the d-day

after only a few hours sleep, i rolled out of bed at 4:15am. i had to be on site by 6am to strike the shuttering for tagging kwathema. the volunteers i had employed were waiting diligently, in the blistering cold, smoky breaths and numbed hands.

after hours of manual un-screwing of the shutterwork, and many a curse to tom’s over-design, we finally struck the first bollard at 7:30am.

the morning became a blur. frantic rushing around, enough phonecalls to warrant shares in vodacom, cold sweat and aimless, nervous wandering around, finally brought us to 10:30am. the day progressed from the burning of traditional incense to the giant tournament at the inaugurated chess park, a raw piece of boerewors, a couple of ciders and then a rush of a million children to the oily snacks at the beerhall. hannah had suggested we serve bags of salted peanuts; we objected, once again, and were glad we had, once again…

the swarms of grubby children, pushing, shoving, biting, crying engulfed us. some older children took the lead with belts and loud voices. ONE LINE. ONE LINE. vetkoeks and hotdogs were dished out, one by one. tears welled up in a volunteer’s eyes at the sight of the last tray of food – children stared at us in desperation. the girls were submissive; the boys abusive and vexatious. maybe we were succumbing to the sympathy vote we have all been told about. the volunteers were mixed with emotion – angry at the disorder, traumatized by the aggression, saddened by the yearning for what seemed like such simple food, exhausted from little sleep and lots of policing.

my day was rounded off by a sneaky drink at stan’s. i felt guilty for abandoning my group in its final hour – but i did it anyway. the sun set and more and more people dribbled in. lawrence recited some poetry he had written about beauty, and phumi followed suit. we attempted some group poetry. once upon a time… there was a man… who came from kwathema… and decided… phillip, the chesspark welder didn’t get it. i would just like to thank everybody for… he kept saying at his turn. well I guess many thanks were in order for such a victory.