Harrismith in full (part two)

Where were we? Oh yes, we had arrived late into Harrismith and gone to sleep in a little two room place that needed some heating that night as it the temperature drops quite a lot inland and in the highlands. I hope they've got some better heating when winter comes though!

Anyway, so we awoke the next morning and got down to business. It was a short walk to Themba's gogo's (grandma) house, where some of the other family members also lived. For all the drama that was going on it was a surprisingly brief and unspectacular affair, but a necessary one nonetheless. After some various chat, Themba's niece tried on her flower-girl dress for the wedding, and we were off again. This time we went into the centre of Harrismith to do some shopping. Themba's nephew needed some clothes, which Themba bought in big supply. We then did some grocery shopping and loaded up this 16 year old (+/-) with all manner of goods and sent him back home. After one short taxi ride into the centre of town, it was time for another, longer one.

First of all, let me explain again about taxis. Here a taxi is not your own hired vehicle driven by a guy who at worst has a slightly crude Eastender manner. Here a taxi is a minibus that is always crammed with 15 other people (they generally don't leave until they are full) that run fixed routes. For most people this is their everyday mode of transport - well, that and walking. It's relatively cheap, but these guys drive like no tomorrow, and they are frequently involved in accidents through bad driving and sometimes poor maintenance. The drivers are notoriously unsavoury customers too! Out here there are "taxi wars". You'll generally never be embroiled in one, but different taxi associations sometimes fight quite bloody battles (with knives, guns, and pipes) over rights to certain routes and territory in this lucrative business. Because of this, because they only tend to run into the poor areas, because they're unreliable (especially if you can never tell when one is going to leave because it needs to be full), anyone with a car avoids them. In fact people buy cars to avoid them. If you're a white guy, the unfortunate fact is that you stick out like a sore thumb and someone, somewhere is likely to try to take advantage of your probable lack of knowledge and probable wealth. That's not a racist comment (in fact Themba himself said to me that I would be foolish to take a taxi on my own for any significant distance), just a fact that out here you're presumed to be richer if you're white because it's often true.

Anyway, we needed a taxi ride to Ladysmith to see if we could do anything about my car. So we got to the taxi rank at about 11am to find that there were two people in the taxi for Ladysmith, and no sign of anyone likely to show up any time soon. We took a taxi to Qwa Qwa instead (which is what the pictures are of), which is a bit busier, and sure enough the taxi for Ladysmith there had more people in it. Unfortunately it was too many for us and we had to wait for another one. After lunch we came back to find it empty. We waited. Two hours passed and we were still only half full. In the meantime of course I'm trying to arrange things as much as I can by phone, but never knowing if we're even going to get to Ladysmith, and not sure where we'd stay when there! Eventually we abandoned that plan, particularly when I realised it wouldn't be until the day after I could get at the fuel pump I needed to bring to Durban anyway.

So after some serious argument with the taxi operators we managed to get a refund on our fares for Ladysmith and buy fare to Durban. After another half hour or so we were on our way home. We eventually got back to Durban at about 8:30pm and were picked up by someone from the church.

It sounds like we didn't do a lot that day, and that's quite true. Most of our time was spent trying to get home. But therein lies the interesting thing - we spent virtually an entire day just trying to get home! There are many jokes about "African time", but when things run like this you can see why it is so. You simply can't be that precise about time, even if you wanted to. When does your taxi leave? When it's full! When's the next one? When someone turns up to drive one to the place you want to go to.

I at least finally managed to fulfil my ambition to ride in a taxi. It's not as talkative as I imagined it would be. As we drove through the clouds in the Drakensburg on the way back and on wet roads, I imagine many were silent in prayer given the way our driver was going!

It was a good opportunity to think though, because we were all spread out across the bus. As much as I wanted to gripe, grumble, and moan about my situation, I was in a good place - in the hands of the Father. It's funny how we think that it's He who is uncertain, and that money in the bank would be more reliable, but the Bible says that we should not put our trust in riches, which are so uncertain! As God has said to me a few times on this matter of financial security, he said to me again, "If you want I can make you like those other people", i.e. the ones who have £30k salaries and a regular job. Was that what I was wanting? To go and be a successful pagan? No. I know that to lose what I have for that would be loss indescribable. But couldn't I have both? Couldn't I have my cake and eat it? Couldn't I have the riches of following Jesus, but also a bit more cash in hand and a few less troubles? But then indeed I am dictating to Him who called me the terms on which I want to follow - it is me wanting to play God because I think I'd do a better job! Once more I learned to be silent and say, "The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away - blessed be the name of the Lord".

P.S. - I went back to Ladysmith the next day, got the fuel pump, and brought it back to Durban. I've given it to a guy who might be able to source a replacement that would be a huge amount cheaper than buying from Saab (largely because it won't be labelled as Saab!). I should know on Monday whether he can get it or not. Thanks to all of you who are praying into this situation. To God be the glory!