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Even though I've been here in South Africa for close to ten months
now, there are still times when I forget the difference between the
developed and the developing world. Last night I had the house to
myself, a rarity with four of us living and working here, because Dan
had his first Zulu language lesson and was then continuing on to the
airport to pick up Julia and Susan who had been in Mauritius for a
holiday for five days. So, I invited two small friends of mine over -
Gahiso (aged 8) and Tediso (aged 10). These two gorgeous little boys
are the brothers of a good friend of mine and I have spent a number of
very fun times with them since I've been here. Last night I invited
them over to my house for a sleepover. I spent the whole day getting
excited about it - I love kids, and these kids are just gorgeous and
so sweet. Hanging out with kids restores your energy and youth at
times, and there was nothing I was more excited about then having them
over, cooking them dinner and putting on a kiddy movie for them.
I went down into the valley to pick them up - there they were waiting
excitedly outside their half-finished modest house. They had just one
small and very old backpack between them that was falling apart at
every stich. They arrived and immediately wanted to use the shower for
the first time in their lives - there would be no bucket bathing
tonight! Whilst they spent much longer than I do indulging in the
shower, I commenced cooking Fajitas - a Mexican speciality which is
usually a child-pleaser. After their shower they sat basically on top
of each other (they're inseparable) in happy silence on the coach,
just taking in their new surroundings - so very different to the mud
huts and poverty-torn houses of their community. I love African kids -
they are so well behaved and patient - never complaining, winging or
whining. When I excitedly served up the Fajitas, little Gahiso
promptly started crying quietly into his food. I asked his older
brother what the matter was, and in Zulu they had a brief
conversation. He didn't like the food. The food that he hadn't even
had a bit of yet. I looked at the Fajitas and immediately realised my
mistake. Every night these kids eat rice and curry with a spoon. They
have never seen, let alone eaten, anything like a Fajita - a wrap that
you eat with your hands. He had no idea what to do with it! I made him
a toasted cheese sandwich and left the Fajita in the fridge for a
lucky volunteer. Once the tears were over we watched a classic kids
movie: Homeward Bound, and I cried when Shadow told Chance he was too
old and that they must go on without him. It was so fun being a kid
for the night.
I realised mid-way through the dinner that this was in fact the first
night that they had ever spent away from home - no wonder there were
some tears! In my naivety I thought "oh it would be so fun to have
them stay with me", not realising how much of a big deal it was for
them - to stay away from home, in a house that is nothing like the one
you know, with food you don't know what to do with or how to eat it.
After dinner I put them to bed in my big double bed I and slept on a
mattress on the floor. In the morning we woke early, ironed their
uniforms, gave them breakfast, they showered again and off we went to
drop them at school. They will be the centre of attention all day -
having been dropped to school by a Mlungu (white person) in a CAR!
Usually these kids - whose mother died when they were very young and
whose father only sees them once a month if they're lucky - do all
this by themselves. They cook, they iron, they take themselves on the
one-hour walk to school and back, they do their homework, they bathe.
Their older sister - aged 17 and doing her final year of school -
takes on many of these responsibilities in between school. It's a
common story here in South Africa - child-headed households due to HIV
and the lack of fathers who stick around to see their children grow
up. At least for one night their sister was free of her duties and the
boys could relax and behave just as children should.
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