Potpourri for 10, Alex

(This was, or is, always my favourite Jeopardy category. I remember as a kid calling it pot-porie. What I did I know about French?)

I have several random anecdotes and comments today. First, though, a Rosie update. She will be buried next week. The funeral will be at a different church, my first not at JL Zwane (except for the two home-based services I attended). I don't know any arrangements yet, although I expect to find out soon as I'm helping to pay for it.

Unfortunately, as is often the case here, trouble is brewing. I've been talking with three women from the HIV support group who are helping Amanda (Rosie's daughter) and Nokubonga (Rosie's half-sister and roommate) with things. Because Rosie had a house, it means that there is a precious asset in play. Apparently, two sisters have come out of the woodwork and are invading (my word) the family. They were nowhere to be found when Rosie was sick, but now they are large and in charge. There is talk about kicking Nokubonga out of the house, even though she was the one who cared for Rosie 24/7. That would leave Amanda with people she doesn't really know and who may not have her best interests at heart. The support group women are also concerned because one of the two sisters drinks and smokes, which often leads to other larger problems in the townships (use your imagination). Right now, I have to stand back and wait to see what happens. I do have a little sway, though, because of my financial position with the funeral, my history with the family and position with the church (the outside family thought I was a priest until last week). As always, I'll keep everyone informed as things happen.

I've also expanded my relationship with Bonga and Amanda a little. I've bought them groceries for the past couple weeks, and tomorrow we're going dress shopping. No, not for me. They want nice dresses for the funeral and have nothing to get them with. So, I'll be spending Saturday morning in women's departments with two young women. I hope the stores have comfortable chairs to wait in.

Now onto random events of the week:

1. I saw this on the back window of a police car today: Patrol/Explosive Dog. Is it a bomb-sniffing dog? Does it run really fast? Maybe it has a bomb vest? Or, did it eat bad food? We'll never know.

2. They play baseball in South Africa! Well, at least in some of the schools. There are teams at some of the high schools in Cape Town, and a couple squads have been started in the townships to keep kids busy. I'm going to try and help out, since I have some experience and they are looking for coaches. I think I can still catch and throw. I never could bat well, but I know the mechanics, at least. Now, if I can just find a glove...

3. I was the pharmacist-in-charge at the clinic this week. Ok, so I was the only pharmacist at the clinic this week. Kayise and I actually had a good week together. I was a little worried because we'd never spent more than a day without Tami before. She actually improved as the week went on. I'd like to think it was because I actually have her feedback and compliments, which I've never seen Tami do. She "yelled" at me a couple times because I never took a break, but I explained that I'd feel guilty about leaving for an hour only to make patients wait for me. I'd rather get done early and leave and have the patients happy, too. I did have one lady compliment me on my isiXhosa today, when I correctly replied back to her greeting. That was nice.

4. Speaking about yelling, I did get cussed out by a patient this week. I had no idea what she said, but I knew it wasn't good (Kayise called her rude so I know it was bad). It stemmed from my mixing up the customer queue. At our clinic, most everything happens first come, first served. At the pharmacy, that means we fill the orders and dispense the meds in the order they come in. Well, Kayise was filling and I was checking and dispensing. She'd fill three or four, and I'd pick them up and hand them out. I didn't pay attention to which of the three I did first. This woman apparently was keeping track, and when I called the person after her in the queue first, she blew up. She sat in her chair in the lobby and spouted off a few lines. I heard her say her name, so I waved her up to the window to show her she was next. She wouldn't come. When the patient I was helping left, I called her name and she came. She continued to rant at me in Xhosa. I gave her her meds and she went and sat back down. For about 10 minutes. Kayise said "If she was in such a hurry why is she just sitting there?" We had a little laugh and carried on. Life is too short to worry about that. Everyone else was very nice and most everyone says "Thank you, doctor." (Zethu told me once that every white face in a township clinic is a "doctor." I haven't told anyone that I actually have a doctoral degree.)

5. I had a good chuckle with a couple names this week. I think I've mentioned that people are very creative when naming children here. Many times the parents wait a few days before naming their kids, and most names mean something. You see a lot of variations on Themba ("hope"), Thando ("love"), Sipho ("gift"), and others like that. Ntombikayise's name means "daddy's girl" (ntombi=girl, kayise=her father). She named her son Zanele ("enough"). The one I laughed today was Noholiday. That's not exactly isiXhosa and I can only imagine what the mother was thinking. I also know a couple people named Nceba, which means messy. Just think of the fun we could have if our names portrayed our personalities. I'm sure I would have been Moody.

6. We've had mice in the pharmacy for the past couple months. They came in when was cold and rainy and it was impossible to get rid of them. Well, I've caught three in the last two weeks and they got increasingly larger, so I think I finally got the mother today. I couldn't understand why they were so docile when I found them. The last two literally just stood there and let me pick them up with absolutely no fight whatsoever. (The second one was actually comical. It had its back to me and was licking its paws. I just put a little box over it, scooped it up and took it outside. It never even tried to get out.) Today I figured out why. They had made their nest on a bottom shelf where we store our excess inventory. It happened to be near the end of the alphabet by the vitamins (they were fit little mice). It was also by the valproic acid. That's a drug used for epilepsy, and sometimes for certain mental health conditions. I found a pack with teeth marks and two missing pills. These mice were very calm and relaxed, with not a care in the world. So, I'm going to write to the D-Con people and ask them to try this in their next product. You may have mice, but they'll be so nice you may not mind having them.

7. Imagine you're driving to work at 8:00 am on 494 between Highway 100 and 35W (for those of you not in the Twin Cities, pick the busiest stretch of your favourite Interstate Highway at rush hour). Now imagine if the people living in Richfield decided they didn't like their living conditions and stormed the freeway. That's what happened on Tuesday this week. The N2 is one of two major highways leading in and out of Cape Town (the other is the N1). The N2 travels south and east along the coast from Cape Town to Durban, and the cuts west to Johannesburg. About 8 miles outside of Cape Town along the N2 is an area called Langa. This was the first township constructed in Cape Town in the 1930s. There's a section called Joe Slovo that sits almost immediately adjacent to the road. The government is attempting to build new homes in this area. However, in order to do that they have to move almost everyone out. The plan is to move them to Delft, a settlement about 10 miles further away from town. This is going to greatly disrupt people's lives, especially travel to and from work (and increase their costs, since taxi rates are based on distance). Tuesday morning, the residents of Joe Slovo showed how upset they were. They invaded the freeway, throwing burning tires and stoning police cars. They started at about 4:00 am and were still going at 8:00. The police had to shut down the freeway, which created all kinds of chaos on the other routes and caused tens of thousands to be late to work (including me). It's been fine the rest of the week, although the mayor posted police and security guards along the route all week. More protests are rumoured, so it could be a fun couple weeks coming up.

8. I'm now considering setting up my own savings and loan at JL Zwane. Maybe just the loan part, anyway. This week I had five people ask me for small "loans." These are amounts ranging from R50 to R200 ($7 to $30). Usually it's for food or clothing, sometimes for transportation. One of them will probably also pay for some alcohol, but I can't prove that. It's approaching a point where I'll have to talk to a couple repeaters and give them a final no. Everyone always has a good story, though, and it's tough to not give in. Everyone promises to pay me back, but so far no one has save one guy from last month. Maybe if I start charging interest...

That's enough for today. More to come.