MY TWO DAYS AND TWO NIGHTS IN A WHITE “CARECENTRE/ SQUATTER CAMP IN SOUTH AFRICA (Please read to the end, both Afrikaans and English speaking people. I also deliberately do not place pictures or names to protect the integrity of the people) (The reason why I ended up there was a culmination of circumstances and it just, I believe had to happen) On 23 August 2014, I entered a white squatter camp (care center) in South Africa, obviously not by my own choice. All the inhabitants were Afrikaans speaking people. I shared a bungalow with 4 people, ages ranging from 40 to 62. Also in the camp were various ages of people, young couples, middle aged couples, older people, single men and women of various ages obviously young children. There is a built up section called the old age home where the old and sick, three in wheelchairs and young, between 20 and 30, were cared for. I looked upon the situation and knew here is something that I will not forget for the rest of my live. I decided to withdraw for the day and sat under a tree, reading for the rest of the day but my eyes were constantly following what was going on, how the people kept themselves busy, what conversations went on, how the people react to their circumstances and decided to give it a thought before ging to bed. In the “bungalow” I sat with two old men listening to the rugby matches going on, one who is stuck to his bed due to some previous injury and constant illness, the other a jolly old fellow, talking of all his experiences throughout his life. I deliberately missed lunch and only went to the “dining” area the evening just to observe the kind of food served to the people. Hardly anything as good as you would find in a low grade restaurant or even take away caravan, but the thankfulness of the people for having a meal was very obvious . The place is situated in a barren piece of land with nothing around it but dust and open veld, apart from the veggie gardens they are trying to keep up for themselves. Well, I was now part of ot for at least two or three days. At around six o clock it became cold, very cold, kids were at the “general” socializing area covered in tattered blankets, folk sitting around talking about what comes to mind. Older folk went to bed early to escape the cold a little bit. I went “inside” because of the cold and continued reading and listening to the rugby with the two old folk when during a half time break in one match, a song came over the radio which originated back in the seventies or eighties, I heard it the first time in 1987 and I know exactly where I was on the road between Ermelo and Middelburg in the Transvaal. The song is called “Skipskop” and tonight it was sung by David Kramer and part of it is “: Pak op, pak op, sit jou goedjies op jou kop, more gaan ons weg, ver van hier weg, Skipskop, skipskop, wanneer hou die dinge op, die swaarkry lê net voor, die blou berge oor” and directly translated “Pack up. Pack up, put your goodies on your head, tomorrow we are going away, far from here Skipskop (a name), Skipskop, when is all going to stop, the suffering still lies ahead, going over the Blue Mountains” and immediately I was looking for a pen and got my writing pad out. Could not find a pen and took out my laptop because I knew I have something here which could be a lesson to each and every individual who have never and will never go through this. (Please, I am not an author nor a language fundi) A lot of things went through my mind when starting to write this and I doubt that half of people out there in cozy houses and fires in the lounges will finish reading but I am going to write it down in any case. This is day one, not doing pretty much but observing and mentally taking down notes but I decided to write as I did not trust my mental notes at that stage. Well now that I have started in the place, I have decided from tomorrow I am going to talk to people and find out where they came from, what brought them here, what were they doing before landing up here, how was their childhoods and what do they want most now that they have nothing and I mean NOTHING. See you tomorrow. Woke up this morning to the coughing, sneezing and struggling of the old people. Somebody played a yodel song on a radio in a hut close to me. Children were either laughing or screaming outside, thank God it was not so cold, one of my bungalow mates walked out to make himself some coffee. Minutes later he came back with a steaming cup of coffee and said to the other old man still there, “ou **** is ok dood laas nag” meaning “old **** also died last night. The word that gripped me was “also”. I went about my morning business and when the others went to “church”, I took a “shower” and shaved and after one hour my one mate returned from “church”. I asked him whether the service was over and he told me no, he only goes for one hour because this particular pastor can go on for up to three hours, he calls the pastor a “brake pastor” explaining that when he lets loose, he has no brakes. I then went on to ask him why he said “old **** ALSO died this morning” upon which he replied, number 6 since July. The rest of the morning I went around just hovering here and there and out of curiosity people came to talk to me. In this place there are professional people who had been conned out of their professions by friends, I met a guy who came to visit and he had a chat with me and believe it or not, he knew an ex-army colleague of mine, senior warrant officer and I called on phone him with a jubilant response. Some others had very successful careers, armed forces, even from the later stages of WW II, some were officers and showed their medals, some were successful builders, bricklayers and you name it in the practical environment. Two youngsters dumped because they are wheelchair bound. Others were farmers, some of the youngsters just could not make it due to their Afrikaans background, l to which I tended to differ but, after having a word with the owner of land on which the place is, it seems to be true. They could not study due to financial circumstances. A young woman with children is here who could not face her drug abusive husband anymore and so I can go and on and on. 95% very intelligent people. Lastly I spoke to the guy who took