Studies suggest it takes three weeks to break a habit. I think it only takes two to make one. After 17 days living in Vryburg and helping at Claire’s school, it became a way of life. Waking early each morning, walking over to Claire and KJ’s to grab breakfast, working and playing with the students at Tshiamelo Inclusive Educational Centre all day, eating dinner with Claire and KJ’s family before walking back to my lodge in the darkness.
Now I am on the Intercape bus from Vryburg to Johannesburg. Darkness has fallen, broken by streaks of lightning. The movie being shown on the bus? Home Alone with Macaulay Culkin. ‘Run run Rudolph’ sings Saint Louis’s Chuck Berry.
When we got to the bus depot in Vryburg this afternoon, Maggie was there, a surprise guest to wish me good-bye. I bought us both a burger and chips for lunch.
I am so grateful for my time at Claire’s and KJ’s. It’s the longest I will be anywhere till I get back to Oakland in mid-May. She and her family were so kind to welcome me in and Tshiamelo Inclusive Educational Centre is amazing. Beginning my time here, based in a school serving almost entirely black and coloured students, talking with Claire, has provided me a perspective that will be enlightening when I journey to schools based in white communities.
No Foreign Lands 