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A day to remember
01/10/2010 # 1:40 pm # Impressions – my diary # 4 Comments
Jozi a city of crime and bad news only? Victorine Ntambo problematises the usual stereotypes about our city.
Ever heard of TEARS OF JOY? I write this note because I just want to shout out to South Africa, to Africa and to the world at large. There is love and care in South Africa and there are still some very good people among us.
This is my story.
Just after 7:30am on a chilly morning, I left my house for school. Traffic was a little slow on the M1 south of Johannesburg and I noticed a taxi driver trying to reach out to me. At first I thought of ignoring him but his persistence drew my attention. After a failed attempt to stop me, the driver took the Melrose off-ramp. Then almost immediately, I decided to stop and check out the direction at which the car was pointing.
To my surprise I had a flat tyre. Flat tyre? I bet you, I could not even notice the difference as I drove. Typical as with most women, I picked up my phone to call my husband trying at the same time to think of the closest filling station. On raising my head, I noticed a white BMW had its hazards lights on. It was parked about two hundred metres in front of me and there came a gentleman walking towards me. So many questions went through my curious mind. Did I park at the wrong demarcation? I looked around. Do I know him? I did not remember. Did he and the taxi driver arrange something? I was not sure. How did he know I’m in trouble? Because I just got out of the car now. Is he also having a fractured tyre? …
Bear with me for my details but as a black foreign woman living in South Africa, it occurred to me like a dream to find out that this man is approaching me to take the load off. Mr. Chris Newland (I later found out his name), a white man in either his late 30s or early 40s offered to help. I light-heartedly tried to resist but this neatly dressed gentleman with an appealing smell diligently rolled up his sleeves and went to work. He did not care about his well-ironed pair of trousers. Immediately, he did what some people do for money. In fifteen minutes, he had finished the work and my car was drivable again. “What do you do to appreciate such effort?”, I thought. I thanked him, took his details and we parted ways. All of a sudden, Christ remembered he was late for work. He turned down my offer to drive him to his car, making sure I took off as he watched, smiled and waved goodbye. Honestly, I felt like I had just fallen in-love again. It felt like a flat tyre is not a burden anyway. I smiled all along as I set out for my day.
Long after this incident, I decided to shout out this gesture for the world to know that there are still some good people in our midst. There are some people who look out and draw your attention to danger, who will risk their lives and that of their car on the highway, go down on their knees, roll up their sleeves and be late for work just to help a person they do not know. A person who before then did not deserve their favour and a person they might never meet again.
SIYABONGA, Mr. Newman.
UBUNTU SOUTH AFRICA
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