it upon himself to help making food for the not so able. He has a brilliant plan for business and could not be helped, or nobody wanted to help him in SA. Some Taiwanese came across his business plan from a colleague and they are going to fund him. His meeting was confirmed and I foresee a brilliant retirement for him after a couple of years. Another will be out of here to go and look after a farm owned by somebody living in J burg so he cannot wait for October when his contract starts. Dress here is a relative issue. As my eyes went through the small crowd, I could see tatters, I could see people dressed very nicely, showing me that things went horribly wrong in the not so distant past. I find sophistication here, I find people here who are ready to give up, I find people here who have ambitions given the chance and realistic ones at that, not big, rich or flamboyant, but realistic in the sense of making a decent life, if, only if, they are getting the slightest help. Tomorrow will be my last day here and I have not found all I wanted to know but one thing is for certain, my eyes have opened, I feel remorse in myself, I feel remorse in many other ways which I will describe at the end of this write up. As I sit here overlooking the mutual eating place with all the people standing around, I see broken hearts, I see sad faces but I also see smiles, pride, I see longing for the comfort of a simple phone call from somebody who could not care anymore not sure who it might be, family, friends, children? Who knows. In all this turmoil in my head, I see absolute thankfulness for a plate of sub sub- standard food. As the sun is going down, I sit outside in the chill, watching the people eating eagerly, chatting and laughing and I wonder, yes, I wonder. I cannot even begin to describe what I feel in me. Hope I can finish this off on a more positive note tomorrow before I explain why I wrote this. Hopefully every soul here, see the sun rise tomorrow, one never know. May the Lord protect every single one tonight with warmth and love, because He is the One who loves best, no matter the circumstances. It is most certainly not a nice experience for me but once again, I believe this happened to me for a reason and I never dreamt that I will write about it, it did not even cross my mind when I arrived here yesterday, but after hearing that song last night, I knew, I just knew, let people know what it is really like. Most of all to conclude the day’s writing, most are positive in a sense that it makes me think of “I am still alive and while it is a fact, I will get through it”. (Big, big lesson for me.) Monday morning, the last day. Woke up early, obviously to the coughing of the older guys, no sweat. I was sitting outside reading when I noticed two girls sitting at the “nursery school”. I walked over there to have a chat with them. They are the two teachers to the kids one- to five years. One is not qualified and the other only got halfway through her studies when things went wrong. I had a chat with them and looked in the “classroom”. They did have enough material, donated to help these kids and bring them to a certain standard ready for real school and they are doing what they can to teach these kids. At eight o clock the little ones started arriving. Although the clothes were in tatters, they looked neat and proud to be able to go to a school. Later that day I met “Ouma” who is the camp for almost 7 years now, have no idea where her kids are and if they are still alive. But she is friendly, laughing and all about a “good” life for herself by helping the others in several different ways. Back at the bungalow, a new comer came into the place and to their surprise, the one old man and the new comer knew each other from “real” life. What a reunion, they chatted the morning away. At about then it was time for me to go. I am sure it is not a nice situation for anybody but was surely an eye opener for me and the whole experience is still with me every day. CONCLUSION Every day we hear on radio, read in media and see on TV how difficult things are with our people in squatter camps and what needs to be done to make it better. We see reporters in the camps, talking away about the situation, describing what they think is the truth. We see newspapers asking government what they are doing, how can they allow things to be like that, how is it that pensions are being cut or taken away without any obvious reason. All og these in the latter two paragraphs are just what is on the surface. Things are much worse than described through all these means. The question I asked myself, what are we, who complain about these people’s situation, doing to help it make it better for them. I have never thought of anything more than to fill my stomach when I buy groceries, never thought of maybe what can a piece of clothing can mean for somebody else when I throw it out, never thought of a plastic bag of groceries can mean to somebody. Now, when going into a shop, I cannot help but think that instead of buying one bread, maybe I should buy two and same with the rest of the groceries. I looked at my clothes the other day and wondered if I really need all that I have. If you have not had the experience yourself, there is no way in life that anyon could possibly know what the real situation is. Let us open our hearts and give a cent or two here and there while we sit at the table eating heaps and heaps of healthy and tasty food. Let us be more aware of those around us, let us give to real charity for people. I love and adore kids and old people and it really broke my heart, gave me a wake up call and forced never to complain again. And then I had to hand back the tin cup and spoon I borrowed from one of the old guys and leave the place, heart broken at the suffering, the tears and the unnecessary deaths. We have the ability, even with the smallest of contribution, to make life a little better for some people. To those guys I have been with, I will surely be back, this time with help within my capabilities. Thanks for reading and I really hope it meant something to somebody, it definitely got to me big time.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 09:20:00 +0000
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