The morning of the 21st I go to the washing machine to do laundry and find it out of order and full of dirty water. Great. So I call my friend in Mbabane and ask if I can do laundry at her house the next day. Yes. Great, thank you! That night I cooked food for our first night of camping because the next night I was going to be at my friend’s house for her party so there was no way I was going to be able to cook there.
The morning of the 22nd I go to Mbabane first thing in the morning and get stuff done in town before going to my friend’s house. This means I had to pack up all my refrigerated and frozen food to take with me at that time. There was a delay getting to my friend’s that was out of my hands. So the 1st load of laundry was done around 1PM and when I went to wash the 2nd I discovered the soap didn’t go into the mix. Great. So that load had a good rinse. Sigh. No time to rewash because storm clouds were gathering. By the time the 2nd load was done it was about to start raining. So I pulled my stuff off the line and threw it in the car. When I had time, I draped it all over the interior of the car. Socks on the hand grips, tank top on the steering wheel, pants and underwear on the seat backs, towel draped between front and back head rests. Yeah, good times.
Because my friend was about to host a party her fridge and freezer were full, as I expected. So my cold items sat in coolers or at room temperature ALL DAY. It was just circumstances. What else could be done? By that night, after the party when there was room in the fridge, the dinner I had cooked the night before, which never went into a fridge to cool down, was bubbling and oozing out of its container all over the counter. Yum. So I cleaned it up and put it in the fridge. But it weighed on my mind all night and into the morning, “That’s probably going to make us really sick if we eat it.” Sigh. So the morning of the 23rd I threw it out and, luckily I still had a few veggies left and my friend was kind to donate a couple of extra items, I cooked dinner again.
That afternoon I met up with friends to camp. It started drizzling shortly after we arrived and rained non-stop from then until the next afternoon. In the bathroom/washing up shelter we set up our stove and reheated the food. We ate in the women’s bathroom and hung out there until we went to bed. It was fun despite our surroundings. The next day though we bailed on camping in the rain and headed to my friends’ house, which is close to the border with South Africa, far in the opposite direction of my house. So I left my car at the park and rode with them. I stayed there the next two nights then hauled all my stuff onto a kombi to get back to my car. This is why I feel like a ward of the state. I am living like a dependent, like a child in foster care who bounces from house to house and bed to bed. Yes, you might find this funny, but I wasn’t laughing at the time. But as sadly humorous as this series of events may be, I have still made progress this year.
So, where am I in the bigger picture?
I was under a mountain of stress most of the year due to the lack of:
- a work permit
- secure housing
- finances
I cried at least twice in professional situations. Embarrassing. Plus, I cried many, many other times in private. But things have turned a corner and allowed me to feel like a human being again and, most importantly, maintain my composure when unexpected expenses arise.
I finally got my work permit a few months ago. My housing situation is a little more secure now. I had my first referral for my nature camps, and the 2-day event with a group of 29 teens and young adults was really fun. Plus, I had a volunteer from the US along so there were three very capable adults to help out.
Other victories:
I successfully sealed the seams on the caravan roof using silicon and a caulking gun to stop it from leaking in the rain. Until then the park staff were amused when I’d say, “Liyana endlini yami,” which means, “It’s raining in my house.” Major points to my awesome dad for bringing up a girl who knew the term “caulking gun” and how to use one.
I changed a tire on my car for the first time. Ok, I personally didn’t change the tire. But I did take the nuts off the spare tire on the back of the car before a guy came to help, followed by another and another and another… By the time the tire was changed there were 6 guys there plus 1-2 toddlers. And I do know enough about changing tires to make sure certain things were done in a certain order or way.
If nothing else, all of these experiences, both good and bad, leave me feeling very fortunate at the end of the day: fortunate for my health, brain and relative lack of fear, for my wonderful family and patient and generous friends. To all those who have supported my work in the past year through monetary and in-kind donations it has made a difference and I appreciate it immensely! I could not have survived 2011 without your support.For anyone who received a spam message from me on Christmas day, sorry. I hope the infiltrator doesn’t keep hijacking my address and address book to spam you. And even though I joked to one friend about it, I really didn’t mean to give you spam for Christmas. Happy new year one and all!
