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CONCLUSION
African rain
AFRICA
When you have acquired a taste for the dust,
And the scent of our first rain,
You’re hooked for life on Africa,
And you’ll not be right again.
Until you can watch the setting moon
And hear the jackals bark,
And know they are around you
Waiting in the dark.
When you long to see the elephants
Or hear the coucal’s song,
When the moonrise sets your blood on fire,
Then you’ve been away too long.
It is time to cut the traces loose,
And let your heart go free,
Beyond that far horizon
Where your spirit yearns to be.
Africa is waiting – come!
Since you have touched the open sky
And learned to love the rustling grass
And the wild fish eagle’s cry,
You’ll always hunger for the bush;
For the lion’s rasping roar,
To camp at last beneath the stars
And to be at peace once more.
Author unknown.
Each time I read the
above poem the pain of homesickness filled my entire being. “You’re hooked for life” is so true in my
case. I couldn’t forget and I couldn’t
let go.
I felt that I couldn’t even
exist while I was living away from Africa.
I needed to smell that scent of the first rain on the parched soil; I
needed to see and smell the dry and dusty bush and look up at the vast and
star-studded night sky; I needed to hear the people greeting each other on
their way to work in the morning. I knew
that my hunger could never be satisfied until I set foot on the African
Continent again.
We returned to South
Africa in August 2016. I’ve never
enjoyed a flight as much! No longer was
I concerned with the cramped conditions of the economy section nor the fact
that I couldn’t sleep a wink. I saw the
sun coming up as we flew over familiar countries, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana
and finally South Africa. I could hardly
contain my excitement as we stepped off the flight and made our way through
immigration and customs at O.R.Tambo Airport in Johannesburg. The faces, languages, advertisements, the
people, shops and just the familiarity of being home again put a wide and permanent
grin on my face.
“Hello Mama, can I carry
your bags?”
“Suh, Suh, do you need a
taxi?”
I could’ve hugged each
and every person that greeted me.
Wimpy
We walked over to the
Domestic flights section where we found our favourite Wimpy coffee while
waiting to board a flight to Port Elizabeth.
What struck me on our first contact with people on arrival in South
Africa was the friendliness and openness.
After spending two years in a country where people are reserved to the
point of rudeness and where it’s frowned on to greet or smile at someone in a
public place, this small action was all I needed to confirm that I was indeed
HOME.
I’M STAYING!
GLOSSARY
Babbelas Hangover
Ag Shame Oh Shame. A South Africanism for sympathy or to
indicate cuteness.
Bakkie A
pick-up truck
Biltong Dried
strips of meat
Braai Barbecue
Chappies A
popular South African Bubblegum
Ja-nee Literally
“yes-no” an expression of positive confirmation
Oom Uncle
Pap en Wors Maize
porridge and South African sausage
Saffas South
Africans living abroad
Stywe pap Stiff porridge. Firm maize-meal porridge, often eaten with
meat.
Ubuntu An African word that describes
human kindness or humanity towards others.
When-we’s Referring to people from other African
countries (originally Rhodesia) who continually referred to their lives there;
“When we lived in…….”
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