Driving, SA style

It's Friday afternoon, 4:00, and we are on our way to our first weekend off!  We are heading to Port Shepstone, a beach town on the "south coast", which is the name for the coastal area south of Durban (go figure!).  Before you get too jealous of us, let me add a couple of details: first, it is pouring rain, as it has been for 2 days straight, and 3 of the last 4.  January & February are the rainy season here, and they get buckets of it.  I was out in a thunderstorm last night building a dam so that the water coming down the hill towards us would go around instead of through our accomodations. 

 

The second reason to not be jealous is that we are traveling in true SA (South African) style, riding in the back of a "bekkie" (or could be "backie", or something like that...hard to tell with all the accents around here).  Anyway, a "bekkie" is a small truck with a canopy on the back.  Typically, the driver and one passenger fit in the cab, and everyone and everything else rides in the bed under the canopy.  It wouldn't be legal in Canada, but it is standard fare here, and since no one wears seat belts in this country anyway, it isn't much less safe than being in the cab.  It is; however, quite a lot dirtier, and of course less comfortable!

 

We are traveling with Tom & Rebecca, who have graciously allowed us to tag along on one of their rare weekends off.  Tom is the Outreach Sponsorship Coordinator for GGA (& former Volunteer Coordinator), and Rebecca is the General Manager of GGA.  Rebecca is also currently about 8 months pregnant!  They are a wonderfully kind couple, and play key roles at GGA, likely because they have been at GGA for quite some time.  They were, in fact, supposed to be back in England by now, but have agreed to stay on for a few more months as Heather will be away for much of the spring & early summer.

 

As Cathy mentioned in her last entry, I've had my first experiences this week at being behind the wheel here.  Of course, driving on the left side of the road is bit of an adjustment, but probably the more difficult adjustment is having the driver's seat on the right side of the vehicle, because it means that many controls are on the "wrong" side.  More than once, I've wanted to gear down and, reaching for the stick shift, I've found the door handle!  I haven't hit anyone or anything yet, though!  A good thing, too, as today I was driving a "bekkie" with one passenger beside me in the cab, and 8 more in the back!

 

Today, I picked up 4 kids for pre-school who wouldn't have otherwise been able to make it in the rain.  Their homes are perched on the side of a steep valley wall, so the road to get there was quite the adventure: steep, muddy, rutted, and extremely narrow.  They are some of the poorer children at the pre-school, so we are glad to help them out.  Two of them are part of a "family" of 13 children being raised by their Gogo (grandmother).  From what I've been told, all seven of her children have died, and she is left with the task of raising her grandchildren.  As I waited for the children to get dressed for school, I wished I had my video camera to record both the poverty & the beauty of their neighbourhood.

 

Well, I've got lots more to write, but I'm out of time, so that's all for now. 

Dan