Hush

My plane ticket home is for one month from today, which means that I won’t be able to ignore the fact that the most exciting year of my life is rushing to an end for much longer.

South Africa will soon be far, far away. I’ll have to dig through online news sources to find out what happens with Zuma’s corruption trial in August. If he’s convicted, he won’t be eligible for the presidency, and then what? Who will lead the ANC? Who will lead the country? I’ll care, but I won’t be a part of it anymore.

Shhhh. I can still go about my life as per usual for a little while.

At work, the current issue of Equal Treatment is in the editor’s hands and now I’m working on new projects. The first one is with the legal side of the organization. I’m assisting with two cases that we are pursuing against individuals and companies who illegally (and deeply immorally) sell unregistered medicines as bogus cures for AIDS. Secondly, beginning later this week, I’ll be spending two days a week at TAC’s district office in Khayelitsha, which is the same township
where I taught an after-school program back when I was a UCT student.

There’s been lots of playing as well. My friends Jessie, Courtney, Sarah, and I went on a road trip for Jessie’s last weekend to Cape Aghulas, the southernmost point in Africa, and stayed overnight. I wanted to rip across the Southern hemisphere’s longest unbroken beach on an ATV, but horses were the only transportation permitted (for environmental reasons – oops), so we rode them, barefoot.

For Jessie’s last night out, karaoke was the obvious answer. We selected Spice Girls for our final performance together. It was deliciously awful. Life has been quieter since I took Jess to the airport on Thursday.

Quieter, but not quiet. Especially since I traded in Herbie for a new yet-to-be-named ride, and she has a radio and CD player. There’s no better way to get to the beach, I’m sure of it.

My housing arrangements have also been upgraded – in the material sense, at least. I was relocated to a two-bedroom on the 18^th floor, which happens to be the penthouse. My apartment grew three sizes and became outfitted with a balcony that looks out at Table Mountain. It really feels more ornate than anything and I’d rather have Jess.

Overall, February was one of my best months in South Africa. It was also somewhat exhausting.

Too bad there’s no time to rest. For March, I’m most excited about the plans that Courtney and I are making to spend Easter in Namibia, the reunion that I am trying to organize with my little Karoo sisters, and a stopover in Knysna, my favourite town along the Garden Route, before I fly out from nearby Port Elizabeth.

As my groceries were being scanned at the Pick & Pay the other evening, the cashier paused for a moment to shuffle through the postcards that I was purchasing. Once. Twice. I started to grow impatient. But my heart melted when she locked eyes with me and breathed, “Isn’t it a beautiful country?”

I jog along the boardwalk at Sea Point in late afternoon, watching the sea swallow the sun. I drive in the countryside on the weekends in the silence of unspeakable beauty.

Yes doesn’t seem like a strong enough word.

The view from the balcony