Beatles song came to mind, I got here!
Growing up in South Africa
Johannesburg 1955 January 21st my parents first daughter. We lived as a family of two brothers and two sisters on the West Rand, situated 15 kilometers west of Johannesburg. Being four children our goal in life most days was to drive our parents ‘nuts’, as all children do.
The house we lived in was next to open park (veldt) and we had many eventful incidents playing – hiking, cycling in the surrounding area. Girl Guides and Boy Scout camps took place in the hills forming a ridge right across the Witwatersrand, within five kilometers of home. Today this has all been built up and there is very little left of areas where, it was said, large cats roamed in the hills (koppies) and animals ran free such as the black backed jackal. Is this progress?
Schools were separated by language, English and Afrikaans, we were educated in the English medium. We knew very little about Afrikaans schools, except on sports fields, Afrikaans children attended church in their home tongue, as did English, limited contact being neighbours only getting to socialize over the garden fence, some times playing street cricket, riding bicycles or messing around in the veld.
Our parents brought us up strictly believing all are equal; we made friends as we got older with numerous Afrikaans people in our neighbourhood, having English as a first language, schooled in Afrikaans as a second language, you still did not really mix. With language barrier being young, did not help, I estimate, I was around ten years old before we played, having learned the language enough to chat.
Some families had one or two children attend English schools, split with brothers or sisters going to Afrikaans schools, living in the same home!
Knowledge of tribal African children was non-existent, no children lived in 'white' areas! It was our ‘live in’ Xhosa lady, Vivienne who had requested a place to live, enabling her to get work, we learned how her children went to school in the Transkei, living with their Grand Parents, traveling several hundred kilometers to visit them once a year at Christmas.
Looking back this is not family life_, we never met her family members, I recall my parents making up food and clothing parcels for Vivienne to take home at year end, traveling home by train to be with her family.
What was the accommodation like Vivienne lived in you may ask, a small room (flatlet) situated at the back of the garage with adjacent toilet doubled up with a shower. The arrangement was she worked in our home two days of a week for the accommodation. Originally the room had no electrical lighting and a small fire stove to cook on, over the years my parents managed to get electrical lighting powered through to make life a bit easier, size of the room was still dismally small, ablutions a bare minimum.
Jack a North Sotho, worked on the Railways with my Dad came to our house regularly. Living in a hostel, he opted to sleep on a bed we had placed in the garage, (not having a motor vehicle). This Jack said, gave him a feeling of being able to live a more ‘normal’ life. He was always in the garden with my Dad growing vegetables or planting fruit trees, we helped with gardening, affording us time to chat a little. I know he was very fond of our family and lived in Hammanskraal, again being very young, you would greet elders, not make conversation, sadly as children we never grasped the opportunity to learn more about the man!
At night around 9pm a siren would ring out from the water towers on the top of the hills, when questioning our parents, embarrassed, they said it was for the children go to bed. Found out later in life, it was for African’s to be off of the streets, those ‘fortunate’ enough, who resided with people for whom they worked everyone had to be “at home” by that time.
On two occasions I witnessed my Father cry, once was when an African who he had worked with was jailed. Dad stood witness that what this man had done, was in innocence, he knew no better, alas the chap was still sent to jail. The other occasion was when Sir Winston Churchill passed away having fought during World War II.
I know my father was brought up on a farm in the Meyerton area born in 1911, school was held under a big tree, all children walked together, learned together before formal school was built. He questioned why segregation happened was never discussed, he remembered people of colour being removed first, later divided by language, it made no sense!
Mom, like Dad was from a family of four children, they lived in Mayfair/Fordsburg a suburb of Johannesburg city and life had not been easy, a small 2 bedroom corrugated home, wood burning fire stove, with toilet outside. Mom was a champion at sewing, Mom was a useless cook (that was Dad's department), both loved travel and nature, we spent a month traveling by train to Southern Rhodesia and Mozambique around 1963/4, how did they manage with 4 children, I often ponder.
Teenager, Employment and Marriage
We were sadly aware of apartheid by age of sixteen, but had no control, just went about your business, treat everyone with respect. Our Church Guild (Youth) ‘sneaked’ into Dobsonville (a ‘Black’ township) to have meetings with fellow worshipers. A neighbouring town we visited under the guise of dark to worship together with Coloured folk and visit the elderly, hiding from emerging gangs, resident youth in the areas who were becoming violent out of frustration. We started to witness life, events not spoken of almost hidden in plain sight, “protected” from reality?
As teenagers we sang along to the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Marley – Rock was in, like all other teenagers on the planet earth. Ambitions in life, age, stage, whatever was supposed to be adhered to, you did the opposite, we made friends of Coloureds, Blacks and whoever wished to be friends, so long as you managed to do it on the ‘quiet’.
Rocky Horror Picture Show on the movie screen, opened was then banned after the first viewing; everyone in reality was suppressed, the news, your movements, the only difference was the ticket to ride into employment being a privileged ‘white’.
Upon completion of school at a Commercial College, I attended Johannesburg Technicon training on Olivetti – National Cash and Burroughs accounting machines. Prior to going into an employed position, Mom decided it was time to travel overseas, find out how other people lived, the real education in life!
