A Saturday in the Life of Reilly

This morning I set out to the road, a ten minute walk through tall grass and dirt paths, to catch one of the morning taxis to town. I made sure to put sun block on, as the taxis arrive with no regularity, it is usually a game of chance and I have waited for close to two hours before.

Today was a on the shorter side of waiting, only about 25 minutes. It was a taxi I did not recognize, it was yellow and old. I climbed into the 15 seater van, it was nearly full already, and we drove deeper into the village. About a kilometer later the taxi reached capacity and we turned around to head towards town. The taxi continued to stop and pick up a few more people beyond the 15 person limit. Typical. Today this action put my small bum in between two seats, not very comfortable, but the 30 minute drive to town is pretty enough during the rainy season with green rolling hills to distract one from the ever numbing sensation on the left side, the right side as you switch your weight back and forth.

I arrived in town and walked around the out door mall. Mostly window shopping, checking out deals on long sleeved items that will be useful in a few months time. The library was also on my lift of things to visit. I filled out an application for a library card. There was hesitancy by the woman who gave me the sheet to fill out when she saw I was using my US passport as my ID number. She asked for my date of birth. The concerns and hesitancy were lost when she said with a smile that we shared the same birthday. I left with a smile on my face, will await my library card's arrival in the post, and set off for lunch at the other end of town.

My favourite curry house was open so I stopped in for the best deal in town: a vegetarian bunny. This is a quarter loaf of bread, with the inside hollowed out, filled with curried beans and goodness. The cost is R10! About $1.00. The owners, a lovely Indian woman and her husband, know my face and are always quick to chat. Today the husband was absent. He had suffered a stroke a few years back, I found out as I spoke with his wife. He was home resting today.

As usual, my bunny was not a quarter loaf, but a half loaf for the price of a quarter. Today the bunny was a bit more spicy than I was ready for and I had nothing to drink. I asked to buy a cold drink and was saddened to find that they do not sell cold drink. Instead, the woman took her Coke from the fridge and emptied it into a glass for me. We chatted for several more minutes before I left to buy groceries for the week.

I took a taxi from one end of town to the other, in order to take a taxi back to my village. Because it is the first weekend of the month the town was crowded and the taxi filled up in no time.

30 minutes later I was back at the roadside stop, this time exiting the taxi. I walked the 12 minutes from the road to my house and was greeted by running children and several hugs at knee level. The boys were curious about my trip to town, “did it go well?” “what did you buy?”

I then asked five young boys at my house to help me fetch water. Happy to do the chores of an older boy the quickly grabbed my empty 20L buckets and the wheelbarrow. After we returned with water from the pump about five minutes away, I gave them all bananas. They knew it was coming, but I made them wait just long enough to think maybe there was no fruit today. They ran off to play, bananas in hand.

A few minutes later, my host mother, a delightful and loving woman knocked on my door with an arm full of clean and neatly pressed laundry. My laundry. She requests to do my laundry each weekend, and refuses, REFUSES, to let me help in any way. Even if I tried to help, I would never get my clothes as clean or as neatly pressed. A washing machine doesn't clean clothes like a Zulu woman who washes clothes by hand. Better than new, whiter than white, clean as can be. Amazing.

At first today seemed a little unusual, but in retrospect it was a fairly normal Saturday for me. My life continues to be filled by the kindness and generosity of all South Africans, and today was no exception.