Driving in the rural Transkei / Wild Coast is not for sissies. Even in an SUV with good clearance I find the going a challenge. Pot holes the size of, well, really big potholes, precarious bridges and endless meandering, semi washed away dirt roads...
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| The road ahead... not all there. |
The directions to my next destination contained detailed instructions such as: Drive 3.5 km until you reach the bright yellow container next to the really tall tree, then turn left and drive for another 10km and then left again at the school with the broken in roof next to the duck pond.
I felt as if I would spend the rest of my life driving these roads. Isn''t that the same herd of goats I passed 25 minutes ago? The one looks as if it recognises me...
I am a woman, the kind that gets lost driving in my own neighbourhood so I have long ago learned the value of asking for directions. When my latest ''drive 6 km'' instructions led me not to the bright pink shebeen but to the middle of precisely nowhere I decided to ask the young woman carrying a baby for help.
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| Fifa and her Mama |
While driving through the Transkei I''ve often stopped for directions and usually I get them (not always in my mother tongue, but sign language is pretty effective) along with a carload of impromptu hitchhikers. Luckily for me this time my new passenger (yes of course she climbed right in to the passenger seat, baby and all) spoke some English, and far better than my basic Xhosa.
So after getting back on the right track we start with a little small talk and of course I ask what her baby''s name is.
"Fifa," she says, deadpan.
"Er ok, how old is she?"
"Nine months."
Yep it turns out this little baby was born on the day the world cup in South Africa kicked off. And was named accordingly.
I liked that :-)
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| Coffee Bay - my final destination and well worth the drive! |
1 Response to A Baby Called Fifa
that is so amazing and heartwarming. and of course she is the cutest little thing :o)
By karin.abrahamse (3 years ago)