We traveled to London, then onto the Continent and up into Scandinavia, covering fourteen countries in two months on bus tours. What a shock it was arriving in England to see menial labour done by 'white men', not restricted to ‘blacks’ as was the case in our home country. It was abundantly clear looking in hindsight, never believe everything you hear, or read, find your own True North!
Aged seventeen it was time to take stock of what we had been taught by our parents, for which I am eternally thankful to them. Accomplish a hard days work every day, receive your pay with pride and not because of privilege, words still echo from my parents, our upbringing was to try imagine your life in the shoes of another.
Aged twenty-one, I married, now forty-three years later in a couple of weeks time… My husband wished me to remain home, but it did not take much convincing that I am a career woman. Accounting changed with introduction of “ticker tape reels”, sent to IBM to convert reels into documents. Cutting and pasting errors within the tapes, the start of computers that took up buildings specially designed, entering into a new era.
1978 we traveled on a similar tour overseas, to the 1973 tour I had done with Mom, since hubby had never been out of S.A. We traveled for four months by train stopping off in youth hostels, to our amusement found certain countries thought they could “punish” us by placing us in the 'Non-European' section in particular hostels, here we met some fantastic fellow traveller’s from Africa and Asia, exchanged copious notes on our cultures, life, work, religions – thanks to narrow minded thinking, you actually did us a favour!
Segregation unfortunately now showed it’s ugly face in places we had not anticipated, a name had been given to this as apartheid in South Africa, traveling revealed it was alive and well in other countries at the time. Where it was not skin colour, it definitely was class, or rich against poor, a world of great pretenders!
Life on the move to Durban
During 1979 we decided to move away from the hustle and bustle of Johannesburg and locate on the coast, the salary drop was drastic, greater than one third of our earnings, the difference remains approximately the same to-date. At that time I had been employed within secretarial and administration, Hubby is a Photolithographer by trade. We loved the lifestyle in the greater Durban coastal area, 1982 our first son was born. I had a panic attack, the lower earnings, with a baby we moved back to Johannesburg.
The furniture movers were still unpacking the truck; standing on the pavement (side-walk) I booked them to come and collect us to return to the coast in six months, when our lease would expire on flat rental… I really disliked the hustle and bustle!
Back at the coast we purchased our first home and settled, our second son was born in 1984. During 1987 I decided to go back to work, fearing for my own sanity, starting all over on the bottom rung yes woman start from the beginning after childbirth, somehow previous knowledge is swept under a carpet. Learning Lotus, Walker system which was our first ‘online’ to a head office, slow progression to PC’s, DOS under Novell servers, consistently going back to study further.
Seeing technology move toward computerization, I purchased a home computer in 1992, Hubby wrote “hangman” type questions from school literature for the boys to learn how to utilize a computer and study at the same time.
Best investment made, computer got named “Betsy”, we learned how to deal with DOS, new software and hardware. Alas the boys learned gaming, to this day their favourite past time, something I never actually found any enjoyment in, retort given my loss, their gain, oh well each to their own.
During 1998 we heard all about Y2K compliance and Windows, moving with technology (a big hoax we later learned)! An avalanche of studies followed, A+ course, Windows, new accounting packages needless to say new computers followed. One certainty in life is learning, get on-board or else you will stagnate quickly.
Since 2008 my family has 'booked time' during daylight hours, I entered a new realm, a journey to being an entrepreneur, the creative side and knowledge on this journey has been extremely good fun, my eldest son an avid IT guy, the other son studied entrepreneurship, all stand firmly by my side giving me the strength to follow my heart.
My business venture has taken many twists and turns, originally sharing knowledge in affiliate marketing, social media marketing and blogging. Past four years has been absorbed in crypto and blockchain, change is here, evidence is in the hype surrounding this new technology, time to learn is now, who knows how long it will take before becoming mainstream.
Now you know who I am celebrating Super Blood Moon (plus eclipse), Blue Monday, plus the day when I turned 64, living is learning, adventure abounds life's journey, make the most of every situation may you never have to walk in another mans shoes, don't pretend to know how they feel, more likely as confused as the next person.
Did I see the Super Blood Moon, no I photographed the moon the eclipse was not visible here at 5:30 am (summer sunrise time). Did Blue Monday bother me, no it never has, lesson learned from young never spend what you don't have, do without. Does being 64 bother me, no age is but a number, keeping active and productive there is no time to ponder the numbers creeping up on you!
Life is not something one can hold regrets, what could have been, each event moulds us into who we are. Stop once in a while to assess if you are accomplishing what you set out to do, are you happy in your own skin, wealth comes in many guises. We arrive with nothing, we leave with nothing, it is what we do in between that counts advice for younger readers.
From the rolling green hills of KwaZulu-Natal, where our summers are hot and humid you will hear me complain, mild winters are the reason why we live in this beautiful part of our country. Wrapped up in a nutshell I love dabbling in photography, cryptocurrency and blogging. Mother of two sons, adopted by a dog, husband in tow, no grandchildren, just 64 enjoying life!
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