Introduction:
Fighting the giants is like killing ants, the more you kill them the more they come. This is a fact, challengers I have faced have been with me for some time but with perseverance and a lot of faith they seem to disappear. Life throws these things back at you in some form or the other. So challengers we face never seem to take themselves out of our daily lives.
Let me share some of my own challenges with Giants: One afternoon when I was in Grade6, I walked home from the train station. Yes, I travelled with the train to school from Mannenberg to Old Mutual station from Grade 4 until I matriculated. That day I had to cross an open field to get home. A group of boys, who formed a little gang in my street, stopped me and bullied me. I think they took the chance because I was not like them. I was a boy who went to school, cleaned the house, cooked food, did my homework and prepared for church. This was my daily routine. That day they took off my shoes and urinated in it and called me all kinds of names. I just walked on without my shoes to finish my daily routine. Somewhere in my heart I felt strong enough to brave the situation and walk on home. I remember like it was yesterday...I finished my housecleaning and a pot of water with rice on the stove (That is all we had for that day) and went to the open field to find my only pair of shoes. I remember the neighbours looking at me and asking me, why did I not fight back? I came home and put my shoes in the sun to dry. The boy who urinated in my shoes a couple of years after that incident went to jail for something. I always go back to 6c Rio Grande Street even though none of my family members live there. The neighbours all admire me for who I am and not falling into the trap of apathy, which holds a lot of youth, ransom within these streets. The one-day on one of my visits to Mannenberg a guy came up to my car and asked me for a R2. Yes, it was that 'boy' who urinated in my shoes. I looked at him. He had scars in his face, his eyes was filled with sadness. I looked at him. He looked at me. He said,' Rico you did well for yourself.' I gave him a R2. I said to him: look after yourself. That day the giant of fear, loneliness and abuse was killed. It took all of my young life to abstain and not to conform. I wondered what it would mean to me. This abstinence from bravado and not being one of the guys. I won the battle against the guys who humiliated me and I still had the heart to forgive...
Another incident that shaped me was actually one of my train rides to school. Every morning of my school going days I had to get up extremely early. The new day always greeted me with darkness. Some days I counted myself lucky to start the day with a cup of black coffee and a slice of bread. Alongside my mom we would walk down the quiet streets of Mannenberg to Nyanga station. I knew that the ticket inspectors would not be there yet. We got onto the train. You would ask why did I not attend school in Mannenberg. My mother thought that the schools in Factreton had better quality and she wanted to give me this at whatever it would cost her. My mom always got on the train where people were having church. In my mind I was always saying: Please Lord don’t let the ticket inspectors be at Mutual station. The one-day we got to the station and they were there. My mom encouraged me to walk on. When we got to them they obviously asked for our tickets. The honesty of my mom shocked me out of my skin. She told them we have no tickets. She said you can keep me here, lock me up and I will miss work. The only thing I want you to do is let my son through. He needs to go to school. They let me through. I looked back at my mom with tears in my eyes. That day I realised how deep and committed my mother’s faith was in my success. I knew I would see her at home that night, because she is a giant fighter. The giant of poverty could not keep her back. That spirit of fighting for something that you desire kept me going. Against all these odds I managed to finish matric. In the year I matriculated I was one of only 3 students who passed with an exemption. I got involved in Community work from a very young age and after school got involved with a Christian Organisation who assisted me in starting my degree at University. I also later on finished an honors degree in Development Management at the University of the Western Cape.
The last story I want to share is my Afdakkie Dreams. I always used to sit on the little beam on the top of our door. I use to sit there and stare at the sky. I always sat there for the whole day. This normally happened during school holidays. I use to see the men go to work in the mornings. They had overalls on and most of them worked on building construction sites or for the City Council of Cape Town. I always told myself that I do not want to become one of them. As the day went on I would wait for the sound of airplanes. Followed them with my eyes until I could not longer see them. I would dream of one day getting on a plane and visiting interesting places. I dreamed of walking down stoned roads and lush mountain ranges like the ones I read about in the Reader's digest books my mother use to bring home. They were always outdated, but made for excellent reading. I told myself: the day I set my foot on an Airplane is the day I want to go to a foreign country. These dreams were one of the reasons why I studied so hard on school. As I said before I managed to finish my degree. After my degree I worked about four jobs to save money to work on a camp in New York. My uncle had the works bakkie and took myself and my cousins and my mom and brother and sister all to the airport. I was in my dreamland! I worked hard yes to get to the ticket and the airport. When I was on the plane I felt like a million dollars! I loved the way I could just read and be with myself. All my life I was with people and mostly crowded...Now I was alone. I walked off the plane in Heathrow on England to reconnect. The sounds of people from all over the world sounded like the best award winning cd you could find. I loved plain food and the way someone served me was just the best. The giant of I cannot do it could not get me down. With hard work and lots of faith, my afdakkie dream became a reality!
