Still Frames

At one point this week, while walking down a pretty deserted tar road in the middle of nowhere (I'll get to this), I said aloud to myself..."Man, am I in a movie or something?! Is this really happening?!". And yeah, sometimes things that happen, conversations that are had, are just so bizarre or touching or intense or frustrating or part of my routine, that I don't really notice them as much as I once did. The longer you are somewhere, the more in sync you become with everything. Last week I wrote about being more proactive. Yeah, I fell down the hole... and even though it's taking awhile, I'm climbing out... and part of my climbing out is opening my eyes again, looking at things I really want to cherish about being here... the really good and the not so good. Here are some snippets from my week. The still frames I've tried to freeze from the ongoing movie that continues to play...
Monday: Knitting in the office. Sitting in a chair by the door to get a cross breeze of the wind coming through the window across the room and the door. Giving myself a time limit of 15 more minutes. If there is no work today... if nothing seems to magically appear in the next 15 minutes... I'm leaving the office to do something else. The Program Manager gets a call. The AIDS Organization needs the work plan for the next year EMAILED to them ASAP. The office has no email. I say I'll use my connection on my computer. We frantically search for the plan on all the computers. And BAM! a virus strikes. Documents start melting off the screen. It's eating away at work. Work that isn't backed up. There is stress that our immediate need for the work plan is being challenged.. but there's no stress about all the other things that may be lost. Hard copy of work plan is found. I type it up in my room and then get on trying to find companies to donate virus protection software.
Tuesday: The morning is spent in the office, working on computer stuff with a flurry of Sotho being spoken around me. When I go to leave for the day I am asked to come in tomorrow to "watch" the office. I try not to lose my cool. I am tired of sitting there. I leave, have an outburst on my way home, talk to a coworker and tell people I'm not available. I go over to Margaret's and spend a couple of hours explaining to her things she learned in a workshop. The presenters were training carers in the area to do certain activities with the orphans they visit and Margaret really didn't understand. I had to explain the words "curious" and "imagination". Then I pretended to be a kid she was interviewing so she could practice what we covered. I spent the evening with MmaDiapo and her new "child" (a baby chick that is the only surviving member of some hatchlings. It sleeps in a Priority Mail box (compliments of America) in the house and is protected from the cat that killed its siblings. Whenever it can't find MmaDiapo it chirps and cries). She sewed traditional dresses for the wedding coming up in December, I knitted the scarf I'm trying to make.
Wednesday: Went to Hoedspruit to meet Keri for coffee and conversation.. and to bring her back to Metz for a few days. In the morning, I finished up some dish washing and basic cleaning before I headed out to the taxi at about 10. No problem. Got one right by Kodumela right away. That little jaunt wasn't so bad... normal in fact. Made it to The Oaks and got off just in time for it to start raining. When I looked around I only saw two taxis even remotely available... and both were empty. I started walking. A Venture pulled up next to me and told me that one was going to Hoedspruit and I should just sit and wait. Sometimes I fight this, but today I opted for being dry, decided I would wait for 15 minutes and if nothing happened.... I would walk. 5 minutes went by. A woman got in the taxi with me. Maybe another couple minutes went by.. not long at all.. and then the taxi rank marshall came over and told us he found one that was going to Hoedspruit... and when I looked out the window.. it was MOVING... so I decided it would get me farther than I was. I got in. We rode down the road to the petrol station where he promptly decided 3 people in the taxi was not enough to get petrol and get to Hoed... he told us to get out and hitch. WHAT?! The lady and I got out and walked a little around the corner... very near the "Hoedspruit 32 kms" sign.... I started thinking the usual things... "oh it's so nice I'm not by myself", "I wonder how long it will take to get a ride for both of us...", etc. We both threw up our fingers and a bakkie (with a covered back that you couldn't ride in) pulled over. I'm not even sure what happened... but basically within 20 seconds she was in, waving at me, they were driving off, and I was standing there dumbfounded and pissed. "Hey! Enjoy your ride!!!!!". I cried, I talked to myself, I hoofed it. At one point a woman coming from Hoed and going to The Oaks, pulled over and offered me a ride... told me she didn't want me to suffer (it was sprinkling) and would drive me to Hoed even though it was way out of her way. Uh, no... I wouldn't let her do that. So my mood, the farther I walked, was lightened... I became less pissed... and then out of nowhere, a taxi. This driver drove us all the way there even though he was only a third full. Finally. When I looked at my clock I noticed that it had only been an hour since I had been at The Oaks... it felt like forever. And how Africa. One moment it's winning, beating you down, pulling the rug out from under you, letting you hang. The next you're being offered rides, the rain feels good even if you are getting wet, the Olifants River is back to flowing at top speed, and you get coffee with a good friend.
Thursday: Started off the day with Jungle Oats (oatmeal) and singing along to "If I Had a Hammer" by Peter, Paul, and Mary with Keri. Went to Madeira (a village just down the main tar road) and spent the day with Keri and Regina (RE-GY-NAH), Grace, Takalani, and Dally learning the ends and outs of traditional beading. "Oh, Regina! You're so fast and good at this... thanks for being such a good friend and teaching me!"..."Mmapula! Yes! We are friends!" I am almost finished with my first bracelet.
Friday: Mulling over a conversation I had where a woman in the community wants to start a crocheting/knitting IGA (Income Generating Activity) and couple it with HIV/AIDS support groups. I can do this! I can teach people what I have taught myself.
Saturday: Wash all my clothes and then spend the afternoon on the porch, eating ice cream with MmaDiapo. As the weather cools off and it gets closer to dark, many of the women in my family show up to shell peanuts for planting. I crochet, they shell, we all laugh. Karabo and Charlie are in the back of the yard giggling and yelling at Kori who is singing a song about Mandela and washing himself in his makeshift "bath room" in the yard.