The day I almost got kidnapped and almost got the truck stollen. I love Africa

This is going to be excessive and long, but I feel as though I must accurately attempt to recount the last few days of my life for you.

The week started off normal enough. The kids were back to school and we finally got Municipal water. Praise God for that (no really, we went to sleep one night and they said that there was water in town but that one of the main pumps was broken and that our line had a leak in it and they had no clue when we could get water and then we prayed hard and woke up to the tank almost full of clear, clean water running in from town). The power still shuts off but usually only at night and we just have to go out to the box in the morning and flip the switch back. The phone is working again, plus our fax and our office phone magically started working when the phone line was fixed. The office computer is now broken, but other than that everything is back to normal…sort of…

On Tuesday night there was a huge storm that knocked out the power in town, which means our water was not running, but everything was going to be fine once the power was back on, so crisis averted. Rita and I left Wednesday morning to pick up our new volunteer from the airport. We left early so that we could do all of our once a week East London errands and of course we went to the gas station in town and they were out of gas. Of course. Anyway not a big deal, we just stopped at the first one on the road to East London. Our first stop in the city was the Beacon Bay Shopping Center. We were running a little bit behind so we split up some of the stuff to divide and conquer the work load. Rita headed to one side of the center to slip into the bank and I headed to the Vodashop (think phones/other assorted technology) to try and get more information about the wireless thing that we are using. As I walked across the big parking lot I was thinking about how I should have worn tennis shoes because my flip flops were a little bit slippery in the rain. I carefully walked into the store and luckily ran into just the right guy (he is the only one I have ever talked to on this planet who knows anything about this wireless business) he explained absolutely everything to me and it turns out that it is much easier to use than we all thought, so yay for that! As I was sitting in there talking to him I heard someone call my name from behind over and over again. I turned around to find a short, strong looking man dressed all in black ( I was sure that something had happened at the bank and that for some reason they were taking Rita to prison- I know that that is not a logical thing for me to be thinking, but I was caught off guard) who told me that my friend Rita had slipped on the tile on the other side of the center and she may have broken her wrist. I feel like people always think they break something when they fall and that is what I was thinking walking across the parking lot with black shirt man. Also right when we got to where she was I slipped (luckily didn’t fall) on the exact same wet tile Rita fell on. It turns out that her wrist was legit going in three different ways, actually broken broken. She was sitting on the ground still and there were a few people there asking if we needed help, etc. The ambulance was called and a bunch of super nice people came up from the stores telling us to let them know if we needed anything. Rita was super calm about everything and said she needed to make some calls (we had a conversation where she was like ‘I don’t even know who to call’ and I was like ‘Father Barnes’ because he is the only Open Arms contact I have ever met in East London and she was like ‘uhhh I think I should call our doctor friend in Komga’ and I was like ‘oooh yeah, a doctor’. Essentially she is more level-headed than me in any situation ever.) so she figured out from our doctor friend what hospital she should be taken to and what doctor she should ask for. Eventually one of the managers and one of the security guards from the shopping center came over to us and asked us a bunch of questions. All of a sudden the security guard was being BFF with us and offered to help me finish running errands and to pick up Tally (the new volunteer) from the airport and drive us home and we didn’t really have any options seeing as how I still cannot drive standard oh and also because I don’t know where the airport is. We decided we would take advantage of that offer. The ambulance came (also this is probably inappropriate but one of the paramedics was young and good looking, I rarely see young males so I was ok with that. Also he might not have been that good looking, it’s just so rare that I see anyone close to my age that he seemed so at the time) and I thought they would go straight to the hospital. So security guard man decided that we should go make sure that our vehicle (the new truck) was safe and we did that after about 10 minutes of me trying to figure out which one it was. He insisted that he drive the truck to the airport because his car was too small so I agreed. Then he said he needed to go take care of some things in the office and I decided I would try and run the rest of our errands. That lasted about five seconds because I could not for the life of me remember what else we needed to get. I ended up going into a Pick n Pay (grocery store) and walking around. That is when I realized that this guy could totally kidnap me and steal the truck. Being in a foreign country and letting some dude drive the car that I am responsible for to take