again, in the middle of nowhere. It was late in the workday, tractors pulling trailers full of workers from local farms (mango and mealie meals/maize) were going in for the day, and no taxis passed us. Esther and I put up our fingers every time a car was heading in our direction. After being denied a few times we finally had a man pull over to give us a ride as far as Lorraine (where both Esther and Loikie live). He asked where I came from, where I worked, and what I was doing here, and then asked if I was voting for Obama. “It is a great thing, a black man running for president in the great country of America!” He dropped us off at the cross where we started our day and Loikie and Esther sat under a tree to wait until I was on a taxi back to Metz. When I got home I was on a high, I wanted to write everything down, my mind was spinning with ideas, I wanted to go back to Calais, I was excited about my meeting in town the next day (which went really well, by the way.. I walked out of it with some great ideas), and for the first time in awhile I felt ok… just ok… and it was good.