The Good Samaritan

As I crawl along the corrugated dirt road towards my client, I am amazed at the number of insects scurrying across the road, super sized shongololos, piss-krieke with their antennas waving around in a mad dance and beetles of all shapes and sizes. All the while thinking, careful now, we do not want another flat tyre, this is a little city car and not a big bakkie. Then the shongololo appeared out of nowhere, I turned the wheels slightly to the left and....dwah, tsssssssss

I just knew it. I busted that wheel. Totally busted. Fortunately I was just about a hundred meters from the gate of one of my new clients. A very small, marginal chrome mine. I told the security guard about my predicament, he had one look and shared the news that I don't have one flat tyre but two. Yikes, and only one spare. The general manager of the mine appeared around the corner, covered from head to toe in dust, sweat and grime. Told me that he is on skeleton staff because of the season and that something needed fixing in the plant so he is the boilermaker for today. As I shared my predicament, he looked at me with patience in his eyes and told me not to worry about a single thing. Then offered to take me to my client in his own vehicle and promised that the car will be ready by the time I am done.

When I phoned him a couple of hours later he told me my car is ready, where can he deliver it to? So I fetched it, thanked him profusely and am still struggling to understand how somebody in that position with so much work pressure and so little time can still be so patient with someone that is basically a complete stranger that landed unannounced on his doorstep.

It is South African hospitality at it's best. And it humbles me, because I get so impatient and so ratty when I am stressed and under pressure.