me to the airport to pick up some girl and then drive me back is just not something I usually do. Anyway he seemed legit and had a card and the people from the stores seemed to know him. I was processing all of this while walking around the store and I decided that everyone just needed some chocolate. The ambulance was still there when I got outside so I went over and asked young, (probably not very) attractive boy to put some chocolate in Rita’s purse just as a thing to make her happy. It turns out that security guard man was legit and actually a moderately cool guy. I spent an awkwardly large amount of time with him driving around East London and then waiting at the airport for Tally. He bought me lunch there (which is when I realized that the shopping center was probably doing all of this so that we wouldn’t sue them) and we had some good conversations about politics and America and South Africa and history and the future and he was a security guard in Iraq for some engineers so we talked about the mess in the Middle East and it ended up being a fairly enjoyable time. We picked up Tally and essentially I greeted her by saying “Oh hi! I’m Kassi, the other volunteer, Rita fell and broke her wrist and she is in the hospital so we have some stuff to figure out. Also we had no water or power this morning. Welcome to South Africa, here is a sign we made for you, let’s go to the hospital now, how were all of your flights? Oh also this guy is driving us around. I don’t know his name. Let’s go!” No really that’s pretty close to exactly what I said. We went to the hospital to discover that Rita had been sitting there for 2 hours. No x-rays, no doctors, just sitting. She ended up having x-rays done and they needed to transfer her so she could have surgery at a different hospital. Security guard man offered to drive Tally and I back to Komga. Rita and I had an intense session in which she ran me through all of the details of how I needed to be her for the night/morning until she came back. Luckily I have been here long enough that I pretty much know how everything runs. Security guard man took me to the store to buy bread, another store to order fruits/vegetables and then home. He told me that when he talked to Rita she said it would be best if he took the truck back with him to East London so that he could bring her back in the morning. That was false information. I meant to call Rita right when I got home to confirm that that is what she said but things were so crazy with the kids meeting Tally and unloading stuff from the truck that by the time I remembered it he was gone. We have like 15 different security locks on that truck and I was sure that I had just given it to that man. When I talked to Rita later that night we were sure that he had stolen it. It turns out he really was legit and just really insisted on taking her home. He parked the truck at his house and didn’t drive it around until it was time to bring Rita back. Thank the Lord that that guy was legit. So Wednesday night/Thursday I had to play Rita and it was exciting and I kicked this places butt. The meat man came on Wednesday night and I paid him and put all of the meat away. I also set out all the diapers and toilet paper for the kids and set out snack and got Tally settled in. On Thursday our little HIV + boy had to go into the clinic to have blood taken and I took him in and I knew who to talk to and where to go and I even found a little sore on his finger too and got cream for it (yes, I also kicked the clinic’s butt). Then we went and picked up the fruit and veg order and I even remembered that we needed to pick up hot dogs for dinner. I also bought all of the hot dog buns in Komga, South Africa. No really. I got one and a half packages from Flambys (gas station) and four packages from Staright (little Komga grocery store) and we had enough for everyone for the first time since I’ve been here : ) I also picked up a belt and a new backpack for a couple of the boys (it would be safe to say that, yes, I also kicked Komga’s butt). I really had everything under control and if I’m going to be perfectly honest I was pretty proud of myself. Rita was back in the late afternoon. She ended up needing surgery and is in a cast, but still more level-headed than me and mostly back in the swing of things. She needs more help now (it was her right wrist and she’s right-handed) and I appreciate the extra responsibility. Also I haven’t gotten to know Tally too much yet but she seems pretty great.

So there you go. Everyone is home and safe and happy now with electricity (most of the time) and a working phone and running water and a new friend (security guard man) in East London. Also we just watched the new Charlotte’s Web tonight with the kids and that movie is cute and hilarious and great and you should see it even if you are old or hate talking pigs.

Oh! Also I love Africa and I am loving God and loving living
Kb

p.s. I am having my first driving lesson in the KIA (which the older kids have lovingly dubbed the old man with the walking stick- the back window got shattered the other day, but that is a whole other story) tomorrow, plus it is Siphamandla’s birthday and he is turning 4 and I am in charge of cake making and I love Saturday morning errands running with the four oldest kids.
p.p.s. Fun factoid- I have been spending a substantial amount of my free time sitting with my laptop listening to and writing out High School Musical lyrics for the older kids. I anticipate we will be able to do an entire performance of the movie within the next month : )